Is it time to shift the focus?

Image from Canva

Last week, I had the real pleasure of working with an educator on identifying and gaining clarity on what their strengths are.  We incorporated Marcus Buckingham’s definition of strengths which is not only something that we are good at but something that also strengthens us in the process. We then explored how their strengths could be harnessed and brought into play to support them through some current challenges.

It's part of our natural human tendency to zoom in on areas of perceived weakness -focusing on what's not going well while often overlooking the powerful impact of leveraging our strengths to grow and solve problems.

Through my time working in schools, this resonates deeply. Whether reviewing lesson observations, parent surveys, or staff feedback, I always found myself zeroing in on the areas of growth, despite a slew of positives. It was almost automatic to skip past the strengths and focus on what needed "fixing."

And school environments often embrace and promote this deficit approach to development, particularly for staff.

But what if we shifted the focus?

What if we explored and really unpicked and understood what we are like at our best?

If we confidently knew the strengths we had and how we could apply them to work through some of the challenges we face?

What if, when facing feedback we spent time really exploring the positives?

Imagine if this was rolled out to whole school communities and we placed our focus on highlighting, exploring and reflecting on the strengths that our colleagues and students have.

If you would like to find out more about exploring your strengths either as a school leader or as a school leadership team then drop me an email to find out more.