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 Nanyang Polytechnic highlights the importance of Grit and Curiosity through Career Design Workshop

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On the 20th of September, Avid Adventures ran the award-winning WITGRITFIT Career Design Workshop as part of Nanyang Polytechnic’s Life Skills programme. 35 students across majors immersed themselves in the Career Design Game and tried their hand at discovering their potential career paths. 

 

The WITGRTIFIT Framework

The game exposes students to real-life experiences by encouraging them to reflect on their personal WIT (natural strengths and multiple intelligences), GRIT (performance characters) and FIT(core values) through the Career Canvas.

A study found that aligning one’s natural strengths, attitudes and core values lead to better career outcomes for working individuals. 

As students explore the world of work through the role-playing game, they learn more about themselves and their motivations. The common questions asked during the workshop are:

“Why am I a millionaire but my career satisfaction is so low?”

“Why do I have a degree but am not able to find a job?”

“What do I do now that I’m retrenched?”

The workshop addresses these questions through guided discussions and facilitation.

“The game really gave me a really good idea of what I can focus on or consider to do in my future after graduating from poly.” 

– Student

“Well designed game to help us students to understand more about the situations that we could potentially face in the workforce in the future.” 

– Student

“The game was unique. It makes the workshop more exciting and engaging.”

– Student

Cultivating curiosity and grit helps students grow in career resilience and career mobility through lifelong learning and adaptability.

In addition to the framework, we introduced Grit and Curiosity as emerging high-demand traits as reported by recruiters. Students learned about the benefits of developing these traits and how to apply them in career design.

Not too long ago, Angela Duckworth found Grit to be a vital trait as it is a driver of achievement and success, beyond talent and intelligence. She found that grit— which she defines as a combination of passion and perseverance for a singular goal—is the defining factor for high achievers. Additionally, she also found evidence that grit can be developed.

Curiosity, on the other hand, is mentioned in over 90% of job postings. It is also found to be an integral trait across levels (from entry to c-suite executives).       

In an article written by Harvard Business School’s Francesca Gino, she highlights the discoveries and benefits of cultivating curiosity in workplaces. She wrote that curiosity reduces unconscious bias, reduces conflict, increases innovation, improves communication and results in better performance. 

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