Griffin – Discovering Personal Genius
Part #1

Note: This transcript has been edited for readability.  These edits do 
not alter the content of the original presentation.

Hi, I am Cary Griffin with Griffin-Hammis Associates. Today, we are 
talking about discovering personal genius or the discovery process. It 
is the foundation for customizing employment. Before we start, I have to 
give a special thanks to Michael Callahan, at Employment for All and 
Marc Gold Associates, as well as Ellen Condon, at the Rural Institute at 
the University of Montana. They are really the pioneers of discovery. I 
want to make sure it is understood that these folks have really helped 
to guide what we know about discovery as an assessment process. 
Typically, we use discovery with folks that we don't know very well and 
that we need to know more about [who] are searching for a job or 
starting a small business. These folks generally have fairly complex 
lives or disabilities.

In the past, we have done person-centered planning, but we left out a 
substantial assessment piece. That's what discovery does. It goes back 
in time and looks at who the person is. That's the foundation for any 
good job development plan or small business plan.  The challenge that we 
are facing is creating lasting satisfying person-directed employment 
beyond the confines of traditional job development.

What I mean is that customized employment, which is driven by discovery, 
builds on some aspects of competitive employment.  We know that 
competitive employment has brutalized people with disabilities and other 
populations as well who face substantial barriers to employment. 
Customized employment really starts with the person more so than 
traditional approaches have.

Instead of looking at what an employer has to offer, we start with 
identifying what the person has to offer. Then, we blend those two. 
While obviously the market matters, we want to start with [the] person 
so that we are not sticking people into jobs just because the jobs are 
available.  That is the challenge of discovery - to figure out who the 
person is. 

One of the first activities is to ask questions without asking 
questions. In other words, how do we have a conversation with folks? The 
first thing that I would like you to do is to go find somebody. It could 
be somebody that you know or somebody that you don't know very well.  I 
want you to follow these steps.  First, align with somebody that you 
don't particularly know. It can be somebody that you know as well. It 
might not work as well though.  Find out three things about the person 
that aren't obvious, like I am a good mother, or I play the lottery 
every week. Those may or may not be important things. [In fact], those 
are pretty run of the mill kinds of things. What we are looking for is 
something a little bit deeper.  Now, the trick is that 
I want you to do this without asking any questions.

The hint is that I want you to have a conversation. After you have had a 
conversation, report back to each other about what it is you learned. We 
will take a short break here. You can go do your activity. Then we'll 
come back for the next part of this discussion.