November 3, 2023
I’ll happily shout this from the mountain tops with all the sincerity in the world – I LOVE this preschool staff. I love their energy. I love their vibe. I love their creativity and intentionality. I love their compassion and their passion. I love their hearts. What I love most about the preschool staff is their willingness to sink into work that may be uncomfortable or maybe not as fun, but work that is necessary to learn and grow.
On Wednesday, while some of you were home with sugared-up kids (sorry about that), many of our preschool teachers participated in a staff development day here at school. Our topic was “Clifton Strength Finders” – an online personality-assessment tool designed to help us determine our top 5 strengths. We were led by a former Soapstone UMC staff member, who helped us navigate through the tool and the results. The goal for this professional development was to learn more about each other, the ways in which we show strengths, and the ways that we can best work together, based on what we learned.
It was a really fascinating day. It was a really vulnerable day. And I’m excited to continue the work with this amazing staff as we dig deeper into how we each tick and what we bring to the proverbial table. This work will make us even more cohesive, even more intentional, and even more compassionate. And that will make us even better teachers.
Here are some quick stats:
- There are 4 personality “Themes” within the Clifton Strengths – Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. 100% of the staff that participated had at least one TOP 5 strength under “Relationship Building”.
- Over half showed “Empathy” as a TOP 5 strength
- Over half showed “Developer” (recognizing and cultivating talents in others, enjoy working with children) as a TOP 5 strength
- We are strong (TOP 5) in Connectedness, Harmony, Adaptability, Positivity, and Responsibility, and Belief
We are strong in many things. And just because a strength might not have shown up as a “TOP 5”, it doesn’t mean that we do not possess it. I can personally attest to the many strengths this teaching staff has that may not have “lit up” on this assessment.
And here’s what else we learned. We shared when you get the “Best of Me”, the “Worst of Me”, as well as “Ways You Can Count on Me”, and “Here’s What I Need”.
This staff functions best when they are fed, when they are rested, when they are treated kindly with grace and respect, when they (and others) are prepared, and when they feel included. You get the worst of them when those things that make them the best aren’t there. You can count on them to listen, to be encouraging, to help, to do their best, and to make others laugh. They need to feel valuable and appreciated, they need cooperation and timeliness, they need coffee, a hug, clear communication, kindness, and to be seen.
These are just examples, but the insight we have been given into each other is invaluable, and I’m looking forward to seeing the ways in which we use this new knowledge to work together.
For me? My most interestingly fun strength is that I am a “woo-er”. I love to woo. This means that I love to talk with people and build relationships and connections. That is 100% true. But I will say, being labeled as “Woo” made me laugh. For those of you who watched “How I Met Your Mother”, there’s a fabulous episode (Season 4, Ep. 8) called, “Woooo!, where single Robin explains to married Lily that she just can’t woo anymore. You can watch the clip here: https://youtu.be/8YeVCZWaMHY
PS: That’s not the same “woo” as my strength, y’all. This girl is exhausted. LOL.
Thanks for enjoying your children for the day so the staff could learn so much about each other.
Until next time,
Jess