Activity: Story-mining for Skills and Strengths Our next activity will help you uncover your skills and strengths. To complete it, you are required to recollect and write down three stories of accomplishment in your activity workbook. These should be specic moments from your life when you felt proud and successful. Aim to identify stories first from your professionalfwork life since they work best for this activity (we are in a career course). The next best area to look for stories is in your academic life. Finally, you can use a story from your personal life if you are struggling with professional or academic examples. Recollecting these moments in your life can be challenging. Below is a list of memory-jogging questions that may help you in recalling your stories of success. Have you ever... - solved a problem or took charge of an emergency? - developed a new idea? - created or built something? - shown leadership during a challenging situation? - discovered a need and met it? - contributed to a company's decision or change? - increased sales or reduced costs? - helped others reach their goals? - saved time or money? - received an award? Why? - been involved in a successful team effort? - been promoted from one job to another? Why? Once you identify each story, write it out using the story template below. You want to capture all of the relevant details to paint a clear picture in your mind and the audience's minds when you re-tell it. Situation Where were vou? Task What was the obstacle. limit or hurdle that vou had to overcome to accoleish it? Once you are done writing out your story, nd someone you feel comfortable with (family, iend, classmate) to share your story with. Read your story aloud to this individual and together identify the skills evident in the story grid below. Place an x in the column for each skill if you believe your story contains evidence of it. Stories Ability lI- Written Communication Writing in a clear, concise, effective manner to get results Oral Communication Speaking in a clear, concise, effective manner to get results Innovation Break with convention, develop, invent, change Problem Solving Troubleshoot, redirect, restructure, improve, solve Presenting Prepare and present -I_ Seeing a need and doing wII_ Imagination Conceptualize, visualize Listening Actively listening and understanding the message Research Observe, investigate, measure, test, inspect, perceive and study Interpretation Portray, attribute, understand, explain, advise Synthesis Combine and mix ideas, use imagination to bring together Persuasion Convince, sell, influence Negotiation Intervene, resolve differences Artistry Draw, sketch, paint, write Installing Tailor, place, locate, situate Analysis Correlate, identify, evaluate, compare, extract, derive Numeracy Perform mathematical calculations, analyze and compare data Digital Technology Organizing Preform computer tasks, demonstrate knowledge of software and IT systems Coordinate, managing work, develop procedures, systemize Planning Team Player Arrange, design, set goals, plan for short and long term Working collaboratively with others, show care and respect Management Direct, administer, supervise, delegate, be in charge of Operating Decision Making Maintain, fix, run, set up Arbitrate, judge, select, decide Leadership Follow-through Show the way, inspire, motivate Press on, continue, persevere Vision Look for and imagine possibilities Empathy Understand and relate to others needs, feeling and concerns Sympathy Help others in need I.- III Flexibility Adapt to change with ease, modify Assembly Put together, build, fabricate Managing Information Locate, gather and organize information Once you have nished lling in the story grid, review which rows have the most x's. What skills received the most x's? Multiple x's may be an indicator of a strength that you possess. In your activity workbook, write out your top 5 skills from this activity. If there is a tie, you can decide how to order them. \f