The Deficit Model

This model assumes there is something lacking and there is a process of ‘making good’ rather than ‘building upon’.

We begin by asking the question: ‘What is lacking here?’
An example would be a training program which set out to highlight and then remedy the ‘deficiencies’ of those concerned.

Opposed to the deficit model is the growth model. The emphasis is on growth. Many programmes today share the belief that we already have the resources and potential for development, and that we get what we focus on. Focusing upon our potential for wholeness is very different from focusing upon our ‘brokenness’.

There is some hard evidence that playing to our strengths is actually more productive than working on our weaknesses. See Signature Strengths. Follow-up studies indicate that people make more progress in their ’strong’ rather than their ‘weak’ competencies.