Post on 26-Jun-2015
transcript
Strengths-Based Leadership
DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative
Noel Academy for Strengths-Based Leadership and Education
2013 Reunion
Presenter: Karen Lindsey-Lloyd
Today’s Agenda
• Defining Strength
• History of Strengths
• Understanding Strengths
• Leading with Strengths
What is a Strength?
A strength is "a pre-existing
capacity for a particular way of
behaving, thinking, or feeling
that is authentic and energizing
to the user, and enables optimal
functioning, development, and
performance” (Linley, 2008, p.9)
Talent: naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.
History of Strengths
• Developed using theoretical foundation of positive psychology based on the research of Seigelman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000.
• Leadership is relational so you must understand yourself before you can lead others.
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History of Strengths Research on High Achievers
• Dr. Don Clifton, Gallup Organization
• 250,000 interviews of high achieving individuals
• Spend most of their time in areas of strength
History of Strengths Research on High Achievers
• Have learned to delegate or partner
• Apply their strengths to overcome obstacles
• Invent ways of capitalizing on their strengths in new situations
• Process information
• Experience others
• View time and structure
• Accommodate change • Communicate
Our strengths affect the way we…
A Strengths Perspective
• Not about the tool
• Not about the labels
• Not about the deficits
Definitely about knowing your God-given talents and using them to the fullest covered in prayer
• Individuals already have within themselves what they need to succeed.
• “Individuals gain more when they build on their talents, than when they make comparable efforts to improve their areas of weakness.”
Clifton & Harter, 2003, p. 112
What is a Strengths Perspective?
A Strengths Perspective
• Supervisors spend most of their time working
with the weakest performers and zeroing in on mistakes.
• Parents and teachers focus on students’ lower grades rather than on their highest.
• Weakness fixing prevents failure – strengths
building promotes success
S t r a t e g i c T h i n k i n g
Focus on what could be. Analyze information and help the team consider future possibilities and
making prudent decisions.
Analytical, Context, Futuristic, Ideation, Input, Intellection, Learner, and Strategic
E x e c u t i n g
Know how to make things happen. Implement plans and get things done. Take plans from ideas to reality.
Focus on task completion and goal achievement. Work diligently to
Achiever, Arranger, Belief, Consistency, Deliberative, Discipline, Focus, Responsibility, and Restorative
R e l a t i o n s h i p B u i l d i n g
Skilled at creating synergy within the team and/or organization. Keep morale of team members high.
Consider needs of team members. Minimize distractions.
Adaptability, Developer, Connectedness, Empathy, Harmony, Includer, Individualization, Positivity, and
Relator
I n f l u e n c i n g
Help the team reach a broader audience. Give voice to team’s ideas, plans, and vision. Skilled at taking charge, speaking up, and getting others inside and
outside the organization to buy-in.
Activator, Command, Communication, Competition, Maximizer, Self-Assurance, Significance, and Woo
Rath and Conchie, 2008
Four Domains of Leadership Strength
• Competition, Command – Harmony
• Individualization – Consistency
• Context – Futuristic
• Strategic – Strategic
Strengths That Naturally Conflict
Strengths That Naturally Conflict
• Activator – Deliberative, Analytical
• Responsibility, Belief – Adaptability
• Discipline – Input
• Communication – Intellection
• “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it.”
(Stogdill, 1974, p. 7)
What about leadership?
Personal Action Plan
My Top Five How I use it (currently) Place an “X” here for the strength you use most
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What three things can I do when I return that will better leverage my strengths? (Make them SMART) 1. 2. 3. Who will hold me accountable?
Questions?
• Thank you!
• Twitter: @klinlloyd
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/klinlloyd