Are you looking for ways to increase the collaboration, cohesiveness, and engagement of your student senate? Do you feel overwhelmed in your senate role or burned out? Do you feel your work is unappreciated? Is someone on your team a micro-manager who you find difficult to work with? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this session is for you. It will provide groundwork for developing a dynamic team, focusing on principles of Strengths Based Leadership and Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.

1. Developing Dynamic
Teams
Presented by
Anna Voight
Assistant Director of Student Life
Student Senate Advisor
Dakota County Technical College

2. How many of you have
taken a personality
assessment before?

3. 1. Identifying and communicating the
unique strengths YOU bring to a team
2. Uncovering the strengths of your
TEAMMATES and setting them up for
success
3. Acknowledging and APPRECIATING the
unique strengths of each team member
Develop Dynamic Teams by…

4.  Strengths Finder
 Myers Briggs Type Indicator
 DISC
 Big 5
 5 Love Languages
 Your Leadership Direction
 Ask questions and Observe
How do you Identify
Strengths?

5. 1. Complete the Your Leadership
Direction worksheet
2. Note your Leadership Direction
3. Note the Leadership Direction
opposite of yours
Activity

6.  North: Gets the job done
 East: Does it right the first time
 South: Build the best teams
 West: Expands all horizons
1. What challenges might arise in your
senate if everyone had this strength?

7. The best leaders are generally not
well-rounded or balanced in skill areas
BUT…
The best TEAMS are!
You will not be good at
everything…

8. 1. Finding a complimentary partner
2. Devising a support system
3. Finding an alternative role
Manage areas of weakness
by…

9.  Executing: Getting the job done
 Influencing: Reaching a broader
audience and gaining support
 Relationship Building: Building a
strong team and having fun
 Strategic Thinking: Analyzing and
thinking about what “could be”
4 Strengths Finder Categories

10. Example
Execu
ting
80%
Strategic
Thinking
20%
Anna
Executi
ng
40%
Relationship
Building
60%
Anna’s Supervisor
Influencing
20%
Relationship
Building
80%
Student

11. A study by the US Department of Labor
showed that 64% of employees
leave their job because they
do not feel appreciated
Why is it important to let team
members know I appreciate
their efforts?

12. What makes you feel
appreciated?

13. 1. Words of Affirmation
 This language uses words to affirm other people.
2. Quality Time
 This language is all about giving the other person
your undivided attention.
3. Acts of Service
 For these people, actions speak louder than
words.
4. Tangible Gifts
 For some people, what makes them feel most
appreciated is to receive a gift.
Languages of Appreciation

14. Identify a team member who
is positively contributing to
your team or going above and
beyond the call of duty.
What can you do in the next
week to show that person you
appreciate them?

16. “Strengths Finder 2.0,” 2007, Tom Rath, Gallup Press,
New York, NY
“Strengths Based Leadership,” 2008, Tom Rath, Barry
Conchie, Gallup Press, New York, NY
“First, Break all the Rules,” 1999, Marcus Buckingham,
Curt Coffman, The Gallup Organization, New York, NY
Chapman, G., & White, P., (2012). The 5 Languages of
Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering
organizations by encouraging people. Chicago, IL:
Northfield Publishing.
Sources