Chapter 8- Strengths-Based Leadership

"Great leaders practice balancing trust and autonomy while providing strong mentorship."

As a coach and advisor of a student club I get to work with some great kids and mentor them to reach their potential.  My greatest stress and failures came when I micro-managed these kids. Each group needed guidance but flourished when they were given responsibilities and taught to lead and not follow.  Yes, they needed help but I had to learn just how far I should let them struggle before helping (even when they didn’t ask). As they matured as leaders they were better at coming to me before they got overwhelmed and unable to complete tasks.  It was a critical life skill. To help them be successful in leadership (and membership, really) we take time every year to look their strengths and weaknesses and how that impacts the entire “team.” Every student I’ve taught in my last three years knows their personality (using https://www.16personalities.com/) and how that plays into their relationships with others.  As FFA officers they take it a step further and look at how that plays into a successful year of leadership.

The author mentions in one example that "exploring our strengths and passions, along with sharing and learning from one another, provided some of the most innovative and empowering professional development." I don’t know how many teachers within our school take time to evaluate their strengths or are using them to better the staff “team” but I would be interested in seeing how that could make us all better if we did.