June 1st, 2009 | Published in Work in Progress
We get excited and celebrate the smallest of things … because often it is the small things that signal progress!
Here we are with our NEW Work in Progress Banner. We’ll have the opportunity to use it on June 5th for our first Workshop Information Session!
May 30th, 2009 | Published in Dependable Strengths, Dress for Success, Workshops & Seminars
Graduations are always grand events, filled with celebration.
Trevor and I love nothing better than to put our work under the microscope, and figure out, “How can we make this even better next time?” This time, I planned a surprise. Let me give you some background… Because Trevor is an accomplished actor, he and I developed a skit on “how not to network”, which we have now integrated into the workshop. Since Trevor got the chance to express his passion, I thought it only fair to incorporate one of mine. Here’s a hint… “Hello. My name is Linda Folster, and I am a salsa-holic!” I called my expert-salsa dancing friend, Amir, and we started out the graduation ceremony with a salsa demonstration. My excuse for doing this was, “In the spirit of no longer doing things you don’t enjoy, don’t do well, and are not proud of – using your Dependable Strengths instead should extend to all areas of your life!” Rhythm and movement are a few more of my Dependable Strengths that I love to express. Despite a few technical glitches with the music, and having to do our spins on the carpet – it went surprisingly well. Deb and Val surfaced from the Dress for Success office to watch. We had a blast! Thank you so much, Amir!
Once again, we made each participant don a graduation cap while I read out the “description” section of her Dependable Strengths report – to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. Trevor baked amazing cheesecake for the event (fat free, of course!)
On our last day together, this ending marked a new beginning for these women. They gathered together to plan subsequent meetings to sustain the momentum (which are still going on weeks later). In the past few weeks, some have remained in contact with me. I love to hear their updates. From what I am hearing, it seems that important decisions are being made, and there is a quality of peacefulness that’s new. This seems to accompany an ongoing pondering of what was learned, and what is possible when we believe in ourselves…
Here are some of the great photos from our celebration together:
May 26th, 2009 | Published in Dependable Strengths, Dress for Success, Workshops & Seminars
So what was the same? The power of Dependable Strengths to transform was evident by Day 2. In the sharing of “Good Experiences”, the long faces we had seen a day earlier had begun to relax – smiles and laughter replaced them. Friendships and mutual respect began to develop quickly, as is always the case when sharing Good Experiences. The program is so cleverly structured to allow space for personal reflection plus peer feedback and support. The latter component is so powerful – we are so hard on ourselves. Others almost always see us more positively than we see ourselves. Here’s how it felt for a few of our participants:
“Who cares about my weaknesses – I’m dynamite!”
“I learned, or had confirmed, that acknowledging my strengths is very empowering. The collective experience of the group shows that overcoming anything is possible. I found a new supportive community.”
One of the other things we noted, yet again, was these women’s depth of engagement and effort spent on creating their Dependable Strengths Reports. They brought each draft to us with such pride – bursting to hear our feedback. Trevor and I love to read these. Reading them is like watching an inspiring movie where the writer is the heroine. You somehow feel you know this person, in the space of one page. These reports are as heart-warming as the women who wrote them.
Another re-occurring phenomenon we saw with this group was the degree of risk-taking – in their self-disclosures, in trying out new ways of thinking, and in making new contacts in an unconventional way. There’s no going back once you’ve seen what’s on the other side.
It is a privilege for Trevor and I to witness the blossoming of self-esteem among our participants. This is why we do this work. This is why I brought Dependable Strengths to Canada.
May 25th, 2009 | Published in Dependable Strengths, Workshops & Seminars
Spring is metaphorically associated with re-birth and new beginnings. How appropriate to have held our second Dependable Strengths workshop in this particular season. Once again, Trevor and I delivered the program to clients of Dress for Success. Word travels quickly. This time we had 16 seats available, and 50 applications to screen.
In reflecting back, I’ve decided to report on what was different about this session – my next entry will feature “what was the same”. Before I get to that, I am bursting to share the results from this group! By Day 5, these outstanding women had generated the following impressive results in just 1 hour of using the DS techniques:
So what was different this time? It seemed that the economic situation had cast a shadow over our job seekers – more so than in March. On Day 1, there were a lot of long faces. This time, I had asked the group to come to class prepared to share a metaphor to describe how they were feeling about their current employment situation. Some of the ones we heard included “I feel like I have one foot in heaven and one foot in hell”, and “I feel like I’m running in a hamster wheel”. Trevor and I were a little worried…
This time, my other associate, Jim Smyth, joined us for a few days to observe and soak in the Dependable Strengths magic. Jim is undergoing his facilitator training in July at the University of Washington, Seattle. Jim’s involvement sparked some lively discussion about entrepreneurship, as he is the WIP in-house expert on this.
Trevor and I learned a lot from our first pilot session. One of our lessons was to lengthen the program to allow for even more engagement in the learning. We felt rushed during the March offering, so increased the program length from 21 to 24 hours this time. It worked out perfectly – just as originator Bernard Haldane had envisioned when he recommended this length. We also traded segments this time, so there was a deepening of our own learning of the material. Now that Trevor and I have each delivered all segments of the workshop, we have earned our Level 2 Facilitator Certification!
By the end, our worries had vanished. Here are just a few of the comments we received, after the long faces were lifted by smiles:
“A group of lucky women were given the opportunity to take part in a Dependable Strengths workshop. In this, everyone gained a better awareness of their skills and strengths, and most important, renewed self esteem.”
“It is a very powerful workshop. It helps people who are stuck in their career path. Every unemployed person should come to this workshop.”
April 29th, 2009 | Published in Dependable Strengths, Workshops & Seminars
I just wanted to let everyone know that we will be running a Dependable Strengths® Workshop from July 6 to 10th. In order to give everyone an opportunity to find out what the Workshops are all about, we will be holding free information sessions on the following dates.
June 5 9-11 AM Cascade Village Recreation Centre, Burnaby
June 18 10AM - 12 Noon Vancouver Public Library (Alma VanDusen Room) Downtown Vancouver
Advanced Registration is Required …
please send an email with the time and date of the session you will be attending, or
phone 778-892-8225 to register or for more information.
