Category Archives: A Strengths Approach

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 066: Strengths-Based Planning

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2You may be a supremely spontaneous individual, but we all still need degrees of planning if we are to be confident of setting in motion the powerful action to help us in achieving our dreams and aspirations.

In planning for achievement it is common sense to think that our strengths will be focal in the process, but they apply equally to plans for managing our concerns and crises. ‘Working with Strengths’ is a process that follows the path of strengths assessment to stated priorities to strengths-based support plans.

In this episode I offer brief checklists of prompts to guide the construction of strengths-based plans for achieving our priorities and for managing our concerns. It is the application, not just the identification of our strengths, that enables action and positive change. These checklists should apply equally to personal reflection or to our work in supporting others.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/066-strengths-based-planning/id867043694?i=346798304&mt=2

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” [Anatole France].

A Strengths Approach

Frequent Practitioner Responses to Strengths Working

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Working-with-StrengthsI have facilitated more sessions than I care to enumerate over the years in the form of presenting a coherent set of principles to underpin the necessary attitudes and behaviours required to develop good practice in working with peoples’ strengths. They meet most frequently with positive reactions, but… not always!

Negative reactions include:

  • I/we already do it
  • It represents nothing new.
  • It is all too obvious.
  • It is far too simple.
  • It is just positive re-framing, without any change in the fundamental delivery of services.

It is difficult to challenge deep-rooted attitudes with only a few words. The real test of these challenges is for an experienced ‘strengths’ practitioner to spend a longer spell of time working alongside the doubters to demonstrate the differences of approach; or to closely monitor and constructively critique the practice of those who believe they already do it in their work. I felt this way in my own practice, when Charlie Rapp and Wally Kisthardt first introduced it to the service I worked for in 1991. My suggestion to those who feel they already practice a strengths approach to their work is: You might think you do… I thought I did, until I did… then I realised I wasn’t… so you aren’t either!

Furthermore, I have also co-hosted strengths workshops with an experienced service user consultant trainer, where the audiences were encouraged to be equal numbers of service users and their care coordinators. A number of practitioners alluded to practicing this way early on in the workshop, only to have the claims unanimously refuted by the service users. One outcome of the workshops was a much stronger mutual understanding of how to take the ideas forward in the working relationships.

Positive reactions include:

  • This is how I like to think I should work, but how can I work with this approach more completely?
  • How can these principles become more integrated into the wider team/service?I essentially consider the ‘principles’ to be a set of rules governing the consistency by which a range of practitioners may apply a strengths approach to their work. These would include attention to the quality of the working relationship, through acceptance of ‘difference’, commitment to individual needs and wants, collaborative and friendly styles of working that cross the artificial boundaries commonly favoured by most mental health services; patience to work with the often slow incremental pace of change, creativity and optimism.

‘These are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” [Groucho Marks].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 061: Constructing Strengths Assessments [3]

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2Building up a strengths assessment based on personal reflection, or helping others to construct a picture requires a positive outlook and a determination to enquire into what has worked in the past, what is working at present, and what is wanted in the future.

Alongside the picture of who we are, we should concentrate on building the picture of what we have and what we want. In the practical but essential components of shelter, finances and relationships, it is important to reflect on what works for each of us, and why it works? In terms of housing, where we live can be equally as important as what type of accommodation we prefer to live in.

In this episode I explore the questions that help us to dig for the detail around home, work, relationships, leisure, daily living, and spiritual reflections.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/061-constructing-strengths/id867043694?i=343344278&mt=2

“Being deeply loved by somebody gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” [Lao Tzu].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 060: Constructing Strengths Assessments [2]

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2Building up a strengths assessment based on personal reflection, or helping others to construct a picture, requires a positive outlook and a determination to enquire into what has worked in the past, what is working at present, and what is wanted in the future. It is about developing an inventory of resources that can then be productively applied to achieving desired future priorities and/or managing life’s difficulties and challenges with greater skill and confidence.

It should start from some of the big open-ended questions about who we are, and what we like about ourselves, and what we want for the future. With this standpoint in mind, a reflection on personality traits and personal qualities helps to focus attention more on the question of who we are.

In this episode I briefly explore some of the personality traits and qualities that help to define us, and how we might identify them in ourselves or others. Issues of health are also explored alongside these traits.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/060-constructing-strengths/id867043694?i=343344279&mt=2

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” [Bruce Lee].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 059: Constructing Strengths Assessments

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2How do we go about constructing a strengths assessment? Whether it be reflecting on our selves or working with other people, it is a flexible process developed over time, not a function to be mandated, timed and audited by a managerial approach.

For ourselves, it happens as and when we give ourselves time for reflection. With others, it is best achieved through an informal, conversational approach where the other person feels most comfortable; or it emerges from snippets of conversations over a period of time.

The focus is to build a positive picture, that can then be applied to achieving the goals we set for ourselves, or others set for themselves. It can be prompted and supported by paper or electronic forms, but they are purely supportive tools not the end purpose.

It can be developed by and within teams, but the key is always to be engaging the fullest involvement of the specific person who is the subject of the strengths assessment. In this episode I outline the five main areas of consideration for developing the practice of constructing a strengths assessment.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/059-constructing-strengths/id867043694?i=343344280&mt=2

“Over the years I’ve learned that a confident person doesn’t concentrate or focus on their weaknesses, they maximise their strengths.” [Joyce Meyer].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 058: Working with Strengths Checklist

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Working-with-StrengthsHow do we go about building a picture of our strengths, and those of others? We don’t usually greet each other by enquiring what we are no good at, or what we have recently screwed up; yet we also do not naturally and consistently search deeply for those inner-most strengths and natural talents.

Listen to any conversation between people who have met for the first time, at a conference for example, and they explore what defines each other in a the positive sense of ‘what do you do?’ or ‘what are your specific interests in the subject of the conference?’ We should never make the big decisions based on the negative of weaknesses, we should build it on the drives and motivations, the dreams and aspirations.

In this episode I outline an 8-point checklist as prompts for building up a picture of our strengths. These are our resources, from within us and around us, so we should be devoting more time to identifying them and making best use of them. Ultimately it is our strengths that best equip us to manage our problems and weaknesses. Off the top of your head what would you identify as your best qualities and strengths? Then keep adding to that initial picture over time.

Fir the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/058-working-strengths-checklist/id867043694?i=341592555&mt=2

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” [Napoleon Hill].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 050: Who is management for?

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2It can be argued that over several decades the function of management has morphed from the role of supporting the essential development of a business into a role of managers running the business for their own primary gain.

Recognised management academic gurus have identified the dangers of management for management sake, and the way it can block the functioning of the frontline workers. This has been my experience throughout many structured interviews with frontline clinicians in health and social care services in the UK. Managers need to reconnect with the primary business of its business. The excellent managers contribute significantly to developing staff to identify and make best use of their strengths. Good management is a talent in its own right, but the majority of what constitutes management can frustrate and block creativity, and largely ignore the vital strengths.

To hear the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/050-who-is-management-for/id867043694?i=337535026&mt=2

“Most of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to get their work done.” [Peter F Drucker].

“There is nothing so useless as that doing efficiently that which does not need doing at all.” [Peter F Drucker].

A Strengths Approach, Person-centred working, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 046: Valuing Narrative

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2The term narrative is important for many reasons; it is the means by which we recount our lives, the events, emotions and experiences that make up the patchwork of our existence. It is the core of each interpersonal relationship, and it has become a continual theme throughout my working career. The fundamental basis of mental health care is the trust and confidence built through the power of working relationships, enabling people to tell their stories.

Documenting our work also presents a conflict between the dominance of bureaucratic tick-box approaches and the need to represent someone through a narrative of their lives. Then there is narrative therapy as a psychotherapeutic approach to talking treatments. This episode concludes by outlining two of the core components of narrative therapy, before the next episode which will take the form of an interview with a friend and colleague who has trained in narrative therapy.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/046-valuing-narrative/id867043694?i=335428751&mt=2

“We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread.” [Paul Benjamin].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 045: A Place for Carers

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2In this episode the focus is on informal unpaid carers in the health and social care system. Who carers are, and the roles they perform, are honoured as amazing strengths that can be relied upon. However, the role comes with burdens and pressures, and services have not been so quick to see carers as a priority for the vital support they need.

The focus for this episode was triggered through reading an article by Nicci Gerrard in the Observer newspaper (UK Sunday broadsheet). She was reflecting on her father’s experiences of dementia, and more specifically on the damaging effect of a hospital admission on his ability to function independently. It is not a way of blaming staff or the service, but more a reality check on how the demands of an ageing population are overloading the existing service.

John’s Campaign has been established to promote greater access for carers on to hospital wards, particularly to continue supporting their loved ones who have succumbed to dementia. The costs are very minimal and the benefits for patients, carers and staff are very significant. Good practice in this issue exists in small pockets, but the challenge of the campaign is for best practice to become standard practice everywhere.

To access the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/045-a-place-for-carers/id867043694?i=334927346&mt=2

“To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.” [Tia Walker].

“I am sickened that the government thinks my value is so low when actually carers save the government billions.” [Anonymous carer survey response].