Hi, I'm Betsy Irwin. I work at the Center for Positive Organizations as a learning innovator and teach at the Ross School of Business. And today, I'm here to talk to you about strength spotting, a practice that I engage in and that I'm happy to share with you. To start, being able to name value and use your own strength is powerful. Knowing and using your strengths helps you feel more engaged, aids in coping with stress, and allows you to exhibit more resilience. You feel more energy and vitality, but the real value in employing a strength-based lens is seeing strengths in others. So that's what we're going to talk about today. I'd like to share with you the techniques we teach our students called strength spotting. What is strength spotting? Simply put it begins with a careful observation of others, being on the lookout for uses of strengths by people you're connected to in your communities and organizations as well as role models and others you admire. Strength spotting begins with observation or seeing strengths in action. The second step is naming the strengths you see in use. The act of naming a strength requires you to build a robust, specific, and meaningful strength vocabulary. It isn't enough to recognize that someone is using strengths. You need to specifically label the strengths being used. To do this, my students are introduced to the 24 via character strengths identified by U of M Professor Chis Peterson and his colleague from the University of Pennsylvania, Marty Seligman via strengths, like humor, zest gratitude, and perseverance are important and accessible to my students. Your list could be the same or you could create strengths like agility, helpfulness, playfulness during this time of crisis. And finally, an essential step in the development of a strength spotting practice is to share the strength you witnessed with the person you observed using it reflecting back to the person the strength you saw and why it's used mattered is essential to the development of a strength based practice. These techniques help you grow and flex your ability to spot and call out what's the best in others, and it's also a powerful way to boost your own strengths by seeing them used and modeled in others. It becomes a reference point for you to use later. Strength spotting also helps build more positive connections. It increases positive regard, mutual understanding, and confidence in one another. It increases the specificity of appreciative feedback to further enhance thriving. Instead of telling a colleague that the presentation knocked it out of the park, consider telling them that their creative use of interactive tools on Zoom helped bring their presentation to life and brought the client across the finish line. Do you see the difference between those two pieces of feedback? Strength spotting has long been part of my regular rotation of thriving practices. My two young adult children Claire and Will are 24 miles from home and during this crisis we've been staying in touch through Zoom and FaceTime. These moments of connection are a perfect time for me to string spot. They're both experiencing abrupt uncertainty and their lives and careers. I've made a point of seeing, naming, and appreciating strengths. Just yesterday Claire demonstrated her bravery by initiating a challenging conversation with her roommates about how they handle their In chores and household responsibilities during the lockdown. I made sure to let Claire know that I saw it and I appreciate it. I've also made a point of recognizing the strengths of my team. We were deep into a strategic plan and laser focused on creating metrics for that plan. But today I noticed them for their ability to adapt quickly to emerging priorities and opportunities like teaching this teach out. There are three easy steps for you to begin your strength practice. First, you need to develop a strengths vocabulary that's specific and meaningful to you. And make sure it's easily available, so have it near your phone, near your computer or your home office. Practice strength spotting when you listen to a webinar, watch a TED talk, or even a movie on Netflix. Name specific strengths you have observed and how they've been used. Begin strength spotting with your friends, family, and colleagues, but this time be sure to Identify the strengths that you saw and why it mattered to the person whose strength you spotted. Identify and name the strengths in the moment or follow up with an email or a handwritten note. I encourage you to add strength spotting to your thriving practice toolkit. Happy strength spotting.