discovering your strengths: what the strengths-based approach can do for faculty advising success...
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Discovering Your Strengths:
What the Strengths-Based Approach can do for
FacultyAdvising Success Center & Career Services
Bemidji State UniversityMarch 27, 2013
INTRODUCTIONS
Margie Giauque Zak JohnsonIndividualization ResponsibilityCommunication RelatorEmpathy AnalyticalWOO IndividualizationDeveloper Developer
CLIFTON STRENGTHFINDER 2.0Donald Clifton was a professor
at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in psychology for over 30 years was know as the Father of Positive Psychology.
• Based on 40 years of study of human strengths , Donald Clifton along with The Gallup Organization and Selection Research, conducted 2 million interviews and came up with 400 themes of talent that great employees possessed.
• They condensed those 400 into a smaller number and created a language of 34 common talents
THE STRENGTHS APPROACH: THE 34 TALENT THEMES
Achiever
Analytical
Command
Connectedness
Deliberative
Empathy
Harmony
Individualization
Learner
Relator
Self-Assurance
Activator
Arranger
Communication
Consistency
Developer
Focus
Ideation
Input
Maximizer
Responsibility
Significance
Woo
Adaptability
Belief
Competition
Context
Discipline
Futuristic
Includer
Intellection
Positivity
Restorative
Strategic
Weakness Fixing. . . The wrong assumptions
• All behaviors can be learned
- If you try hard enough, you can do it.
- If you want it badly enough, you can do it. - If you dream it, you can achieve it.
• The best in a role all get there exactly the same way.
• Weakness fixing leads to excellence.
Strengths Building. . . The right assumptions
• Some behaviors can be learned. Many are nearly impossible to learn. There is a difference between talent, skills, and knowledge.
• The best individuals in a role deliver the same outcomes, but may use different behaviors.
• Weakness fixing prevents failure. Strengths building leads to excellence.
Concept of StrengthsQuest?• You have a group of talents within you.• Your greatest talents hold the key to high
achievement, success, and progress to levels of personal excellence.
• Becoming aware of talents builds confidence/provides a basis for achievement.
• Learning how to develop and apply strengths will improve your levels of achievement.
• Each of your talents can be applied in many areas including relationships, learning, and leadership.
StrengthsQuest Formula for Success
• Discover• Develop • Apply
Strengths
Talents
Skills
Knowledg
e
SQ at BSU• Spring 2009 Introduced
StrengthsQuest (SQ) to Bemidji State University.
• Fall 2009 had all new entering freshmen through FYE courses take the assessment.
• Career Services to presents to FYE students on using your strengths to choose a major.
• We use it in Academic and Career Advising Sessions.
• Continue to have FYE students take the assessment (2009-2012).
StrengthsQuest at BSU
• StrengthsQuest in First Year Experience (FYE) All students in FYE are issued a SQ code
• At the conclusion of fall semester 2012, 2500 students, faculty, and staff have taken SQ.
• New Student Orientation T-Shirts “Do you know your top five?”
• SQ is making a difference because it fits- advising and learning!
Orientation T-shirts
Why isn’t everyone living their strengths?
Most people are not aware of, or unable
to describe their own strengths. . . Or the strengths of the people around them.
Rath, 2007
My Strengths and How I Use Them
• Take five minutes to complete.
• Write down your top five themes of talent.
• Add a brief description.
• Why do you think it is a strength?
• When/Where have you recently used this strength?
SEVEN PRINCIPLES YOU CAN USE TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TALENTS:
1. Know your talents.2. Value your talents and assume personal
responsibility for using them in strengths development.
3. Talents are most powerful when inspired by a personal mission.
4. Healthy, caring relationships facilitate the development of strengths.
5. Reliving your successes helps you develop strengths.
6. Practice your talents.7. Teaching leads to learning.
• To gain further understanding of talents, teach others about them.
WHY A STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
• Strengths Awareness Confidence Self-EfficacyMotivation to ExcelEngagement
• Apply strengths to areas needing improvementGreater Likelihood of SUCCESS
STRENGTHS PARADIGM IN EDUCATION
• Engages students in something other than fear.
• Levels the playing field among students and between student/educators (mentors).
• Provides positive language and value-added observations regarding behavior.
• Reframes the concept of “student success”.
IDENTIFYING STUDENTS’ GIFT AND STRENGTHS
• A major reason students leave school is because they are unsure of their major and/or career AND are not getting the help they need to figure that out.
• Students who are aware of their gifts and strengths find it easier to select a major.
StrengthsQuest Resources
www.strengthsquest.com• Access to online StrengthsQuest book and
resources• Action items for applying strengths to
academic advising. • Curriculum development and Teacher Action
Items• More information learning about all 34 Themes
to help understand others• Templates for making door signs with top five
Door Signs/Bulletin BoardsName Signs/Name Badges Bulletin Boards
Contact Information
Margie GiauqueDirector Career Services
(218) 755-2775
Zak JohnsonDirector Advising Success [email protected]
(218) 755-4226