OL140 Lesson #3

Values in Action Institute (VIA)

- 24 strengths organized under 6 basic virtues - Wisdom and knowledge, humanity, temperance, courage, justice, transcendence

Fostering a positive strengths-based environment

- Creating a positive climate o By fostering empathy, compassion, forgiveness, and gratitude - Develop positive working relationships o By having individuals focus on the positive aspects of their co-workers, rather than focusing on cristicism and the negatives - Use positive communication approaches o By offering words of encouragement and support, rather than using cristicism as the "go to" form of feedback and communication with employees - Create an awareness and understanding of the connection between an individuals values and those of the organization o Kouzes and posner in their book say that people who know their values and those of the organization are among the most committed members of the organization. o So if the individuals values match up with the organizations vision and values individuals will feel more engaged in the organization

StrengthsFinder

- Dr. Donald O. Clifton (1924-2003) o American psychologist and founder of the strengths-based approach to psychology and leadership suggested that: o A leader needs to know his strengths as a carpenter knows his tools, or a physician knows the instruments at her disposal. What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths - and can call on the right strength at the right time. (The StrengthsFinder 2.0, p. 13) - Clifton developed the measure known as the "StrengthsFinder". - His grandson Tom Rath has authored a number of books designed to illustrate how strengths can serve leaders well - According to Rath, "You cannot be anything you want to be - but you can be a lot more of who you already are." (p. 9) - Video

Overview of the measures for self-assessment of strengths

- From a leadership perspective, understanding your personal strengths, strategies for developing your strengths and then managing your "weaknesses" are invaluable - Good leaders know his or her strengths and have skills to supplement the leaders "weaknesses" - Three measures of strength looking at: o The strengthsfinder, values in action, and realise 2 4M model

The Basic Premise of the strengthsfinder

- If you possess an attribute or quality and you expend effort to develop that attribute or quality, then you have the potential to enhance that particular strength - If you are a good project manager and you take the time to practice good project management skills, seek feedback from others on how to improve etc. then you are more likely to develop that particular leadership strength o Talent x investment = strength - If you are not particularly good at a skill work hard at developing the skill, you will still likely not be able to achieve as strong a level of performance in that skill as the previous situation - The strengths finder approach allows you to identify your strengths as a first step to planning on skills to work for the best "return on your effort"

cont.

- Realised strengths o We all have personal attributes (skills, abilities, interests) that we excel at (planning a project, public speaking, capacity to write with ease, ability to coach others to improve their game) o When we use these attributes, we feel energized and we often do well in these activities o To maximize our opportunities we need to use these strengths - Unrealized strengths o Had a particular strength you were not aware of o You don't often get a chance to show it, but when you do you excel o Should Marshal this capability to find more opportunities to tap into this strength - Learned behaviours o These are activities that we have learned to do but really do not energise or motivate us. o Driving for example, because we have to do it to get to work o Moderate the amount of time we spend on these activities because they can sap out energy - Weaknesses o These are attributes that are not our strengths and when we have to engage in them we feel drained and unmotivated and as a result our performance is often not very good o Recommendation is to minimize the amount of time you devote to these activities - Marshal realised strengths - use them appropriately for your situation and context. - Moderate learned behaviours - use them in moderation and only when you need to. - Minimise weaknesses - use them as little as possible and only where necessary. - Maximise unrealised strengths - find opportunities to use them more

Realise2 4M Model

- The center of applied positive psychology (CAPP) developed the Realise2 4M Model - Individuals are energized when they are able to use their strongest assets - Four quadrants: o Realised strengths o Unrealised strengths o Learned behaviours o Weakness - A realised strength o is characterised by high energy, high performance, and high use. - A learned behaviour o is characterised by lower energy but high performance, while use may be variable. - A weakness o is characterised by lower energy and lower performance, while again use may be variable. - An unrealised strength o is characterised by high energy and high performance, but lower use.

- What is strength?

o "strength is an attribute or quality of an individual that accounts for successful performance; it is an ability to consistently demonstrate exceptional work; positive features of ourselves that make us effective and help us to flourish" (Text, p. 50).

- Themes of human talent, catergorized into four domains:

o Executing, influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking - Executing: o •Achiever - one with a constant drive for accomplishing tasks o •Arranger - one who enjoys orchestrating many tasks and variables to a successful outcome o •Belief - one who strives to find some ultimate meaning behind everything they do o •Consistency - one who believes in treating everyone the same to avoid unfair advantage o •Deliberative - one who proceeds with caution, seeking to always have a plan and know all of the details o •Discipline - one who seeks to make sense of the world by imposition of order o •Focus - one who requires a clear sense of direction to be successful o •Responsibility - one who, inexplicably, must follow through on commitments o •Restorative - one who thrives on solving difficult problem - - Influencing: o •Activator - one who acts to start things in motion o •Command - one who steps up to positions of leadership without fear of confrontation o •Communication - one who uses words to inspire action and education o •Competition - one who thrives on comparison and competition to be successful o •Maximizer - one who seeks to take people and projects from great to excellent o •Self-Assurance - one who stays true to their beliefs, judgments and is confident in his/her ability o •Significance - one who seeks to be seen as significant by others o •Woo - one who is able to easily persuade - - Relationship Building o •Adaptability - one who is especially adept at accommodating to changes in direction/plan o •Developer - one who sees the untapped potential in others o •Connectedness - one who seeks to unite others through commonality o •Empathy - one who is especially in tune with the emotions of others o •Harmony - one who seeks to avoid conflict and achieve success through consensus o •Includer - one who instinctively works to include everyone o •Individualization - one who draws upon the uniqueness of individuals to create successful teams o •Positivity - one who has a knack for bring the light-side to any situation o •Relator - one who is most comfortable with fewer, but deeper relationships - - Strategic Thinking o •Analytical - one who requires data and/or proof to make sense of their circumstances o •Context - one who is able to use the past to make better decisions in the present o •Futuristic - one who has a keen sense of using an eye towards the future to drive today's success o •Ideation - one who is adept at seeing underlying concepts that unite disparate ideas o •Input - one who is constantly collecting information or objects for future use o •Intellection - one who enjoys thinking and thought-provoking conversation often for its own sake, and also can data compress complex concepts into simplified models o •Learner - one who must constantly be challenged and learning new things to feel successful o •Strategic - one who is able to see a clear direction through the complexity of a situation