Go - Put Your Strengths to Work

Today is the first day of Willow Creek's Leadership Summit. Journey has been a host site of the summit for 4 years now. Every year I find myself refreshed, challenged and incredibly re-motivated to develop my strengths in leadership. This week thousands of church leaders get to sit at the feet of amazing leaders, like Bill Hybels, Carly Fiorina (former CEO of HP), Colin Powell, Jimmy Carter, John Ortberg and more.

All three sessions were incredible today, but I'll definitely have to post about the teachings of Marcus Buckingham. Marcus is a consultant for Gallup and a best selling author. Marcus' two latest books "Go - Find Your Strengths" and "Go - Put Your Strengths to Work" have influenced my outlook on personal potential in incredible ways.

Here are some notes from Marcus Buckingham's Session

In our attempt to find our strengths most of us tend to focus on how to improve on our weaknesses instead of how to build on our strengths. We need to spend NONE of our time finding out who we aren't. We need to spend ALL of our time developing who we are. In making marriages better we study divorce. In finding joy and peace, we study depressed people. These are WRONG approaches in strengthening these areas. In making my marriage better, I need to study what IS RIGHT in my marriage. In seeking joy and peace, I need to spend time thinking about where and when I DO feel joy and peace.

In a poll by Gallup last year, millions of parents of high schoolers were asked to answer the following question: "If your child comes home with their report card with the following grades- A in English, A in History, C in Biology and an F in Math, which one of those grades do you give the most attention?" Out of millions of people in 6 different countries, 70% of these parents say they'd give the "F" the most attention. hmmm?? Something wrong with this picture. We're spending more time enforcing in our children what they AREN'T and giving NO FOCUS to who they truly ARE.
Marcus mentioned that he's not saying we should merely pat our children on the backs for the "A's" but go deeper and ask them why they like that class so much or what intrigues them about that subject that makes them do so well. Marcus said in finding THOSE answers, the "F" will figure itself out. wow!!! WOW!!!



To learn excellence, you must study excellence!

What % of people spend most of the day playing to their strengths?
* 17% (2005); 14% (2006); 12% (2007)


How do we move that number?
* Change your people systems …or…
* Start w/ yourself (put your own oxygen mask on first)


3 myths:
MYTH - As you grow, you personality changes (66% believe this)
Truth - As you grow, you become more of who you are!

MYTH - You’ll grow the most in area of your weaknesses.
Truth - You’ll grow most where you are already strong.

MYTH - A great team member puts their strengths aside and does whatever it takes to help the team.
Truth - A great team member volunteers their strengths to the team most of the time.

3 skills to learn:
* I.D. your strengths
* Change something (put together a strong-week plan)
* Talk about your strengths w/o bragging & your weaknesses w/o whining

What are your strengths?
Take a blank sheet of paper, draw a line on page, right side = “I loved it", left side = “I loathed it”
* Look for 4 signs of a strength
o S - success
o I - instincts (what you look forward to)
o G - growth (you feel your brain “growing” as you do it)
o N - needs (you were put here to do that…)
+ The “I” the “G” & the “N” feed the “S”
o Pick the 3 strongest & write 3 strength statements ("I feel strong when…”)

I am going home encouraged and so excited to identify and put my strengths to work. If you want these books, I'll let you borrow them. They WILL change you!