Strengths Finding

In the Gallup Press book Building Engaged Schools: Getting the Most Out of America’s Classrooms the authors outline six assumptions about education that act as barriers to better outcomes. I’ll list the six assumptions, but it’s the first one I want to talk about today.

1. Higher expectations and accountability testing are the keys to being successful in life.
2. Focusing on and improving areas of weakness is the key to making students and teachers more successful. [Most readers will know what I think of that one.]
3. Selecting teachers on the basis of their knowledge and skills is the way to promote student success.
4. There is a perfect curriculum that can solve student achievement problems.
5. Differences of workplace culture don’t matter to schools because a teacher’s working environment doesn’t make a difference to the classroom.
6. School can do little to improve parents’ commitment to their children’s education.

Together these assumptions “reinforce the status quo.” But what about number one –Higher expectations and accountability testing are the keys to being successful in life?

No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind is an act enabled in 2002 to improve American schools through teacher qualification, student assessment (often through standardized tests) and “scientifically based research.” Sounds serious, so what’s wrong with it?

One, Gallup found that centralized control of standards, mostly at the state level, felt like a lack of confidence in our teachers and thus young up-and-comers were losing their enthusiasm for teaching. This is particularly acute because, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, almost half of new teachers leave within their first five years. Gallup has found in their Q12 studies that one of the strongest predictors of engagement at work is whether “my opinions seem to count.”

Two, buy-in is hard with top-down reform. Often, this is because steps are mandated rather than outcomes, in other words, both the means and ends are forced downwards rather than allowing for local implementation.

“Learning doesn’t happen in the aggregate”

The criticism isn’t that standards are evil. Precisely, the opposite…standards give us a sense of business-like efficiency in measuring how our children are doing. But aggregate testing –one test fits all– doesn’t seem to be effective in meeting the needs of individuals. Each student progresses at an individual rate, and accountability testing doesn’t measure the engagement level of that child, which is what should be measured.

So what to do? Ask Bill Gates.

Interestingly, one person who seems to support a more strength-based approach to educational reform is Bill Gates. His Foundation is promoting an alternative model, one of small theme-based schools where students can focus on areas of interest to them. In a speech on education, Gates talks about his own three “Rs”: rigor, relevance, and relationships. Rigor is a challenging curriculum, relevance is a curriculum that relates to their interests and lives, and relationships are people that know them, care about them and push them to succeed. To me, these three Rs point towards engagement, similar to those Q12 questions that measure engagement at work like:

• Do you know what is expected of you at work? Rigor
• At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Relevance
• In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work? Relationships
• Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person? Relationships
• Is there someone at work who encourages your development? Relationships
• At work, do your opinions seem to count? Relevance
• Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important? Relevance
• In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow? Rigor
• Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work? Rigor

Educational reform seems to be extremely challenging. I welcome the strengths movement’s voice in this crowded arena of opinion.

Achilles Group put out a recent study titled 2007 SMB Owner Trends: Aligning People with Business Goals (PDF download). The study indicates:

…a prevailing disconnect between measuring business performance against employee and HR performance.

Graphics from the Taleo Blog:

Also worth noting, the study finds:

Struggling SMBs consider HR as a “department”—a separate arm of their business body. Failing to infuse HR functions throughout their organization, SMBs limit strategic growth and confine their ROI.

A couple of years ago, when I had season tickets, I heard the amazing percussion soloist Evelyn Glennie play with our local symphony. Soloist are usually fun, but she was all the more amazing because of her profound deafness. Before the show I wondered if her tour was a little like the dancing circus bear –not remarkable because it dances well, but that a bear dances at all. Surely a deaf musician was a bit of a gimmick, which the cash strapped symphony had brought in as a publicity stunt? Nope. She is the real deal.

You can see her presentation on how to listen to music with your whole body (32 minutes.)

How does a deaf person become a world-reknowned musician and teacher of music? She says we need to “listen to ourselves first of all.” She hears music through her whole body! When she was learning as a young woman, she would put her hands to the wall of the music room to hear the music through her fingers. In concert she plays barefoot so she can feel the orchestra and her own instruments. Amazing.

How does this amazing story fit in with strengths? My first reaction was that she must have worked to overcome her handicap, her weakness of not hearing well. Was she able to work so hard on her weakness that she overcame it and turned it into a strength? Was she like Rudy, so determined to succeed that she became successful through sheer willpower?

I don’t think so.

I remembered that deaf people don’t always see themselves as handicapped and I wondered if she felt this way too. Evelyn has a wonderful “disability essay” on her site where she writes:

Like everyone else in society, regardless of my legal status, I am physically handicapped. For instance, regardless of my desire I can never be a professional heavy-weight boxer, a supermodel or a famous tenor … At least not without a some serious hormone therapy and a drastic increase in my calorie intake! Like all other people, regardless of any so called “handicap”, there are certain jobs I can’t do due to my physical attributes. However, I can’t excel at hundreds of other jobs because I either don’t want to or I believe I am not sufficiently talented.

The interesting thing here is that deafness is not an impediment for a musician. I had assumed it was, but Evelyn sets me straight. Limits are mental. She says:

How we categorise ourselves and where we fit in to our own framework of understanding leads the vast majority to the belief that they are unable to achieve the highest levels of attainment in their chosen field of endeavour. This a far greater handicap and disability than virtually any physical problem I can think of, with the exception of death!! From politics to theoretical physics and numerous other examples beside there are people whose careers prove that the biggest handicap is the framework of understanding in which people place themselves, and that even the severest of physical difficulties are at most secondary.

“With the exception of death”….wonderful!

She is following her strength of listening and minimizing her “weakness” of not hearing. A beautiful lesson.

[Thanks to moreover for the inspiration and links.]

I just received a new book published by Gallup Press about strengths in schools entitled Building Engaged Schools: Getting the Most Out of America’s Classroom. The author, Gary Gordon, has a rather radical idea: schools need to look to business for a management model -that the best way to improve productivity is to tap people’s inner drives and motivations, something which corporate America understands if not always practices. The way to engage students and bring schools back to life is to make the most of teacher and student talent.

I’m really excited about it. I hope to have some posts about it soon.

Another child related strengths book is coming soon. It’s called Your Child’s Strengths. Its author is Jenifer Fox, and she runs an independent girls boarding school, the Purnell School, which she says is the only explicitly strengths-based school in the world. You can see some video of Purnell on the Today Show here: http://www.purnell.org/page/294.

I’m also really excited about this book and have it pre-ordered from Amazon!

Peter Vajda provides insight and thoughts on employee engagement in a post titled What to do when the thrill is gone:

curiously, the vast majority of employees seem to enjoy a six-month honeymoon period when they first start a job during which they are actively involved and engaged with their team and their organization. Then the thrill begins to evaporate.

The critical question, of course, is why?

Peter addresses some of the common reasons for this including lack of information sharing, failure to deliver those things promised in the recruiting process, and a feeling of abandonment when there is no direct feedback. To help correct these and other issues, he offers the following:

• Show mutual respect
• Hold one another accountable
• Ask folks to contribute and participate
• Discover and nurture employees’ hidden talents and aptitudes
• Managers need to invest time, interest and energy in their people
• Recognize and reward effort
• Live the values
• Relate to others from their heart as well as their head

Check out the full post for more information including his “Key Questions to Ask Yourself”.

I thought it might be interesting to see a list of companies that use StrengthsFinder and Q12 employee engagement. I know there are lots but here is what I’ve found so far, mostly from the Gallup Management Journal:

St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic Health System
Marriott Vacation Club International
Winegardner & Hammons’ Hotels
Ann Taylor
Best Buy
Qwest
Cabela’s
International Paper
Stryker
DaimlerChrysler (well, they used to be together)
B&Q
Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children
Owens Corning (Rio Claro, Brazil)
Transitions Optical

Any others that should be added? Please put them in the comments.

Baylor University
Eastern University
Greenville College
Ivy Tech Community College - North Central
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Calvin College
Azusa Pacific University
Dakota Wesleyan University
The Michael E. Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University
Grace College

If you know of a school that isn’t on the list, please leave it in the comments. Thanks to IvyStrengths blog for some of these. Of course, StrengthsQuest is a great resource for schools.

One of my favorite techniques for coping with weaknesses is to change my perspective. I’ve heard it called reframing, mental gymnastics, and wearing rose colored glasses. For me it means turning a weakness on it’s head to reveal a more positive aspect. This “cheerful optimism” has to be truthfully done, you shouldn’t trick yourself into thinking a weakness is a strength when it is not.

You can do this both with yourself and with others. Often someone’s “weakness” can just be something you don’t like about a person. Changes in perspective can be very helpful in those situations. That pushy person doesn’t necessarily have a rudeness weakness, they are assertive! Being quiet and sensitive isn’t a weakness, it’s being thoughtful and sure of your words. That loving and forgiving person doesn’t have a laxness problem, they are showing their strength of empathy. That social butterfly isn’t an incorrigible flirt, they are using their Woo.

If you find yourself pissed off at someone at work, try to change your perspective to see them from a position that you can admire. I once had a coworker who was always calling me with questions and suggestions. At first I was annoyed at these intrusions and was getting fed up with them, until I deliberately changed my perspective. I saw that she was very dedicated to the cause we shared, was enthusiastic and her attention to detail meant I didn’t have to sort through a mountain of data myself. Those intrusions were actually saving me a ton of time and effort. Once I could see the good she was doing me and the group, I began to cherish her and her contributions.

So try it, it’s not hard. Just remember that you want the final result to be gratitude for every member of the team. That’s what strengths is about.

Business 2.0 has a current article out titled Management 101: Lessons from Seoul which talks about the New Paradigm Center (NPC), a South Korean government-funded research and consulting organization which just launched a few years ago. The aim of the organization is to promote and study people-focussed management practices in small to medium sized enterprises. The organization has already worked with over 170 companies, some of which were perilously close to ruin. To help these companies recover and prosper the NPC focuses on a list of solutions including:

“…investing in employee training, team building, reducing work hours, increasing organizational trust, raising the level of employee satisfaction and engagement, and improving communication so employees understand their company’s goals and precisely what is expected of them. “

And take a look at the results:

“NPC’s client companies have increased sales an average of 7 percent and boosted profits more than 26 percent. The companies also report a 60 percent rise in quality of products and services and a substantial reduction in accidents and injuries through revamped procedures.”

To read the original article and more about the NPC check out:
* Business 2.0 via CNN Money
* CCTV International
* onCampus, OSU’s newspaper

We primarily talk about the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment tool (considered self-report), but there are other methods to determine your strengths such as aptitude testing conducted at testing facitities (considered objective-report). Despite being quite different in the manner in which these tests are conducted, both types of reporting have plenty of support. While this type of testing may help kick-start your path to strengths, you need to really be alert to the clues that are left behind.

I think the biggest clue-generator revolves around one critical question that no test can measure very accurately: how do you feel when you perform a certain activity or action? This is a really hard question to capture in a test because often it’s based, not only on your own internal workings, but your environment and the conditions of it. Buckingham gives the acrostic SIGN (which John talked in a previous post) to help in this line of questioning. Some of the questions related to SIGN might be:

• Do you feel successful after an activity?
• Do you look forward to performing that activity before you start it?
• Are there activities you are compelled towards?
• Which activities are really easy for you to do?
• Which activities are so addictive that you’ll put them above other things, you’ll go out of your way for them?

Asking those questions are clues to what your talents are. But don’t neglect the clues of the environment when you ask them. Some examples might be:

• When you do this activity, are there other people involved? What kind of people? Does it make a difference?
• What is the perfect setting to perform this activity?
• Does it matter how much preparation is needed before you start this activity?
• Is the activity dependent on something happening before or after it?

The goal is to ask questions and look for the clues that will tell you what your talents might really be and what environmental requirements exist for you to really turn those into strengths. Test yourself, soak it in, and then ask yourself throughout your day the questions needed to really help you to the next level.