Strengths Effectiveness and Engagement Model
The Strengths Effectiveness and Engagement (SEE) is an activities assessment included in the Strategic Performance Audit, which provides an at-a-glance view of where individuals are performing from Strength, Competence, Weakness, or Affinity. Prior to coming to Discovery, individuals complete the SEE assessment—they receive a print-out, which provides a scatterplot diagram of their activities, showing which activities demonstrate both high performance and high energy (Strength), high performance and low energy (Competence), low performance and low energy (Weakness), and low performance and high energy (Affinity).
Strengths Strategy® holds that living from strength is about experiencing both high performance and high energy in any given activity. [1] It is different from Competence, which is merely concerned with performance. A person might have knowledge, skill, and even talent, which allows them to perform competently–but without passion and energy, ongoing time spent in Competence may lead to burn-out, and declining performance. It is also true that time spent focusing on weaknesses leads to a 28% reduction in performance[2]—not to mention the impact on engagement and productivity that results from completing activities where both performance and energy are low. The Strengths Effectiveness and Engagement (SEE) model is shown below.
The SEE Assessment is an important self-awareness tool, to help individuals proactively shape their role toward increasing their time in strengths.[3] It also provides a valuable development gauge, to help individuals determine where potential strengths might be grown, and how to bring existing strengths to activities where energy or performance might be improved. Since the SEE Assessment is included as part of the Strategic Performance Audit, it provides ongoing information about how individuals are strategically developing their strengths to increase the amount of time spent in their A+ Zone—and consequently, to increase their engagement, performance, productivity, and overall effectiveness.
[1] Linley, Alex. Average to A+–Realizing Strengths in Yourself and Others, CAPP Press. 2008.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “The experience of learning to work from my strengths has really changed my approach to my day to day activities at work. Before Strengths Strategy Discovery, I was spending 30% of day doing activities that energized me. Today, I would say that I spend about 60-70% of my day on activities that play to my strengths!” (Carolyn Garcia, Indian Health Services).
