I recently facilitated a Gallup Strengths Discovery workshop for an advertising agency at their annual training offsite in Miami. It was the first major business trip and in-person facilitation of over 60 people that I have given in two years. I was struck by a feeling that was so profound as I conducted this workshop. Standing in the same conference room as real human beings brought me back to my happy place, I was in my element, teaching in-person. I hadn't realized until that moment the toll that facilitating large workshops remotely for two and a half years had taken on me.
Don't get me wrong, Zoom has its advantages. At the start of the pandemic, I was initially giddy at the thought of conducting only virtual training sessions from anywhere in the world for the foreseeable future. I was thoroughly pleased with the thought of living in pajama bottoms and saying goodbye to the daily commute through New York City and beyond. However, nothing compares to being with people. To the teaching and conversing in person. The back and forth. The eye contact. The feeling of human connection. The energy as people gathered in groups to talk about the things that made them unique was palpable. Shared laughter resulted from live discussions in such a way that could never be replicated in a virtual breakout room.
As I packed up from Day 1 of this training session, it hit me: I had had more fun at work and finished with more of a feeling of a true sense of satisfaction from my work that day than I had in the last several years. I was finally exercising a few of my strengths that hadn't had much room for use and expression throughout the pandemic. We talk a lot about “Strengths” at Monumental Me, officially called Clifton Strengths or Gallup StrengthsFinder, since I became a certified instructor in this highly useful tool for people and teams. Finding “your strengths” starts with an assessment that generates an individual’s top five “strengths.” This tool is based on years of research. My top 5 strengths are: Relator, Ideation, Individualization, Maximizer, and Strategic.
Well, as you might have guessed, in the last few years I was starved of being a relator. Phone calls just didn't cut it for me. I hadn't been living in my strengths and while I was happy, there was something missing ... people, real live people with whom I could shake hands, pass papers, look over their shoulder at their reports as they shared their questions, and whose questions I could answer while looking into their eyes and seeing them genuinely smile after an exchange. Yes, surely we all missed people over the last few years. But for someone whose top strength is being a relator, whose driving force is people and connecting, it was tougher than I had realized.
Ironically, getting to deliver an in-person Strengths Workshop allowed me to get back into my own strengths zone again. People who operate in their strengths zone are 3x as likely to report having a higher quality of life. I believe that I've been 3x happier since that day in Miami, and I can't wait for more in-person time connecting and caring about others.
As we all continue to figure out our new normal I encourage you to check-in with yourself and findout what your own strengths zone is. And truly important, I hope you’re getting real face-to-face time with people for work, for fun, or just in your day-to-day activities. This will feed your own strengths.
🧡Michele
P.S. Here is a conversation between Liana and me regarding how we think of strengths. We are happy to discuss with you if you have questions.
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