Page 96 - Appreciative Leadership

The Art of Illumination 69

passenger’s side and filled it in and painted it. I have an auto-

matic lock and I didn’t need it. New cars don’t even have them.
You should see how good it looks—just like a new car!

Barb: What gave you the idea to do this?
Gary: I had an estimate to have it done in a body shop, and then
I saw the paint and car plaster for sale. I asked my friend,
and he said he would help me, and my dad had some of the
tools we needed. It just seemed easy. And it was so much
cheaper.
Barb: I can’t wait to see it. Sounds like you really had fun doing it
and you did a great job!
Gary: Yeah.

Barb: You are very creative and good at identifying the resources
that you need to do things. I also notice that you are clever at

figuring out how to do things for the best price.
Gary: Yeah [with a big smile on his face].
Barb: And you trust your own abilities to do things well.
Gary: Yeah—and my friend was a lot of help. I’ve got to get to work
now. Talk to you later.

Strengths spotting can occur in a casual conversation, as in the
example above, or it can occur in a formal setting such as in an inter-
view with a job candidate. By asking for and listening to stories and
thereby illuminating strengths, you can easily identify what a person
wants to do and is capable of doing. You can then consider if this per-
son’s strengths are a good fit for the available job.

Strengths spotting gives you the information that you need to assign
work, align strengths, and build strong teams. It also enables you to give

the gift of illumination to others. By seeing, hearing, and describing

strengths, you validate people, give them self-confidence, and off er up
new and better ways for them to see themselves. You lay the foundation
for or reinforce a stronger and more capable self-identity. Appreciative