Adventures By Design

For the past couple months I was feeling pretty crumby about my teaching practice. I knew that I could do much better than I was, and was frustrated that teaching didn’t come more easily to me. I was able to see the mistakes I was making, but not many of the successes. I saw such potential all around and within me, and was dissatisfied with the gulf between what is and what could be.

I mentioned my frustrations to my colleague and friend AJ who asked me a simple question: “what are you good at?” The question caught me off guard, since I was much more accustomed to thinking about my faults. I stammered away for a minute until it was obvious to both of us that I didn’t really know. AJ then handed me a book, saying that this book (a gift from her previous school board) had helped her identify and develop her own strengths. She suggested that if I understood the things that I am good at, I could use them to improve my ability to teach.

The book she gave me is called Teach With Your Strengths. It is published by Gallup Press; you know, the folks who ask all those surveys and opinion polls? Well, they’ve also been doing research into what differentiates great professionals from less effective ones. They have discovered that no matter what the field, professionals who are highly effective at their jobs all have one thing in common: they make the most of their natural talents. Further, the book counsels, there is no point trying to improve your weaknesses, at best you will be mediocre. If instead, you take that time and energy and invest in your natural talents, you will be much more effective.

I was curious. How did it work? Using the unique code provided in the book, participants visit Gallup’s StrengthsFinder.com website, where they answer a series of questions. Each question is a continuum of two statements that might describe you, for example “I read instructions carefully” and “I like to jump right into things.” You choose which statement best describes yourself, and indicate the degree to which is does (neutral, slightly, or very strongly). Based on these responses, StrengthsFinder will tell you your top five strengths.

Below are my top five. I feel they are accurate, although I’ve never thought of those attributes as strengths. I also notice a strong constellation of similarity among four of my five. Now that I’ve identified my strengths, the next step is to figure out how to use them to my advantage. I’m not exactly sure how to do that yet, but thanks to AJ and Gallup, I feel I have a good place to start.

1) Ideation

You are fascinated by ideas. What is an idea? An idea is a concept, the best explanation of the most events. You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are. An idea is a connection. Yours is the kind of mind that is always looking for connections, and so you are intrigued when seemingly disparate phenomena can be linked by an obscure connection. An idea is a new perspective on familiar challenges. You revel in taking the world we all know and turning it around so we can view it from a strange but strangely enlightening angle. You love all these ideas because they are profound, because they are novel, because they are clarifying, because they are contrary, because they are bizarre. For all these reasons you derive a jolt of energy whenever a new idea occurs to you. Others may label you creative or original or conceptual or even smart. Perhaps you are all of these. Who can be sure? What you are sure of is that ideas are thrilling. And on most days this is enough.

2) Learner

You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered-this is the process that entices you. Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences-yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”

3) Woo

Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don’t. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet-lots of them.

4) Input

You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information-words, facts, books, and quotations-or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.

5) Intellection

You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.