View the Spring, 2017 message >>

A few years ago in this space, I wrote about what we could hope to accomplish in starting students down the path to their own leadership journey. Key among the things I thought we could accomplish was with our help, “students can…learn more about what assets they bring to leadership.” This fall we took a great step forward in doing just that for our entering students.

All of our incoming students this fall took the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment from Gallup. The Strengths model is based on the idea people succeed when they focus on what they do best and develop their talents into strengths. Effort invested in developing existing strengths yields more than effort invested in developing in areas in which we are weak, and evidence suggests a host of positive outcomes for people who focus on their strengths.

As a result of taking the StrengthsFinder assessment, all of our new students know what their top 5 (out of 34 possibilities) strengths are. During On Iowa!, they got an introduction to the ideas behind strengths and a more in depth understanding of what their particular strengths are. We’re not just leaving it there, though.

In a number of courses and student activities (see bebetter.uiowa.edu/incentive-program/), the results of each student’s StrengthsFinder assessment will be revisited in the context of what they are learning.

We have a lot more planned as part of our goal to prepare all students for leadership in and beyond the college years. I’ll keep you posted.

PS: My top five: Relator • Responsibility • Learner • Harmony • Input