Purpose of this site
The purpose of this LibGuide is to share information related to the concept of Strengths in order to help individuals, teams, and perhaps the KU Libraries someday to utilize various Strengths related concepts.
Marcus Buckingham defines strengths as actions that excite the individual and something that makes the individual feel strong. Strengths should also help energize someone and not drain them. Only an individual can know her strengths. Others may guess correctly in some cases. However, someone may excel at something (e.g. organizing events) but it actually may be very draining to that individual.
How to effectively use Strengths
According to Shane Lopez, former KU faculty member and now Senior Scientist at the Gallup Organization, to effectively use strengths we need to:
- Help staff discover their strengths.
- Link strengths to goals.
- Have social support for using strengths.
- Have success experiences related to strengths.
- Have many reinforcements from others about using strengths.
Words to ponder
Socrates is concerned to find out what are the underlying principles of society, even the simplest. He finds them to be two. First, mutual need. Men are not self-sufficient, they need to live together in society. Second, difference of aptitude. Different people are good at different things, and it is best for all that each should concentrate on developing his particular aptitudes. - Plato ( a long, long, long time ago) [Thanks to Kim]
"There's no 'I' in team" misses the point. Individual specialization is not the enemy of teamwork; it is its founding principle" -Marcus Buckingham (Nov. 15, 2010 Tweet)
"The irony of true service: You have to own who you are before you can thoughtfully give yourself away" -Marcus Buckingham (Nov. 16, 2010 Tweet)
