by Martha Mazeika
In preparation for the NECPA Directorate Board summer meeting, the members took the Strengths Finder assessment. The StrengthsFinder is an assessment invented by Donald Clifton who is known as the Father of Strengths-Based Psychology (Rath, 2007). Participants are given a report on their top 5 strengths as well as relating the strengths to leadership. The strengths can be categorized into 4 domains Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking.
The 12 members of the directorate board for NECPA represent 30 of the 34 strengths spread throughout the 4 domains. Our strongest concentration of strengths is in the Executing category with all of us having at least on strength in this domain. “Leaders with dominant strength in Executing domain know how to make things happen. When you need someone to implement a solution, these are the people who will work tirelessly to get it done” (Rath, 2007). The second domain in which we had 9 members represented was Relationship Building. “Those who lead with Relationship Building are the essential glue that holds a team together. Without these strengths on a team, in many cases, the group is simply a composite of individuals. In contrast, leaders with exceptional Relationship Building strength have the unique ability to create groups and organizations that are much great than the sum of their parts” (Rath, 2007). Also in the Relationship Building domain, we had 5 out of the 12 members having Harmony as a top five strength. I think this speaks to the last part of this explanation as we as a group feel we are much greater than the sum of our parts. As group we discussed how we can use our strengths to continue to build the NECPA.
Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New York, NY: Gallup Press
Martha Mazeika works at Bunker Hill Community College where she facilitates that Instructional Design for Life Map program. She is also a special presidential appointment to the NECPA board focusing on collaboration and outreach to likeminded organizations and individuals in New England.