Strength Building

Strength Building

Purpose

To show people that appreciation and being positive is valuable.

To help people to know each other deeply

To build trust, confidence and mutual respect in a group or team

To build personal self-confidence and self-esteem

Method

The participants are in a small face-to-face group. In a larger group, when time is short, demonstrate the process with one person. Then, break people into groups of four and five.

Each person has a turn as the focus of the group.

  1. They describe an event in which they did something they felt good about. It does not have to be about work. Everyone else listens intently.

  2. Each group member tells the person above two or three strengths they must have used to achieve it. The person adds one or two of their own.

  3. The person states the strength they like the best. If people are ready, they may own this by going around the group and saying to each person, “I am (eg) resourceful!”.

  4. The facilitator may encourage further growth by encouraging her or him to use a clear and positive tone of voice and posture.

After everyone has had a turn, ask people how they feel about themselves and the group and what they have learned.

The effects

People develop confidence and self-esteem as they discover their achievements and skills are valuable. They appreciate the depths of other people and want to know more. The shared and intense experience builds group cohesion, mutual confidence and trust.

Facilitating style

I find it best to be quite light-hearted within a clear structure. I model listening and take part myself if the group is small.

Uses

Use it for team building and for increasing self-esteem and mutual trust. The story below shows how powerful it can be.

A story

Joy Knudson learned about this method from this site. She adapted it with a group of young mothers in a welfare-to-work programme.  They had a history of not working effectively in groups, whether in school or on jobs and tended to avoid true empathy or vulnerability.  Underneath their resistance lay poor self-esteem and a lack of belief in their own abilities to cope.  Most of their conversations and energy revolved around what they -and everyone else – did wrong and who should be blamed for it.

When Joy used the “Strength Building” exercise to have them share a time they triumphed despite their circumstances, their stories ranged from regaining custody of a baby taken away due to drug abuse to helping their children survive periods of homelessness.  They listened to each other deeply and compassionately, exchanged heartfelt, affirming feedback, and slowly realized that the ability to succeed in their stories proved they had strengths and qualities they could access in other situations.

Joy then provided them each with a card that contained the positive feedback from the other group members, plus her own comment that broadened the strength(s) shown into an affirmation they could apply in more general circumstances.  At a meeting several months later, most reported they had kept those cards, posting them on bathroom mirrors or refrigerator doors, instantly retrieving the sense of strength and pride they had experienced. Joy has since shared the exercise at regional meetings, having found it effective for opening up communication and fostering growth with clients.

Thank you, Joy, for contributing this moving story and doing this great work, Nick

If you would like help using this idea, or have any comments or questions please contact me. Thanks, Nick