I've been thinking a little about what it means to fully engage your strengths. I deliberately chose this title for my blog--"engaging strengths" -- because I see so many colleges and universities who are intrigued by a strengths-based approach to their first-year seminar, their career services, their student leadership programs, or other campus efforts, yet they rarely develop the kind of strengths-based interventions that will really make a difference in their students’ lives. Too often, they simply administer the Clifton StrengthsFinder and hold a discussion group about what the results mean—and then they’re done! Somehow they think this will have a miraculous effect on students’ lives. Wrong! This “once-and-done” approach is NOT what we mean by a strengths-based approach to education—and if it’s all you plan to do, don’t waste your time and money.
A strengths-based approach to any educational endeavor is just that—an approach. It’s a way of doing something else important. It’s a vehicle for engaging students in the learning process, or a tool for helping students become more self-aware. But the point is that any vehicle or tool must be used effectively for a purpose—used appropriately to accomplish something else. So that’s why I called this blogspot “Engaging Strengths” – the whole point is that we must engage our own strengths and those of our students in the service of learning and development. Know your strengths? Sure—that’s a first step. Affirm them? Okay, fine—still a first step. Learn how they can be applied so that you are better at what is important for you to do in life—now we’re getting there! And it is indeed a journey, not something that can be accomplished in one class session or a 30-minute conversation with an advisor.
So think of engaging your strengths as a life journey. My goal on these pages is to function as a navigator for the journey. Ask any question you like, but also feel free to post some of your good ideas and things that have worked on your campus. We’re all learning about this together!
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2 comments:
Laurie, That was a very helpful reflection. It's useful to think of engagement with your strengths as a means to another end, and to accept that this is a life-long process. I'm just back from a splendid class at Gallup, and I'm looking to integrate strengths into my professional development curriculum. Love your blog. Frank
I have along history (certifications, advocate, etc.)with Gallup and as a consequence, get calls from folks across the state about Gallup tools, esp. SQ and SF. Sometimes Gallup has given out complimentary codes to these folks, sometimes folks just buy the books. In all cases, these folks are telling me that they do the assessment/read the book/etc. and go off and conduct learning sessions around strengths. Sometimes within businesses, church groups, colleges with staff and students, on and on. I always recommend they get to Gallup and get some training. Beyond that, what can I do, what should I say? jabir
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