Students, Faculty: Put Your Strengths to Work For You

Time really does fly when you’re having fun! It is hard to believe we are already in week six of the semester, and throughout these first six weeks, hundreds of students, faculty and staff here at JCCC have completed the Strengths Assessment and now know their own, unique TOP 5 Themes (1 in 278,000 people have the same TOP 5 as you in DIFFERING orders and 1 in 33.3 million people have the same TOP 5 as you in the SAME order).

For many, this newly discovered and individualized information optimistically and positively opens the door to a new realization of, and connection to, intriguing information that can prove beneficial in many areas of our lives.

In my previous post, I alluded to future posts, beginning with this one, honing in on where and how this knowledge can be put into application, from both a student and instructor perspective including areas such as academic success, professional development, and personal enrichment.

One area, which in my opinion encompasses all of these perspectives, would be the increased ability to identify, understand, and appreciate the diversity present on our campus and in our classrooms and labs. From the student angle, Strengths gives us yet one more instrument to learn about ourselves, and, perhaps even more significant, learn about others. From a faculty perspective, learning about the unique qualities and characteristics of students not only helps identify the need of differentiated instruction, varied delivery styles, and a mixture of assessment methods, but can also assist with classroom management, improved communication, and student engagement.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? But where and how can we use this information more specifically?

A majority of our students will be interviewing for employment opportunities, internships, scholarships, and other educational and professional endeavors. Undoubtedly, the chances of them being asked that question, “Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses.” will likely be posed within those interviews. Once students learn about their own unique talents, they’ll be much better prepared to address this topic with a very individualized answer.

Knowing what your Strengths are can also help students with the plethora of options, choices, and decisions they are presented with. For example, when selecting courses, consideration of this information may help direct students in a more appropriate manner. A student with Futuristic as one of their Strengths will prefer courses in which they see a relationship with their long-term goals, while a student with Maximizer may prefer courses that present a challenge and broadened knowledge, but do not necessarily relate to specific goals.

From a faculty perspective, once your students learn about Strengths in general, and, more specifically, about their own, have the students research other places in which Strengths are utilized, perhaps within a career exploration assignment or project. For example, did you know that companies such as Best Buy, Disney, Wells Fargo, Toyota and Coca-Cola use Strengths in Human Resource decisions and assignments? Do you assign students to interview professionals and have them ask what they like most about their jobs, why they love what they do, or what characteristics they have that helps them be successful? There’s a good chance that those answers will contain clues to those individual’s Strengths and their opportunities to use them regularly.

These are just a few ways in which anyone can put the knowledge and understanding of their TOP 5 to use. Look for future posts for more areas of application. Thanks for reading and I encourage any comments and/or questions.

Don’t forget – JCCC STRENGTHS WEEK is October 5^th through 9^th. The week will be full of fun and interesting Strengths-based activities!