How To Be An Asset Seeker
If you work with groups or communities, you should embrace the role of asset seeker. As an asset seeker, we look for sources of resilience, strength, and ingenuity in the people we work with. In individual encounters, it is important to validate what the person in front of us is already doing well to cope with a problem or to fight injustice. Marginalized community members are used to hearing about their deficits, when in fact many of them have remarkable talent in coping with adverse circumstances. In group work, we should be careful not to leave anyone behind in our search for assets and strengths. People have experiential knowledge they want recognized.
We cannot underestimate the value of acknowledging strengths, for a number of reasons. First, it is part of what makes up our dignity. Second, community members have grounded-knowledge, insights and intuitions that can be vital in any change process. And third, the mere act of validating strengths is therapeutic and empowering.
Asking good questions can help us identify strengths in the community. In a canvassing project we conducted we asked residents of a poor neighbourhood what gifts they have: Gifts of the head (speaking, reading) heart (caring for children, looking after pets), or hands (gardening, cooking). Most people saw themselves in one or more of these three categories.
Another line of questioning is what has worked for you before? Tell me of a time when you did not have this problem? What was happening then? Asset mapping is another strategy that involves identifying people, places, and resources that can be helpful in fostering a vision and generating change.
There are some common pitfalls we should avoid. Ignoring people’s assets and concentrating instead on deficits is an all too frequent practice. When people enter a therapeutic service, one of the first questions they are asked is what is their problem. Then they are asked to fill out questionnaires replete with problem statements.
We often neglect natural sources of help in the community and concentrate instead on professional resources. Relatives and neighbours can be mobilized to great effect.
To make sure we are effective in our search for assets we can ask the following questions:
1. Have I asked people how they cope with this difficult situation?
2. Have we discussed what each of us can contribute to the process?
3. Are we able to combine our strengths in a synergistic way?
4. Have I offered my input as an equal member of the group?
5. Have we explored different types of knowledge and wisdom that can help us in our collaborative work?
Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky is an award-winning academic and author. He is also a coach, consultant and a researcher. His latest book, co-authored with his wife, Dr. Ora Prilleltensky, is How People Matter: Why it Affects Health, Happiness, Love, Work, and Society (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Press here to order.