Reflected Best Self Strengths Audit

Analyze peer feedback and draft a narrative portrait using the Reflected Best Self Exercise to clarify personal strengths and redesign your daily work.

5 time blocks, 60 minutes in total.

Time blocks

Collate Feedback Stories: 10 min
Gather feedback notes detailing times you were at your best
Code Recurring Themes: 15 min
Group feedback quotes and examples into distinct strength clusters
Write Best-Self Portrait: 15 min
Draft a narrative starting with When I am at my best, I...
Audit Current Role Alignment: 10 min
Compare daily work tasks against your identified strength themes
Draft Context Redesign Plan: 10 min
List three concrete adjustments to bring strengths into your routine

About this routine

The Reflected Best Self Exercise was developed by researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Positive Organizations. Unlike traditional performance reviews that focus on fixing weaknesses, this research backed method asks feedback providers to share specific stories of when you were operating at your absolute best.

During this 60 minute session, you analyze gathered stories, extract common themes, and write a unifying best-self portrait. The portrait serves as a clear blueprint of the conditions and behaviors that enable your highest performance.

By comparing your best-self portrait against current daily commitments, you can spot misalignments and redesign your context. Small adjustments to your task allocation help you spend more time operating in your natural areas of strength.

Why this routine works

Identifies specific patterns where you contribute maximum value
Replaces generic performance feedback with concrete real world examples
Provides a clear framework for redesigning tasks and work routines
Shifts focus from mitigating weaknesses to capitalizing on strengths

FAQ

What is the Reflected Best Self Exercise?

The Reflected Best Self Exercise is a feedback tool created at the University of Michigan. It helps individuals gather stories from colleagues and family to identify core strengths and write a portrait of themselves at their best.

How long does a Reflected Best Self Exercise audit take?

This structured synthesis session takes 60 minutes once you have gathered raw feedback from your respondents.

Who developed the Reflected Best Self Exercise?

It was developed by Laura Morgan Roberts, Jane Dutton, Gretchen Spreitzer, Emily Heaphy, and Robert Quinn at the University of Michigan Center for Positive Organizations.

Sources

How to Play to Your Strengths, Harvard Business Review (Laura Morgan Roberts et al., 2005)
Center for Positive Organizations, University of Michigan Ross School of Business