Creating A Strengths-based Community

(excerpted from a proposal about developing a strengths based community in a non-profit organization I was participating in)

I am very interested furthering the development of strengths-based communities for example in organizations, or other types of communities. Potentially, this could mean identifying strengths of individuals in the community, and helping individuals learn ways to integrate favorite strengths and utilize them often in their daily lives, e.g., recovery, personal life, work life, and so on. Perhaps even more importantly, this also can mean learning how to help individuals in the community work interactively in nurturing ways to grow personalized strengths and qualities more effectively - to build community based on strengths. Many organizations and communities of various types (education, non-profit, business) exist that are finding ways to do this. These communities are showing that like-minded people can work collaboratively and supportively in creative ways to empower one another through the development of individualized strengths. I have seen many that are currently doing this, but one that is really cool is the Noel Strengths Academy at Azusa Pacific University, the direct website is http://www.apu.edu/strengthsacademy/

I have been discussing strengths for some time in Positive Psychology groups I faciliate, and recently we have identified some important underlying components of strengths. I think one of the most important things when considering strengths is to acknowledge that in our culture people often equate the notion of strength with physicality or perhaps equate strength with "force" or "rigidity." For the most part, the people in the group seemed to agree that these are, if not skewed, then essentially limited views of strength. So, therefore it is important to clarify what we mean when we speak of strengths. The strengths we are referring to when developing strengths are internal strengths or skills or qualities such as strengths of character, talents, aptitudes, life-skills, and so on. I personally feel that authentic internal strength is more closely aligned with concepts like balance, fluidity, firmness, allowance/allowing, humility, tolerance, flexibility, equanimity, clarity, kindness, and other virtues, rather than necessarily associated with rigidity, force, physical strength, oppressiveness, territoriality, toughness, hostility, fear-based perspective, and so on. To some people, the previous statement may seem obvious or even foolish, but unfortunately very often these still tend to be mistaken for strengths. I also think that one of the most important key points about strengths is that strengths always energize us rather than deplete us, and it is a highly individualized process, the theory behind the Realise2 assessment by Linley explains this perspective quite well.

I am aware that many assessments exist that can be useful in helping to identify human strengths, and that can help people integrate personal strengths into their lives. However, no single assessment or even collection of assessments can cover the whole range of possibilities of how the integration of strengths may be able to influence a person's life and recovery. The possibilities are myriad and quite exciting, and frankly the fields of mental health and psychology are merely touching the surface of how this process can be transformational for someone in recovery, or someone seeking to enhance their life.

Simultaneously, because of such myriad possibilities, this means that doing so (integrating strengths) also has the potential to be overwhelming. So, it also seems to make sense that it is critical to simplify and learn about strengths in a methodical and clear-cut way. I have found that the assessments are most importantly vehicles for learning more about oneself, about one's strengths, about the strengths and skills of others, and about strengths in general e.g., they are merely suggestive and not prescriptive, and cannot replace the essential learning curve of self-awareness, reflection, and self-examination.

Although Howard Gardner was certainly not the first to do research or work with human strengths, one might be able to say the basis of the strengths philosophy emanates from, or at least in many ways parallels Gardner's work on Multiple Intelligences (MI) because Gardner helped people to break out of the box to see that intelligence is not one-dimensional; that human intelligence and strength are multi-dimensional and actually differentiated in various modalities and not necessarily only dominated by one single ability as previously thought. Historically in modern science, intelligence has probably most often been described in terms of cognitive capacity.

The primary assessments I am interested in are:

1.The Values in Action (VIA) developed by Martin Seligman former President of the American Psychological Association (APA).

2.The Strengthsfinder 2.0 developed by Donald O. Clifton, who has been referred to as the "father of strengths-based psychology."

3.Multiple Intelligences, developed by Howard Gardner at Harvard University

4.Realise2, this is a UK based assessment with 60 themes which was developed by Alex Linley who studied "strengthspotters" these are people who are skilled in the identification of strengths and skills in others.

5.MBTI, based upon the work of Carl Jung

I think all of the above (as well as perhaps others not mentioned) have merit and can be useful, however, as we discussed, I think it is probably best to rely upon a couple of assessments rather than numerous in order to not be overwhelming. _____
_______________________________________________
Here is a little bit of information about each assessment mentioned
The Values in Action (VIA) this was developed by Martin Seligman (widely considered founder of Positive Psychology) and Chris Peterson and this can be taken free at http://www.authentichappiness.com/
Seligman and Peterson studied many of the global wisdom traditions and came up with 24 of what they felt were the most commonly used virtues falling into 6 categories

1. Wisdom and Knowledge

Creativity
Curiosity
Open-mindedness
Love of learning
Perspective

2. Courage

Bravery
Persistence
Integrity
Zest

3. Love and Humility

Love
Kindness
Social Intelligence

4. Justice

Citizenship
Fairness
Leadership

5. Temperance

Forgiveness and Mercy
Humility
Prudence
Self-control

6. Spirituality and Transcendence

Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
Gratitude
Hope
Humor
Spirituality

The VIA merely identifies the individual's top three strengths. It is free to take but for fees can be assessed professionally.

Strengthsfinder
-From the Now Discover Your Strengths website "The Clifton StrengthsFinder measures the presence of 34 talent themes. Talents are people's naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. The more dominant a theme is in a person, the greater the theme's impact on that person's behavior and performance."
You can find the names and definitions of the 34 strengths themes identified using Strengthsfinder, at the following link http://www.strengthstest.com/theme_summary.php
Multiple Intelligences
*Gardner identified 8 areas of intelligence

1.Verbal/Linguistic - "Word smart"

2.Musical/Rhythmic - "Music smart"

3.Logical/Mathematical - "Logic smart"

4.Naturalist - "Nature smart"

5.Bodily/Kinesthetic - "Body smart"

6.Visual/Spatial - "Picture smart"

7.Interpersonal - "People smart"

8.Intrapersonal - "Self smart"

also, here is a link to a pretty good free online MI assessment http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

Realise2 A UK based assessment from the field of Positive Psychology, over 50,000 people have taken this assessment. -From the Cappeu (the official) website "Realise2 assesses 60 strengths according to the three dimensions of energy, performance and use, making it truly unique and distinct from the typical one-dimensional strengths test. These three dimensions are then used to identify where your strengths lie across the four categories of realised strengths, unrealised strengths, learned behaviours and weaknesses."

"The Strengths Book" written by the developer Linley includes a description of all 60 strengths and explains the theory behind it, which is quite simple but potent. I have this book if you would like to check it out. The official website is http://www.cappeu.com/Realise2.aspx

Also take a look at the Realise2 "4m Model" which will give some better explanation http://www.cappeu.com/Realise2/TheRealise24MModel.aspx

MBTI I will leave this one out for now, since it is perhaps a bit more involved and I think you are already knowledgable of the concepts