Unlocking your super strengths and adding value in your role
As an Assistant, your role is essential to the smooth functioning of the organisation. But have you ever taken a moment to reflect on your journey and imagine your future in the workplace? Unlocking your super strengths and adding value to your role can help you create a fulfilling and impactful career. This article will explore practical steps to identify your strengths, align them with your aspirations, and understand how to add value to your organisation.
Reflecting on your journey and visualising your future
Take a moment to imagine yourself in your current role.
- What tasks do you perform?
- Who are the people you work with?
- What do you see and hear as you go about your day?
Reflect on the path that brought you here, considering your education, previous jobs, and personal milestones. These experiences have shaped your skills and strengths.
Now, let’s shift our focus to the future. Close your eyes and visualise your aspirations and goals within your organisation. Picture yourself in your future role.
- What are you doing?
- Who are you interacting with?
Immerse yourself in this vision and contemplate how it looks, feels, and sounds.
Assigning a score to your future aspirations
After visualising your future, assign it a score on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing your ideal future. This exercise allows you to gauge the gap between your present reality and your desired future. Returning to the present moment, it’s time to uncover your strengths and super strengths.
Identifying your strengths
To unlock your super strengths, start by listing at least five things you enjoy doing and excel at in your current role. These activities represent your strengths. Think about the tasks that bring you joy, where you feel confident and competent.
Narrowing down to your super strengths
Next, narrow down your list of strengths to three key areas. These will be your super strengths. Place each strength in a separate circle, ensuring they overlap, signifying the interconnection between your super strengths. Reflect on the unique value created by these combinations. What do these strengths enable you to accomplish?
Crafting your personal narrative
Now, focus on the core of your super strengths, where the circles overlap. Distil this overlap into a concise sentence that captures what you do and the value you bring. This becomes your personal narrative, describing your super strengths and their impact on your organisation and role. For example, if your super strengths are problem-solving, effective communication, and attention to detail, your narrative could be “I excel at solving complex problems through clear and precise communication, ensuring attention to every detail.”
Understanding your leaders’ needle
Adding value to your organisation also requires understanding where your leaders’ needle is. Take the time to discover their priorities, challenges, and opportunities. Gain strategic visibility by expanding your knowledge beyond your specific role or speciality. Seek growth opportunities and demonstrate your capabilities by leaning in, stepping up, and stepping out.
Leaning in, stepping up, and stepping out
Leaning in means actively seeking opportunities to contribute and make an impact. Engage in conversations with your boss about projects or tasks that align with your super strengths. Seek to broaden your skills and knowledge, taking on new challenges and responsibilities.
Stepping up involves seizing growth opportunities that come your way. Identify areas where you can expand your expertise and contribute to the organisation. This may include volunteering for cross-functional projects or taking on leadership roles in your team.
Stepping out is about cultivating a new identity beyond your current role. It requires others to see and experience you differently. Think about how you can leverage your super strengths to add value in other areas of the organisation. This may involve collaborating with different teams or departments and sharing your expertise.
Overcoming fear through fear setting
Fear often holds us back from reaching our full potential. To overcome this, practice fear setting. Identify the fears that hinder your progress and envision the worst-case scenarios. Then, explore the steps to mitigate these risks and consider the potential benefits of taking action. By confronting and addressing your fears, you can empower yourself to add more value.
Continuously developing your super strengths
Remember, adding value and moving the needle is an ongoing journey. Continuously develop your super strengths and expand your range of skills and knowledge. Be open to new opportunities and embrace your unique value proposition. Strive to make a meaningful impact in your organisation by leveraging your strengths, understanding your leaders’ needs, and confronting your fears.
As an Assistant, you can unlock your super strengths and add significant value to your role and organisation. By reflecting on your journey, visualizing your future, and identifying your strengths, you can align your aspirations with your career path and create a fulfilling and impactful future.
Understanding your leaders’ needs, stepping up, and stepping out are crucial steps to making a meaningful impact. Gain strategic visibility by broadening your knowledge, seeking growth opportunities, and actively contributing to projects aligned with your super strengths. Overcome fear and embrace new challenges, knowing they are growth and personal development opportunities.
Continuously developing your super strengths and expanding your range of skills and knowledge will help you thrive and unlock your full potential. As you strive to make a lasting impact in your organisation, leverage your unique value proposition and embrace your strengths.
To support you on this journey of growth and empowerment, we invite you to join the Assistant Mindset online course. This comprehensive course is designed specifically for Assistants, offering valuable insights, practical strategies, and tools to unlock your super strengths and add value to your role. You will gain the knowledge and skills to excel in your career through interactive modules, real-life case studies, and expert guidance.
