This game can be played with groups of any size. Its purpose is to help people identify their unique talents and strengths and discover how best to use them in their professional lives. The group leader can use the following script as a guide, varying it with experience to fit the needs of each specific group. The total time for this procedure is approximately 45 minutes.
Introduction
In just 45 minutes you will have a better understanding of what your unique talents and strengths are, and you will have a wealth of ideas of how best to use them to achieve higher levels of professional success and satisfaction. You will gain insight and a positive new sense of direction in your career. And you will come out of this experience with a set of guidelines for developing and enriching your professional life over the next year or so. This insight and direction will not come from me, but from you. I will provide the form, but you will provide 100 percent of the content. You will probably find the form to be fun. We will use mental imagery followed by reflection and analysis. In the first imagery session, we will ask you to vividly review in your mind three peak experiences of your life and to become aware of the unique strengths and talents you exhibited in those experiences. Then, after analysis, we will ask you to step into the future and see yourself exhibiting those strengths and talents flawlessly and effortlessly in your professional life. We will ask you to observe what you are doing, and from that, to design your own marching orders for peak performance over the next year.
(Note: In the script that follows, the virgule (/) indicates a pause. Most pauses can be for three to five seconds, but follow your intuition when you are in the situation.)
Preparation
To prepare for the first imagery experience, just get comfortable and relaxed. You can do this easily by breathing a bit more deeply than usual and becoming aware of your breath/ just concentrate on your breath/ just let your whole attention focus on the feeling of the air coming into your body/ notice how pleasurable it is to breathe/ concentrate on the pleasure of breathing/ as you breathe in, feel your whole body being refreshed/ a tingling sensation/ energy/ and each time you exhale, let go/ relax/ inhale and receive pleasure and new energy/ exhale and relax/ becoming more filled with quiet energy/ becoming more deeply relaxed with every breath/ continue doing this for a moment, closing your eyes and getting ready to enter the rich world of your deep inner mind.
First Imagery Session (five minutes)
Return in your imagination now to a peak experience of your life. Relive a time when your unique strengths and talents shone without obstruction—a time when you were filled with energy and an easy flowing personal power—a time when you were free, open, fulfilled, fully alive, fully yourself in all your strength/ relive this situation now/ how old are you?/ where are you?/ what are you doing, saying, feeling?/ be totally back there now/ and observe what strengths you are manifesting and how this feels/ take a moment to relive this experience fully now, with total recall and total awareness/// (pause for about one minute).
Now move away from this scene and pick a second time and place in your past that was a peak experience—a time when you were filled with energy and an easy flowing personal power/ (continue as above).
Now move away from this scene and pick a third and final time and place in your life that was a peak experience for you—a time when you were filled with energy and an easy flowing personal power/ (continue as above).
Analysis
We will bring the imagery session to a close now and ask that when you are ready, you return to this time and place, open your eyes gradually, and get ready to reflect on the experiences you have just had.
Divide a piece of paper sideways into three columns. In each column, record your deepest impressions of each of your three imagery experiences. Use words, pictures, or a combination of both. Just capture in any way you can some of the most important elements of each experience. Reflect particularly on what each experience has to teach you about your unique talents and strengths. Work quickly and without criticism. We will allow three or four minutes for this.
Now debrief with a partner. Find a partner and share your experience and insight at any level you care to. Most important, help each other find the common thread that runs through your three peak experiences. Help each other determine what all three experiences are saying about your unique talents and strengths. We will take about five minutes for this.
Now by yourself, spend the next two minutes synthesizing everything you have experienced thus far down into its essence. Create an annotated list of what you now perceive to be your main unique strengths and talents.
Second Imagery Session (five minutes)
You have now identified your unique talents and strengths. We want you to enter the world of your imagination a second time now to experience what it is like to manifest these talents and strengths fully in your professional life over the next year or so. You will enter the future and actually experience yourself exercising these talents and strengths in new and creative ways in your professional life. Out of this experience will come some rich and valuable insights regarding how you can direct your professional life for the maximum benefit both to you and to the organization and people you serve.
Your deeper mind already knows what you can do and must do to fully manifest your unique strengths and talents in your professional life. Through an imagery experience, you will now discover what that is.
Let's begin by becoming comfortable and deeply relaxed. (Repeat the instructions of the initial preparation session above.)
Now just let yourself become aware of the needs, problems, and opportunities that exist in your organization or your profession for which your unique talents and strengths are a good fit. Project yourself forward now to a situation where you have successfully met one of these needs, problems, or opportunities in a creative and exceptional way. You have shone. You have that feeling of success and fulfillment and deep satisfaction. You have been able to bring some of your unique talent and strength to bear, and it has worked beautifully. Be in that situation now/ feel how good it is to exercise your unique talents fully, to be fully alive, confident, successful, satisfied/ imagine yourself in that situation now/ what does it feel like?/ what do you see and hear around you?/ what is it that you have done?/ how have you done it?/ what were the steps that led up to your high performance, your success?/ see it all very vividly now/ and take a minute or so to observe everything you can about this situation in great detail/// (pause for about one minute).
Move away from this scene now and enter another one that speaks to another need, problem, or opportunity. Create a second situation, experiencing it even more deeply and vividly, where you have successfully exercised your unique strength and talent in your professional life. You have just turned in a truly exceptional performance/ feel the pride and the quiet satisfaction/ where are you now?/ what do you see and hear and feel?/ what, specifically, were you so successful at?/ what did you do?/ how did that come about?/ what were the specific steps that led up to your success and your sense of full satisfaction that you have now?/ experience this fully for a minute or so and observe everything with total awareness/// (pause for about one minute).
Analysis
We will bring the imagery session to a close now and ask that when you are ready, you return to this time and place, open your eyes gradually, and get ready to reflect on the experiences you have just had.
Now write nonstop for four minutes about your experience. What did you do? How did you do it? What were the steps that led up to your success? What allowed your talents and strengths to be fully exercised? What product, services, or benefits resulted from what you did? Write first on your first episode. Use words, pictures, anything to capture the essence of that experience. I will stop you in two minutes and ask you to go on to your second episode/// (pause for two minutes).
Now go on to your second episode, capturing in words and pictures as quickly as you can the essence of that experience. What strength and talent did you exercise? How did this manifest itself? What did you do and how did you do it? Write nonstop for two minutes/// (pause for two minutes).
Now debrief with your partner for five minutes, each of you sharing your experience at any level you care to.
(Note: At this point, distribute a handout to the participants that is a blank piece of paper with the following written on top: Specific things I will do in the next year to exercise my talents to the fullest and be exceptionally successful and fulfilled in my work.)
For the final exercise, complete this handout in any way that is most meaningful and useful to you. Be specific. What do you plan to do? How do you plan to do it? Mention specific people, places, dates, products, services, outcomes—whatever is most appropriate to your situation. You will be creating your job description, your marching orders, your professional development plan, for the next year or so. Be as detailed as you can, and use additional paper if you need it. We will take about 10 minutes to complete this final exercise.
Close
(Note: There are a number of options for closing this session, depending on the nature of the group and the amount of time remaining. Participants could have a final five-minute debriefing with a partner—preferably a different one than they had been working with. Or participants could share their main goals with the entire group for further feedback, suggestions, and refinement.)
Then, with a sense of how your unique strengths can be used to best advantage, go out and do it.
