One of my favorite new resources is Ivy Sea www.ivysea.com Founder, Jamie S. Walters is a visionary author and culture shift leader helping women to reclaim their feminine Mojo and express is to the world. Jamie takes you beyond business as usual and offers individuals and organizations help in transforming unhelpful perceptions and patterns of inner and outer communication, leading to manifested vision, awakened creativity, smoother relationships, and lasting change.

I recently read an article by Jamie where she discussed how to unearth and nurture an employee’s strengths. Often the job performance reviews focus on weakness without highlighting strengths. She notes how a spotlight on weakness may result in a self fulfilling prophecy, where you build a poor image of an employee and she performs “down to her potential” which breeds mediocrity from someone with star potential.

Jamie and I are kindred spirits on the strengths quest mission. I am committed to helping individuals understand that they are not broken and if they focus on their strengths instead of their weaknesses they will thrive in careers that speak to their passions and provide true satisfaction.

Here are some action steps Jamie details that apply to both the boss and the employee. If you are an enlightened boss you will use these strategies to uncover the strengths of your team members. If you are a frustrated employee, you can deftly suggest these tactics to your boss.

Make time for positive recognition. Take the time to express genuine positive feedback on jobs well done. Be specific and share examples and watch your colleagues walk taller and embrace their inner confidence. According to Jamie, the benefit is two-fold: the employee knows what behaviors are most valued, and you help shift your thinking from “can’t do” to “there is potential here.”

Identify ways to apply existing strengths in new ways. What qualities has your staff member demonstrated and how can you utilize these to fulfill needs in your organization? Don’t be limited by the job title. Your receptionist may be an ideal project manager, so throw traditional responsibility norms out the window, according to Jamie.

Ask your employee what she likes to do. Imagine that – someone asking what you like to do! To avoid the all too common phenomenon of the Peter Principle where every employee rises to his level of incompetence, tap into what your staff member really likes to do. Find out what she believes is her most valuable contribution to the organization and unleash her to do what she believes she does best.

Turn a weakness on its head. Jamie suggests that instead of chastising an employee for her weakness, look to the exact opposite of that task to unearth a possible strength. It’s certainly worth discussing with your colleague and chances are if she is not a good closer, it may be because she is a fine idea generator.

Test-drive a new role. You may have hired an employee for a specific role but in time you realize that she would be utilizing more of her strengths in a difference function for the organization. Consider what Jamie calls a mini internship program, where employees shadow co-workers to learn more about the roles and needs of the company. This test drive could spark new ideas for the boss and the employee and a role-shift could be the best and most expedient way to use existing talent in a new way to meet company goals and develop satisfied employees.

Cheers to Jamie for illustrating very specific ways to uncover our strengths at work!