Youths of UNNATI: Values, Creativity and Imagination.

It was torrential rain in the afternoon of Tuesday, 22 August 2017 when the youths of UNNATI (www.unnatiblr.org) were holding the umbrella of values in the room. It was a lesson on values. After a brief discussion, 28 Youths from diverse educational background were amazed to learn their five values or in other words their core values like Honesty, family, love, emotional well-beings etc. Invariably everyone chose Family as their one of the core values.

 When they were asked to draw their values, they all gave a blank look. Questions were thrown to me, sir give me an example, how can I draw values, but I kept mum and wrote on the white board “Draw your values”.  They opened their mind of Ideation and creativity. 

The grand finale was when they presented drawings of values, the room was full of natural laughter, feeling of achievement and creativity.  And the final takeaways were that they knew their values, they can draw their values and they can do it………...values, creativity and imagination.

Blog by   www.satyssparks.com

GALLOPING WITH STRENGTHS

Mr Ranga, the Master Trainer of UNNATI (www.unnatiblr.org) wrote for me " Galloping with Strengths" . It is customary in UNNATI that at the end of the session a chart paper is attached at the back of all participants and trainers. Each one of them write a positive word/sentence at the pasted paper at the back. These words/sentences are the real feedback for everyone. Mr Ranga wrote at my back pasted paper " Galloping with Strengths".

It's true that since 03 November 2015, I have been Galloping with my strengths and making endeavours that those who are coached by me also start Galloping in their lives.

Pictures below will illustrate 

Father and Daughter

          

Mother and Son

Son and Mother

Daughter and Father

Father and Son

Mother and Son

Corporate Team

Corporate Team

UNNATI Team 

We the Team of SatysSparks (www.satyssparks.com) is galloping with strengths which is making difference at three steps of life; at Home, at Schools/Colleges and at Place of Work.

HOW SHOULD A LEADER BEHAVE? HOW SHOULD A LEADER TREAT?

Behaviour, Treatment, Trust, Compassion, Stability and Hope

Introduction

To get the willing loyal cooperation in any age, the leader must be trusted, must lead with compassion, must provide stability to the led and must give them hope for their future and aspirations. These four elements are totally dependent on how the leader behaves and how does the leader treat the team members.

The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different. ----Peter F Drucker, Management Guru

 “Future has always been different”. Future is a factor of time and the time is always changing. The leaders and the led are required to adapt to the changing time--- human behaviours and technological advancements are two essential elements of change.

Technological advancements have taken place in this world of ours since the existence of human beings. The technology has changed from the stone age to the current age of IOT, robotics, AI, social media etc but the core definition of leadership has remained the same ie

“The art of influencing and directing men/women in such a way as to obtain their willing obedience, confidence, respect and loyal cooperation in order to accomplish the mission”

 AI, IOT and Robotics will never rule the earth- these will facilitate humans to rule humans. Therefore, even in the age of automation, robotics, AI and IOT, humans will rule the earth. The roles will change. Adaptability of humans for the survival will become predominant. As long as humans exist, there will be need of a leader and followers. The behaviours of leaders and treatment given out to followers will continue to dominate this world of humans.

How you behave and how you treat?

            These two words are two sides of a coin. Although, the flower girl of My Fair Lady says, “The difference between a lady and flower girl is not how she behaves but how she is treated” (Pygmalion by GB Shaw). These words are true and applicable on day to day life; personal or professional. The Gallup Survey shows that 71% of the people who changed their jobs are due to the treatment meted to them by their supervisors.

            The flip side of the coin is the behaviour of the leaders/supervisors. How should the leader behave? In one organization, the manager attended weekend workshop on leadership and for a few weeks following, he behaved like the character quoted during the weekend workshop on leadership. The manager behaved artificially and it changed as and when he attended another workshop on leadership. This brought misery to the entire team with reduced productivity and morale. Therefore, a leader/manager must know his/her strengths and behave naturally and in a consistent manner. Gallup gives a platform for a behaviour. Sathish Nair, a retired Military Officer has Consistency as one of his signature themes.   A person with Consistency theme is more interested in group needs than individual wants. He will reduce variance and increase uniformity. He will bring rules and policies that promote cultural predictability. He will require standard operating procedures. He loves repeating things in exact same way. He hates unnecessary customization. He follows the principle that “what is right for one is right for all and what is wrong for one is wrong for all”. Even today after his retirement, he is the same. His behaviours are as per his strengths and known to all with whom he deals.

            But how does he treat others? He believes that treating people with consistency promotes fairness. He applies rules equally, absolutely, and with no favoritism. Swapnil, A XII Standard girl who has Consistency as one of her signature themes, was taken by her father, Rajesh for the Aadhar Registration. There was a long queue. Rajesh knew the officials, so he jumped the queue and was given preferential treatment. He called Swapnil to come ahead, but Swapnil being a Consistent person, refused to come forward by jumping the queue. She stood her ground and got the chance after two hours for the Aadhar registration. This is the behaviour of a person with Consistency and she should be treated as such. Rajesh learnt a lesson and came to know another strength of her daughter.

            The normal attitude in India is to jump the queue. If someone else jumps the queue when you are standing for hours, is generally not tolerated. Swapnil’s consistency saved her father from a great embarrassment. What your followers are looking for is the behaviour like Swapnil and Sathish and treatment consistent with their strengths and values.

Trust, Compassion, Stability and Hope

            A Gallup Survey on why do people follow revealed that people do not care for the usual stuff like vision, purpose, wisdom, humor, humility etc. What made them follow the leader are Trust, Compassion, Stability and Hope.

Trust comes with honesty. Trust begets from genuineness. Trust sprouts from behaviour and it grows the way leader treats the led. Truthfulness and geniuses cannot be faked. “One must never make a show of false emotions to one’s men. The ordinary soldier has a surprisingly good nose for what is true and what false” said Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, German General Staff. What Rommel said in 1944, while fighting in the deserts of Africa is applicable even today in all fields of life; professional or otherwise. Genuine show of emotions will result in trust. Honesty, integrity and respect are main contributors in building trust. Trust also increases speed and efficiency in the work place. Trust established between two people make things happen faster. As Kofi Annan, (ex- Secretary General of the UN) explained, “if you don’t have relationship, you start from zero each time.”

Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report: 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, 40% less burnout.     By Paul J Zak, HBR Jan-Feb 17 Issue

Compassion means caring, friendship, happiness and love for the people. Rajeev, a senior employee of a technical MNC was blessed with a son. His office was two hours of travel time from his place where he lived. The company had another office just a few minutes away from his home. When his wife delivered a baby boy, it was difficult for her to take care of the child alone. Rajeev requested his supervisor to allow him to work from home or to work from the nearby office. He copied the mail to one step higher than his supervisor. His request was turned down by his immediate supervisor but was accepted by the hierarchy whom he had copied the mail. Such attitude of the supervisor will neither promote compassion in the organization nor improve the relationship. The leader should not care for the business and performance only but show compassion to the personal needs of the employees also. This will be facilitated only if the leader understands the needs of the individuals. These individuals make the team interdependent and efficient.

Stability means solid foundation. It means security, strengths, support and peace. If an employee’s job is threatened every day, it will defy stability and greater productivity. The employee must continue getting his/her bread butter, home, life of his family and children------ Roti, Kapda and Makan. Transparency helps in creating stability. Performance of the company and future of the company generates stability.

Hope implies besides ensuring excellence today, the leader must meet future aspirations of the employees. It means direction, faith and guidance. Such expectations of the employees can only be met by a leader who is a coach and not a bossy manager. Harshna is an enterprise opened by Khurram Mir in Srinagar and he is running this in-spite of prevailing violence. Khurram Mir is an Agricultural Entrepreneur. His business is to buy and store apples and provide space to apple growers to store apples. While recruiting his staff he tells them that they would never be required to work at Harshana for more than two years. “my standard instruction is – after two years, if you do not leave me and start your own business, then I have failed” -extract from chapter—Business Models in the World’s Most Dangerous Place in his book “Recasting India” by Hindol Sengupta. Khurram Mir, like a true leader he, not only ensures excellence for his employees but within two years, prepares them to become independent. He gives hope.

Aspects of behaviour, treatment, trust, stability and hope are going to be further illustrated with the three examples in three diversified fields. As to how Ramesh Swamy is leading his team to achieve success of his dream of empowering youths. Why did Maj GSD charge into the cave occupied by the terrorists and others followed him almost to death? How did OG created an effective and efficient team of logistics and transport in Baghdad which became magnet of talents?

Ramesh: of UNNATI

Ramesh Swamy, the Lead Trustee of UNNATI Bengaluru (www.unnatiblr.org) founded SGBS Trust (Sree Guruvarurappan Bhajan Samaj Trust). Ramesh has always had a deep-rooted involvement with Indian Culture and is passionate about helping to bring change in the lives of the underprivileged, as he firmly believes that only then will there be progress and overall societal development. Ramesh has been involved in organizing events to promote art and culture for over two decades. He has been a source of inspiration and support to many young artistes. He constantly scouts for young talent and provides them a platform that will help launch their careers. With an inspiring attitude and unbounded energy, Ramesh today is one of those few, who have touched many lives in India.

UNNATI is an institution under the aegis of SGBS, with its core philosophy: Learn-Earn and Stand-Tall, aims at youth empowerment. It is a vocational training and transformational programme which helps the underprivileged youth to secure stable employment. UNNATI offers a 50-days vocational training programme at a subsidized cost to the underprivileged less educated, unemployed and economically backward youths with an assured job. UNNATI enables inclusive growth by empowering families below poverty line. Ramesh is the Lead Trustee of UNNATI, who runs the day to day affairs of UNNATI. He has succeeded in establishing 50 UNNATI Centers all over India and so far, more than 16,000 youths have benefitted from the programme and are proudly standing tall in the world. (data from www.unnatiblr.org   and confirmed by Ramesh). He further plans to train at least 10,000 youths in the year 2017-18.

Ramesh is the leader of the flock. He has a core group of Trustees, Volunteers and UNNATI Employed Staff who are part of his team. He is a leader. How does he lead his diverse team of employees and volunteers? He leads them by his openness. As any other leader, he also lives in a glass house and recently he has turned on the lights for everyone to see, thereby increasing his OPEN AREA on the Johari Window. He has let everyone know his Strengths and Values. His strengths are “Connectedness, Activator, Communication, Relator and Analytical”. His values are “Loyalty, Passion, Achievement, Emotional Well-Being and Community. Now his entire team knows his strengths and values. Not only this, Ramesh also knows Strengths and Values of his core group ie those who work directly under his supervision. Most of them knew each other for the several years, but did not know why they behave as they do and why they treat as they treat.

Ranga Gopal Krishna is an elderly volunteer and the Master Trainer of UNNATI. Ramesh activates and Ranga trains. Ranga’s strengths are “Harmony, Developer, Responsibility, Discipline and Maximizer. His values are “Family, Dignity, Justice, Knowledge and Recognition”

A detailed analysis of Ramesh’s Strengths and values reveals that

His Behaviour

ü  He likes to remain connected to the rural/urban youths whom he may help. He also likes to remain connected to his team and stake holders. His emotional attachment to needy youth of the community, state and the nation always glares on the balcony.

ü  His analytical and activator strengths make him a great analyst pertaining to the needs of the youth of the country and opening of 50 centres all over India and still striving to do more.

ü  He is a great communicator not only to his stake holders but also to all. Making difference in the lives of 16,000 youths communicates itself – communication by deeds.

His Treatment of Others

ü  Knowing the values and strengths of his core group, has prompted him to treat them as per their strengths and values.

ü  Take the example of his treatment of his Master Trainer, who has the strengths to maintain harmony in the group; his responsibility, maximiser and discipline ensure that the jobs are done with perfection and on time. Ramesh knows and understands Ranga’s strengths and his treatment is dictated by these. Ramesh also considers Ranga’s values while dealing with him. One of the most important strengths as Master Trainer, Ranga has is Developer. One of the UNNATI students spoke during a valediction ceremony “when we came to UNNATI we were like raw materials and now after 50 days of training, we are finished product ready to stand tall and independently”. These words describe Ranga the best. That’s what he does.

ü  With the knowledge of each other’s strengths and values, their behaviours and treatment are well defined and as clear as crystal.

What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths – and can call on the right strength at the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that describes all leaders.                                                          ----- Donald Clifton, Social Scientist

Conclusion

To sum up, leadership whether those were the days of ancient time, medieval period or of modern era or in future days of IOT, automation, robotics and many other inventions ---- the leader will be leader only when he or she leads people. There are people to follow. They will follow provided the leader behaves appropriately, the leader treats the led with compassion. Provided leader creates an environment of trust. Provided the leader coaches them for the current excellence and future aspirations. Provided the leader ensures stability. So, the leadership boils around six words – behaviour, treatment, trust, compassion, stability and hope.

The Team: कबड्डी कबड्डी! कबड्डी कबड्डी! कबड्डी कबड्डी ! मर गया। जी गया। Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Dead and Alive

Prior to internationalization of Kabaddi (कबड्डी कबड्डी) in late 1950s and early 60s we in the village used to play kabaddi (कबड्डी) with very simple accounting system that determined winners or losers. All boys assembled got divided into two teams. While playing, the boy lost the breadth or got touched by opponent or was touched by the opponent was decaled dead (मर गया). He was made to sit outside the field. As and when an opponent boy was declared dead (मर गया), then the other boy was declared alive (जी गया) and he joined his team. This way the game carried on till one side had no one left ie all dead (मर गया). Those early formative years of my life I realised the value of team while playing Kabaddi (कबड्डी). You were decaled dead due to team work of opponents and you were declared alive due to the team work of own side. Kabaddi (कबड्डी). Gives us one of the best example of team work.

There is no doubt that the sports teams are the best examples of team as the adage goes that the “Battle of Waterloo was won in the playing fields of Eton”. Besides, in the field of Kabaddi, I realized and experienced the value of team when we had to evacuate a wounded fellow soldier. He was wounded in an intense encounter with a group of terrorists deep down in a mountainous terrain full of tropical type of vegetations. He was to be brought to a place involving 5 km uphill climb through a narrow winding track. The wounded soldier was secured to a stretcher and carried by three teams of four of us changing every after 10 minutes. We managed to bring him to the helipad from where he was evacuated to a Military Hospital and he survived after battling with his life for several days. I have not seen in my 33 years of military life and 10 years working with the United nations in Iraq and Syria, the teams by its efforts, cooperation, dedication, zeal and efforts saving the life of a colleague. There are numerous examples in the accounts of wars and battles, but this one was which I witnessed happening.

May be the military operation, sports field, corporate world or the world of any profession, the success can only reach its peak with a team as described by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie in the book “Strengths-Based Leadership”.  An ideal and interdependent team looks like this:

How do we build and operate a Strengths-Based Team?

The first and the foremost action is to know yourself, which has been covered in detail in my previous blogs. The second most important aspect is to know your team members. To build a successful team each member of the team must know the strengths, values and other characteristics of each members. A strengths-based Interdependent team will look like this:

Knowing each other will increase the Open Areas when studied on the graphs of Johari Window.

What will happen with the increase in the Open Area? It will increase the level of confidence in each other. It will bring in respect and dignity while dealing with each other, they will all understand as to why one behaves the way he/she behaves. It will bring in Harmony amongst all. Member will be ever willing to support each other. This will increase the productivity, reduce absenteeism, improve employee engagement and will better the employee retention.

Assignment of Responsibilities as per the Strengths.

The figures illustrated below exemplifies as how to assign responsibilities in a balanced team.

Bog by Satyendra Kumar of www.satyssparks.com

How to choose a career? How to reach dizzy heights in the chosen career?

 

Other day, I got a call from a Chartered Accountant (CA) Santhosh. He said he does not like the job of CA which he was practising for the last five years. He went through Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment and a marathon one on one coaching for 4 hours. His strengths are Adaptability, Positivity, Harmony, Relator and Woo.  He loved teaching. He studied B Com because most of his friends took B Com.  After the Strengths-Based coaching intervention he has commenced a CA coaching school and he is enjoying his new-found job.

Hemjit was then working in a real estate company. In 8 years of his work life he had seen the functioning of five companies operating in various fields. Hemjit did not like any of the five jobs. When he learnt about the Clifton StrengthsFinder, it took him almost a year to make up his mind to take the CSF Assessment. Once he took the assessment he discovered that his talents lie in Empathy, Ideation, Developer, Individualization and Learner.  Out of five, three are in Relationship Building two in the Strategic Thinking. From the conversation with him, it transpired that his ideation theme is the most dominant in him ie in the field of creativity. Now he is migrating to the job which will give him opportunity to be creative. He loved photography and now has shifted his career in the field of photography. The migration is gradual so that he continues economic stability.

·         Ideation talents are all about creativity.

• ·         Environments that reward your creativity and give you the time, space, and freedom to experiment and dream will bring out your best.
• ·         Select an organisation where leaders encourage and solicit your divergent thinking, stimulating them to consider some innovative approaches. You will be able to find new and better ways of doing things within the organisation, and you may be assistance in strategic planning exercises.
• ·         Consider career in which creativity seems to be important.

Ahil, a B Com graduate never liked the course of study that he was pursuing. It was his last semester of the Final Year. Somehow, he completed the course. He wanted to pursue his Post-Graduation in accordance with his talents/strengths. He went through Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment and when coached he discovered that his talents are Context, Learner, Intellection, Input and Connectedness. Out of five four of his talents lie in Strategic Thinking and one in Relationship building. During coaching conversation, we discovered that his Context, Leaner, Intellection and Input were dominant themes and he loved history and researching on past events. So far, his Post-Graduation studies he took admission to study Archaeology. He is very happy and doing well. One of the career planning guide given to Ahil was “Interview archaeologists, historians, museum curators, humanities professors, or antique appraisers about their talents and what they love about their work”.

Rajeev is working in the IT Industry for the last 16 years. He has moved forward in his career but he was not sure how to move ahead in the field of work of his choice. He was confused about the choice. He underwent the Strengths Coaching and discovered that his strengths are Ideation, Input, Context, Intellection and Adaptability. His four out of five themes lie in the Domain of Strategic Thinking and one in Relationship Building. After knowing his strengths, he is manoeuvring himself in the field of research and development in the same profession of IT.

Ronita was employed in the field of sales of home loan by a reputed bank. She had her targets to achieve which she never achieved. She was so much awed by the fear of going to office that he did not sleep well. Her health was deteriorating. She resigned after three months and was looking for direction. She underwent Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment and coaching and her strengths are Input, Adaptability, Restorative, Responsibility and Harmony.  After a detailed coaching, we realised that she is a voracious reader and a peaceful person, who likes harmony. Her Input, Adaptability and Harmony are the most dominant themes. She underwent some additional training in the subjects she liked and changed her line of profession commensurate with her strengths. The suitable description of a person of her talents described in first person and 10 sentences are:

1.       As an easy-going person, I go with the flow. I want to calm others whose tension limits their performance and enjoyment.

2.       I am aware of needs because I live in the present, and often have what I and others need because I gather useful resources.

3.       I foster collaboration when I help teams find useful resources and when I help them manage their emotional tension.

4.       If I had a rose garden, I would tend to rose conscientiously, and I would always take time to smell them as well.

5.       Others can count on me to build emotional environments that encourages cooperation and facilitate practical productivity.

6.       My service to others involves identifying real needs and a commitment to finding and sharing exactly what they need.

7.       I take time to smell the roses, but if I see bugs on the roses, I get the insecticide.

8.     Problems are normal in life, so I don’t get upset. My practical, even- keeled approach calms others and promotes peace.

9.       My ability to diagnose and solve problems is enhanced because I know how to acquire and use tangible resources that work.

10.   I am willing to sacrifice and serve so that something or someone broken can be made whole.

Keeping above in mind she has selected her second career and is quite happy about it.

There are numerous examples like that of Santhosh, Hemjit, Ahil, Rajeev and Ronita who have benefitted from the programme. I have more than 200 cases where the lives have changed for better.  Santhosh being a CA has changed within his technical capability to the more likeable department of teaching. Hemjit has totally changed his track from real estate to photography. Ahil has changed his course of study leading to a career in Archaeology from commerce. Mohanan has changed from an ordinary programmer to the world of research and development within the organisation and is doing well. Ronita has found a job which she likes, where she is fully engaged when compared with a dreaded sale presentative of a home finance.

In all above cases, Clifton StrengthsFinder and the Coach let the persons know their strengths and best direction of their profession. Neither the coach nor the StrengthsFinder Gallup Report mentioned about the suitability of a profession. We work on How to achieve the best career goals and not WHAT career.

Talents/Strengths that one discovers because of Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment, are neutral. These are applicable to all profession and walks of life. I have observed after coaching about 400 persons of age group 15 to 78, and from different walks of life, people do not know themselves. So, knowing oneself gives the most thrills to them. Later they build up on their strengths for team, leadership and for achieving their goals.

By Satyendra Kumar,  www.satyssparks.com

Strengths-Based Learning will bring about a revolution in the Field of Education

In the field of learning, there are three most influential figures who play significant roles and they are Students themselves, their parents and their teachers. Besides them, other people like friends, peers and counsellors play advisory roles. The environment prevalent in the national and international economic, technology and job market also play important roles.

Students

“I wish I knew it earlier” said a final year mechanical engineering student. He took the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment and his strengths are Activator, Restorative, Communication, Input, Woo. Three out of five of his strengths lie in the “Influencing Domain”. Further conversation revealed that he is interested in reading books related to psychology, leaning various languages and has commenced counselling other students of his college. He may change his course of studies for Post- Graduation. He may study what he likes.

“This session gave me clarity in what my strengths are. I also learnt the success lies in focussing on your strengths rather than trying your weaknesses” wrote a XII standard student. Her strengths are Maximizer, Individualization, Woo, Activator and Adaptability. All her strengths lie in the “Influencing and Relationship Building Domains”. She loves Psychology, reading human minds, creativity, fine arts, photography, and a very observant person. After receiving detailed coaching, she decided to study English, Journalism and Psychology for her Under Graduate Course. This is the best combination she could get. Strengths Coaching re-assured her and cemented her belief in herself and chose a career path as well as a course of study for herself.

“I was going through a lot of tension and turmoil in life personally as well as a student when Sir Satyendra Kumar sent me a mail regarding this test. After going through the test and knowing my strength I am little sure about my future now. Maybe I am not sure about what exactly I am going to be in my future but I know at least for now that my future is going to be good! And out of all the things that Sir has told me while coaching, from my perspective the best thing or the most important thing he has told is ‘Focus on your strengths and not your weaknesses. We are going to build up your future on STRENGTH better ignore your weaknesses’. Thank you, SIR for all the help!”  These are comments from an Under-Graduate student of Media Studies from a reputed University. Her strengths are Empathy, Positivity, Relator, Significance, Developer.

  

A class XI student who has Includer, Ideation, Command, Self- Assurance and Restorative as his strengths has learnt to leverage his strengths in achieving academic excellence by selecting right course of studies, chose a study technique, chose extracurricular activities and even try and chose suitable teacher all based on his strengths. His drawing below illustrates his plans.

As evident from the above mentioned four examples, Strengths-based Education Programme can be helpful to students in the following ways

• »   Determine the most suitable learning programme.
• »   If necessary at appropriate time change the programme as per the strengths.
• »   Ascertain the programme one is pursuing and gaining self-confidence in what one is doing.
• »   Chose appropriate school, college, study groups and teachers.
• »   Determine strengths-based career path.
• »   Leverage strengths to excel in the academic field.

Parents

She is the mother of three sons. The eldest is in class XI and her strengths are Individualization, Input, Restorative, Connectedness and Responsibility. Her eldest son’s strengths are Includer, Ideation, Command, Self- Assurance and Restorative. (Other two sons are young to take CSF Assessment) She knows her strengths and she knows the strengths of her elder son. She has plans to leverage her strengths and that of her son’s strengths for the academic excellence and other developmental programme for her son. Her drawing below illustrates her plans.

She is a XII Standard girl who has Consistency as one of her signature themes, was taken by her father, for the Aadhar Registration. There was a long queue. He knew the officials, so he jumped the queue and was given preferential treatment. He called her daughter to come ahead, but she being a Consistent person, refused to come forward by jumping the queue. She stood her ground and got the chance after two hours for the Aadhar registration. This is the behaviour of a person with Consistency and she should be treated as such. The father learnt a lesson and came to know an important strength of her daughter. Father’s strengths are Responsibility, Developer, Connectedness, Relator and Includer. Daughter’s strengths are Deliberative, Consistency, Input, Responsibility and Achiever.

 Parents play the most important roles in shaping the future of their children. If they know their strengths and know the strengths of their children, it will not only bring in Harmony in the family but parents will also willingly support children in their entire development---academic being one of them.  As per the book “Strengths Based Parenting” written by Mary Reckmeyer and Jennifer Robinson, parents can support their children the following six ways: -

• »   Provide suitable direction to children based of his/her strengths.
• »   Besides their work life parent must devote their time for the development of children.
• »   Parents must celebrate along with children on their successes; howsoever small may be the success.
• »   Recognition of the achievement of children by parents is the greatest motivator for children.
• »   Emotional support to their children when need will bring about greater bonding between parents and children.
• »    Parents must have structured development plan for their children based on their strengths.

Teachers

An Assistant Professor of an Engineering College who went through the entire programme for 4.5 days commented. Her strengths are Connectedness, Includer, Achiever, Context and Consistency.

Day 1

»   Today’s class I learnt about communication.

»   Values and Strengths are known.

»   They taught how I build up Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity by using Situation, Impact, Resolution and Result (SIRR).

»   Will be able to communicate well by using these.

»   How the themes are related to myself.

»   We did presentation on values. It was very useful.

»   In this I learnt about my Strengths and values.

Day 2

»   In today’s session, I learnt about Ex-PANCHTATVA.

»   Coming together is a beginning.

»   Keeping together is progress.

»   Working together is success--- by Henry Ford.

»   We did pray together.

»   We learnt about different types of team ie Dependent Team, Independent Team and Interdependent Team.

»   Case of Smart City.

»   Barrier to Listening.

»   Powerful partnership.

Day 3

»   In today’s session, I learnt what is leadership?

»   The art of influencing and directing men/women in such a way as to get obtain their willing obedience, confidence, respect and loyal cooperation to accomplish the mission.

»   I learnt how I can use TRUST, COMPASSION, STABILITY AND HOPE with respect to our Strengths and Strengths of the team.

»   Quality of leadership: I learnt to build trust with respect, dignity, honesty and integrity.

»   I learnt to build hope by leadership, direction, and feel enthusiastic about the future.     

Day 4

»   In today’s session, I learnt to achieve goal, which should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and time bound.

»   PDCA Loop: Plan, Do, Check and Act.

»   Project Life Cycle: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing.

»   These were about the hard skills. I learnt top 10 competencies for successful project managers in soft skill topics.

»   Difference between efficient and effective.

»   Emotional Intelligence: I learnt SELF-AWARENESS, SELF- REGULATION, MOTIVATION, EMPATHY AND SOCIAL SKILLS

»   I am going to leverage my learning of strengths-based to enhance my teaching ability to become a great teacher.

An engineering college professor whose strengths are Analytical, Achiever, Connectedness, Learner and Developer. He commented after undergoing one-day strengths coaching session.

• Ø  Really great efforts have been taken to design this programme.
• Ø  Due to this programme I have been able to know my strengths.
• Ø  It will be useful to me for my teaching.
• Ø  It will be really very useful to us.

Finally, Teachers who is the Dronacharya/Chanakya for the students can make a difference in the life of their students by leveraging their strengths in harmony with the strengths of students.

Two examples quoted above are the illustrations from 89 teachers who have received strengths-based intervention. I know for sure that about 60% of them are using their strengths to bring about changes in the learning/teaching scenarios in their respective fields.

A teacher with his/her Maximizer strengths can lead a student to success as depicted in the sketch below.

Extract from Coaching Blog Posted by Tom Matson on www.gallupstrengthscenter.com

While self-awareness is a gift and starting point, students need to know far more than their top five. They need to understand the vital relationship between strengths, engagement and how to thrive on campus. Students who understand that relationship are equipped to create the future they want. They also become more emotionally engaged with their school, which is necessary for the long-term survival of higher education institutions.

When school integrate strengths into existing programmes (rather than making strengths a programme within itself), they achieve a more robust and practicable route toward emotional engagement. And when schools lead with outcomes rather that stopping the conversation at students’ top five, their graduates have better engagement rates at work and higher rates of lifelong well-being.

Blog by Satyendra Kumar of 

https:www.satyssparks.com