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Welcome to At My Best

You're probably on this page because you have been given a pack of our Essential Edition Strengths Cards and you are looking to use them to explore your own strengths.
Or perhaps you're a manager and you are planning on having some strengths-based conversations with your team.
Below you will find some step-by-step exercises that will help you to apply a strengths-lens to your personal development and management practices.
If you are a people professional and you have our Premium Edition Strengths Cards you may find more of the information you are looking for here .
Strengths Card Exercises
If you already know which Strengths Cards exercise  you're looking for, please go right ahead and click on the relevant link below.
If you'd like a little more guidance on where to start, use our decision tree to help.
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Personal Reflection Exercises

Personal Reflection

Purpose:  To identify personal strengths

If you’re unclear what your strengths are, this is a good exercise to start with.

Think about one part of your life – e.g. work, family or college. Using the word side of the cards, sort through the 48 words and pick out 5-10 that describe you at your absolute best in that part of your life.

Lay out the words you’ve chosen. Reflect on each one in turn:
  • How does each strength show itself?
  • How often do you use each one?
  • What’s the impact of using that strength?
  • How does this mix of strengths work together?
  • How might you use each strength even more effectively?
  • How do these strengths relate to what is important at this point in your life?

Now think about a different context or time in your life and repeat the exercise:
  • What strengths are consistent across both contexts/times?
  • What are the differences?
  • Do you notice any strengths from one part of your life that you could be using more in the other part of your life? How can you do that?

Planning ahead

Purpose: Making more intentional use of your strengths

NB. If you’re not clear what your strengths are, you may find it helpful to do the ‘Personal Reflection’ exercise first.

Think about an upcoming challenge or project.

Sift through the Strengths Cards and pick 5-8 words that represent strengths that you have that could be useful in the situation you’re thinking of

Take each strength in turn, think about the challenge in detail and ask yourself:
  • How will this strength be useful?
  • How specifically will I use this strength in this situation?
  • When specifically will it be useful? Why?
  • When I am demonstrating this strength, how will that be visible to others? What will the outward indicators be of me using that strength?

Take a minute to reflect on whether you have any specific concerns about the challenge or project that you’re facing:
  • How can you use the strengths you have identified to help you overcome those concerns?
Take notes on your reflections and use them to plan how you are going to approach the challenge.

Consider putting the strengths cards you have chosen in some prominent place where you will keep seeing them.

Strengths-based Management Exercises

1-1 Strengths Conversations

Purpose: To help others to identify their strengths

You can do this as a two-way exercise, with each person taking it in turns to be the story-teller and the listener, or one-way. It is described below as a one-way exercise, as you might use it in a 1-1 review meeting.
Ideally both you and the person you are working with will have your own set of Strengths Cards.
Ask the person you’re working with to sort through the image side of the cards and chose a photograph that reminds them of a time when they’ve been at their best, when they’ve achieved or succeeded at something (it is up to you whether you specify that the situation should be work-related or not).
Once they have chosen their image ask the person to share their image and explain their story of success to you. Your job is to listen for the strengths they showed in that situation – you may want to ask questions to find out more about the specific things they did to make the situation successful. Keep focused on the positives in the story and the specific role of the person you are talking with. Take particular note of when the person seems most energised and authentic – that can be an indicator of them talking about one of their strengths.
Next, both you and the story-teller need to sort through the word side of the cards; independently, both pick out 4-8 strengths you feel the story-teller showed in the situation they described.
Share your choices of words. Invite the person you’re working with to compare and contrast your words with the words they chose for themselves. Where are the similarities and differences? Do all of the words you each chose resonate with both of you? Are they strengths you see the person use more widely? How can they be using these strengths more? How can you help them to do that?
Tip: Make a note of the strengths chosen, encourage the person you’re working with to take a photo of the choices of cards. Come back to the conversation at a future review meeting and consider if/how the person has managed to use those strengths more. Use this conversation as a start point for giving more strengths-based feedback.

Strengths-spotting in others

Purpose: To help you to identify the strengths you appreciate in others.

This exercise can be a great way to start thinking about how you can take a more strengths-based approach to how you manage and support others.

Identify the person you want to focus on (e.g. a direct report, colleague, family member).

Using the photograph side of the cards, find an image or two that reminds you of that person when they are at their best; images that best represent what you really value in them.

Placing those image(s) on the table in front of you, take all of the other cards and, looking at the word side, identify 3-5 strengths that you associate with that person when they are at their best.

Put those cards with the images you'd previously chosen.

Reflect on your choices,  When do you notice the person you're thinking about being at their best? How can you help them to have the opportunity to be at their best more of the time? Have you told them about the strengths that you really value in them? When and how can you do that more often? What can you do to help them play to their strengths more of the time?

Tip: Take a photo of the cards you've chosen and share them with the person you were thinking about.

Team Project Successes

Purpose: To focus a team on building on strengths and what is working.
 
At a project review session spread out all of the Strengths Cards, photograph side up, on a table. Ask everyone to choose a photo that, for them, represents what went well on the project. Get each person to share their image and explanation with the group. Facilitate a discussion to draw out the key themes and points raised. Ask questions around each of the chosen pictures to draw out what worked well, e.g: Why did you choose that image? How does it remind you of the success/experience? What specifically contributed to that success? Next, turn all of the cards over and facilitate a discussion to identify 5-6 strengths that the group feel they showed as a team during the project. Explore how each of those strengths was shown in practice and how the team feel they contributed to the project successes.  Reflect on how you can capitalise on these strengths more in your teamwork.

Tip: Think about how you can keep this conversation front of mind for everyone after the team meeting.  Perhaps put the photos chosen up on a team noticeboard, or find a way to display the strengths words prominently.
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Frequently Asked Questions

I'd like to run a strengths-based teambuild with my team - can you help?

Yes of course! You can find some more information about our teambuild and training workshops here

Do I need to be accredited to use the At My Best tools?

No.  The Strengths Cards (as well as our other products) come with everything you need to get started.  But if you would like some training to help you to get the most out of your At My Best products we have a range of workshops available.

Do you have any other products that might be helpful to me?

Our Good Question Cards are a great resource for personal and team develoopment.  You might also want to take a look at At My Best 360 if you are interested in a process for collating strengths-based feedback for yourself or your team.
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