Why We Need Help Naming Our Strengths
QUESTION: What does ghostwriting have to do with feeling, leading or being better???
I’m so glad you asked! Let me explain.
Celebrities who have never shown an iota of writing ambition somehow seem able to pen bestsellers. Their secret? They hire experts. Like the talented makeup artists they pay to paint their faces, the brilliant designers who dress them for the red carpet (for an exhorbitant fee), ghostwriters are the skilled wordsmiths who are employed to perform this particular act of creation.
I consider myself a ghostwriter when I find the words for someone who needs help with a resume or job application. It’s what I’m doing when I create copy for organisations who need a white paper written or content for signs or even a presentation. Words are personal and the invitation to write for someone else is a privilege.
How To Pick A Strength
Anyway, I was listening to a podcast about ghostwriting. The host was distressed by the perceived dishonesty of paying someone else to create content and then passing it off as your own. For her, ghostwriting breached her personal values. To her, it was plagiarism.
I was so frustrated by her bias that it took me a while to realise what was happening. A blind spot nearly all of us share is related to those Top 5 strengths of ours.
A clue to a strength is that is deceivingly easy for you. It surprises you when people fete you for your ability to do something you find simple, so simple you’re embarrassed to claim it as worth noting. On the flipside, you’re frustrated when someone else just doesn’t get it or can’t do ‘it’ because, to you, it’s one of the most basic things in the world.
That podcast host loves words, finds them easily and gets joy from creating stories, and has made her career from her natural ability with language. The very idea that others couldn’t also express themselves easily was so ridiculous to her it wasn’t even on her radar. We can safely assume strengths like communication, intellection, input and perhaps learner are in her Top 10.
Why some of us aren’t great with words
QUESTION: Shouldn’t I be able to do it myself?
I worked (many years ago!) with children who had language delays of all sorts. Without exception I had conversations with concerned parents that went along the lines of “some people are brilliant at maths, others are natural sportsmen and some are born with language skills. Unfortunately, we need language for all of them”.
As a self-proclaimed word nerd and one of the lucky ones for whom language is not just easy but an absolute joy, I could drop the sports I didn’t like or wasn’t that good at. We accept that we all have different strengths and natural abilities but our society still demands the ability to read and write as central to all but, despite their difficulty wrangling words, those kids were pulled out of the subjects they could excel at to take remedial reading and writing courses. It was heartbreaking.
Why Naming Matters
“… an intuitive need, was it? To give voice to something in order to more fully understand it?” (Alex Miller, A Brief Affair).
- Words give information that assists in decision making
- Labels convey information about content, use, ingredients
- Names create branding, connection, loyalty
- Words capture identity, how we think about ourselves, how we project ourselves to others
Finding the right words gives you power over knowledge, feelings and ideas.
How This Word Nerd Found Her Wordy Blind Spot
QUESTION: Why would I want to do the strengths assessment?
Jargon is a tricky thing that I can ramble on about for hours. I promise not to go there for you! The important thing to know about jargon is that it exists everywhere. Every workplace has it’s own language. Words that mean one thing can have a completely different meaning somewhere else.
When Melissa and I left our professions we were unwittingly trapped by the language of Health. “I’m a speech pathologist” I would proudly explain. It took me a long time to realise that not everybody knew what that meant. Frustratingly, I only knew how to explain it in terms of the dot points in my role description. Not helpful. Those are skills and abilities (Recognised Speech Pathology qualification, experience in leadership and management, proficient with Microsoft products…). Unless you know the nuances of what’s beneath those descriptions, you’ll have no idea at all about what I can do.
That’s why the CliftonStrengths assessment was a revelation even for well-schooled communication professionals like us. In my heart I already knew my strengths, of course I did! But until I had the words to explain them, I could only see them as glimpses in the corner of my vision. I downplayed what was easy (natural talents) and apologised for what I perceived was lacking.
When you have your strengths you can put them to use wherever you need them.
How To Find The Right Words
QUESTION: If someone else writes it, they’re not my words. How can that be authentic?
A name is lifting the lid and discovering what has always been there. Until you could see it you could, at best, have only a guess at what was. When you can name it, it’s yours. You can do all sorts of things with it.
- Like make your resume shine.
- Like create a targeted cover letter for a job application that makes you stand out. Like speak about yourself in an interview with pride and conviction because it’s true.
I go to the accountant to help me with my finances and I seek guidance from IT experts to set up my website. In the same way that we value the skills these specialists bring to us, we can seek out help to find words.
Content and Copywriting – Your Message, Your Words
QUESTION: Can you help me find the words I need for the message I want to share?
I help you find YOUR words so you can have them in your toolbox for any situation that arises. I find your voice and your words so you can own them and use them however you need. I write for you, not for me, and my name doesn’t appear anywhere. No-one needs to ever know I helped because the words forever belong to you for you to use however you need.
They’re not just for work and they’re not just for home. They’re for YOUR life. All of it.
Are there some words you’ve been wanting to find? Book your free catch up with Melinda and see if naming your strengths or writing your message is exactly what you need.