1. Strengths-Based Leadership
DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative
Noel Academy for Strengths-Based Leadership and Education
2013 Reunion
Presenter: Karen Lindsey-Lloyd
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3. Today’s Agenda
• Defining Strength
• History of Strengths
• Understanding Strengths
• Leading with Strengths
4. 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.
5. 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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6. 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
7. 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
8. • (Talent + Energy) x (Knowledge + Skill) =
The Strengths Equation
Strength
9. • Process information
• Experience others
• View time and structure
• Accommodate change
• Communicate
Our strengths affect the way we…
10. 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
11. • 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?
12. 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
13. S t ra 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 xe 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
Re 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
16. • “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?
17. 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)
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Who will hold me accountable?
