Our strengths

You can approach the issue of skills and capabilities in many different ways. This tool helps you understand how you and others think about your – and your group’s – skills and capabilities.

• Duration: approx. 30 minutes
• Participants: A group of 3–8 people
• What it is suitable for: thinking about your skills and strengths out loud and from different perspectives

We all have lots of knowledge, skills, capabilities and strengths! We accumulate them at work, in daily life, in our free time, hobbies, human relationships – in practically all kinds of situations. All skills are valuable, but we are sometimes unable to recognise our own skills.

Talking about your skills can feel difficult. In fact, 40 per cent of Finns feel that talking about their skills and capabilities is not easy. The good news is that we can help ourselves and each other reveal our skills! Other people are like mirrors that help you recognise your skills, which is why having discussions with others helps you identify your skills and capabilities.

In this exercise, you will think about your – and your group’s – skills by engaging in dialogue. You can have this discussion with a work team or a hobby group, for example. The aim of dialogue is that we try to connect what we say to what has been brought up by others in the discussion. Try to stick to everyday language and avoid jargon.

1. Spend some time together to review the rules of constructive discussion before you start the actual discussion. You can find the rules in the printable materials provided here.

2. First, take about five minutes to think about the following questions individually:

What kinds of skills does your group possess?
What are you personally good at?
You can write down your answers in the template or in your own notebook if you think that it supports your thinking process.

3. Now take 10–20 minutes to have a discussion in which you share your experiences of your skills and capabilities. Follow the rules of constructive discussion.

4. After the discussion, take a moment to think about the following question: What would you like to highlight – and remember – about this discussion? You can take turns to briefly share your insights.