Strength Based Approaches

Anyone who has been around me longer than 30 minutes knows that I am all about the Strength-Based approach as stressed by Gallup and Marcus Buckingham specifically. It infiltrates everything I do. I had a wonderful discussion with an individual a few weeks back regarding this.

I was at my grandson Gavin's 5th grade end of the year outing at a local amusement park. As we were leaving I was chatting with one of the three teachers in his team. Now, Gavin likes all three of his teachers, but really liked this particular one. I had thought perhaps it had something to do with the fact that this teacher was male. I was so wrong.

As that teacher and I walked to the final departure location at the end of the day, we were chatting about how Gavin liked him and blossomed in his classes. The teacher then said something like this:

"I believe every child has a strength. My goal is to discover what that strength is and then play to that. Gavin loves details and likes for things to be exact and logical. If they do not make sense, he cannot buy it. He wants facts to support what you are saying."

He could not have hit the nail on the head  better. Gavin is so much that way, that at night you cannot say, "Gavin it is 9:30 . . . bed time." He will reply, "It is not 9:30, it is 9:26."

I began to talk to this teacher about Marcus Buckingham and the strength-based approach. I learned he teacher had never heard of it. He simply had noticed that kids respond when you play to their strengths. As I talked about how we do not grow our weaknesses, we simply have to manage around them and not let them pull us down, he became more and more interested.

Now to us, as a parent or grandparent or whatever interaction you have with others, do you seek to recognize their strengths and play to them? If not, you are missing a golden opportunity. It is something I do in leadership capacities and folks always respond. If you have never checked out this leadership / parenting / friendship / co-worker / colleague tool, I encourage you to do so at Marcus Buckingham's Site here and others. Read the book Now Discover Your Strengths, (and his Buckingham's others as well) take the inventory, grow yourself and help others!!