Today, I would like to write a bit about strengths and using them to excel at what we do.
On January 8, Guernsey-Sunrise teachers will participate in a staff development opportunity on using strengths to get better and helping students succeed by using strengths. All staff has taken the StrengthsFinder assessment from Gallup to determine their top five signature themes. Knowing these themes, each individual can then work to develop them into strengths.
I have found that by focusing on strengths and managing "non-talents," we become better at what we do. Even in areas of non-talent, I have found that focusing on a strength to work in the non-talent area helps me to perform better in that non-talent area. For example, a non-organized person (or a person without Discipline as a theme) might use one of their other strengths to become better organized. For instance, I've got competition as a theme. Persons with Competition as a theme tend to compare themselves to others and have a desire to win.
By putting themselves in a competition, whether real or imagined, to have the best organized system, those persons have managed a non-talent and gotten something done that might otherwise not have been done.
Everyone has strengths. If we look positively at each person as having those individual talents and strengths, and accept the fact that each person is unique, more and better work gets done. Parents and teachers can help their students excel in their strength areas and learn to help them manage their non-talents. As we continue to look for ways to increase the success of our students and staff, we will expand on the idea of working with strengths and include students in the discussion.
