The principal at my kids’ school holds an all-school assembly each week where they celebrate the positive behaviors they want to encourage the students to have. At a recent assembly, they talked about the idea of a superpower; basically helping the kids to think about what their strengths are.
My kids were excited to share the concept with me and it sparked some pretty awesome (and sometimes deep!) conversation in our house over the course of a week. I believe in the power of language and sometimes the hardest thing about being a kid (besides not being able to reach the cookie jar on the top shelf!) is you don’t always have the words to describe what you’re thinking or feeling in a way that you can help others understand.
The same can be true in the workplace. Sometimes, we don’t effectively communicate our value to those who most need to understand it. If you’ve ever been surprised in a performance review, you know what I’m talking about!
Everyone benefits when you get clear on what your superpowers are. If you’re not sure, take some assessments. One that I've used is the Clifton Strengths, but there are many options available if you do a quick internet search.
A word of advice on determining your strengths. There are no good or bad superpowers – each is useful in various situations, so don’t spend time wishing you had different strengths. Embrace the ones you have! The key is to figure out how to use your superpowers for good as often as you can, both in the workplace and in the world.
When you know your superpowers, it’s much easier to talk about them to other people and when other people are clear on what you bring to the table, it’s more likely that they’ll reach out to you when they have a need for your particular skill set. It’s a win-win situation.
In my house, my kids have enjoyed not just talking about their superpowers, but also sharing how they have been able to use them each day. We took it a step further and talked about the superpowers of everyone in our family, so they have a better understanding and appreciation of what we all bring to the table and how we’re all unique.
My superpowers are building productive relationships, applying efficiency to all that I do, anticipating obstacles, solving problems, creating order from chaos, and having great taste in music*. What are yours?
*Note: This last one may border more on opinion than fact.