Building on strengths

The Premise:


I had the opportunity to listen to a dissertation proposal over the weekend. The doctoral candidate was talking about building on strengths. The idea that we need to maximize or make the best use of what we are able to do. This is strategy used by Behavioral analysis psychologists for autistic children. It is a way to illicit growth from individuals. The converse is also used to illicit growth: focusing on weaknesses.

The Point:

We have the positive and the negative. For some time people have been using the negative to illicit growth in training and development programs. After a while people became anxious for something different. The humanistic movement came along and started focusing on the positive. So we've taken the whole picture and broken it into two pieces. So, you don't have the full picture anymore! You're playing cards with half the deck. In some games you CAN do that. Some games require only half your deck, specific cards. Life is a little different game. You need the whole deck to play such a complicated game.


Conclusion:
Whether you focus on the positive or negative... don't lose sight of the opposite. You can't have light without the dark. The scale only works with weight on the other side.