Leveraging Strengths: Maximizing Your Team’s Potential

1. Leveraging Strengths: Maximizing Your Team’s Potential Patty Witkowsky, Ph.D. Kelsey Murray Student Engagement & Leadership Colorado State University-Pueblo

2. Learning Outcomes As a result of attending our presentation, you will be able to: • articulate what positive psychology is • apply the strengths-based approach to your individual work • apply the strengths-based approach to your teams • facilitate group development activities that promote individual strengths

3. “Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.”

4. What is Positive Psychology? • History of positive psychology and the strengths-based movement • Developing students, professionals, and teams

5. Use of Strengths-Based Approach in Higher Education • Advising • Career development • Groups & teams (student organizations)

6. Higher Ed Institutions Using Strengths Development The following institutions have been recognized for exemplary strengths development: • Asbury College • Azusa Pacific University • Baylor University • Berry College • Bethel University • Bluffton University • Chattanooga State Community College • Creighton University • Evangel University • Harper College • Kalamazoo Valley Community College • Lee University • Lipscomb University • MidAmerica Nazarene University • The Ohio State University • Southern Methodist University • Tabor College • Texas Christian University • Texas Tech University • Tompkins Cortland Community College • University of Minnesota • University of Missouri • Washington University -- St. Louis

7. Philosophy of Strengths • Talent, strengths • Importance of understanding your team members’ strengths for both their personal productivity, but also the effectiveness of your overall team or organization • Dominant hand exercise

8. Activities for Individual Awareness • Determine strengths: • Take the test • Review and choose 5 • Understand their strengths • Assumption pairs: what you’re probably good at • The person who was assumed, gives an example of how that plays out in their daily life • Using your strengths • Issue in current position: how can you use your strengths to alleviate that issue (talk in pairs)

9. Activities for Group Development • Creating diverse strength groups • Interviewing for positions • Committees • Project groups • Fake group activity • Pairs and then choose 2 ghost members’ strengths to compliment their group • Four domains of leadership strengths • Executing, influencing, relationship building, & strategic thinking

10. Strengths Finder • http://freestrengthsfinder.workuno.com/1-free-strengthsfinder-test.html • www.strengthsquest.com (cost)

12. Questions???