If we know our strengths, we know our impact. Identifying our own and our team members’ strengths is a critical part of Teacher Collective Efficacy.
Why? When teams of teachers truly know each others’ strengths:
- Relationships are meaningful.
- Time spent in analyzing and planning instruction is maximized.
- Collaboration is effective as teams efficiently share instructional strategies and quickly identify evidence of student learning.
This week, our team will begin identifying, reviewing, and sharing our strengths. Our guidance comes from the book Strengths Based Leadership.
A couple of years ago, we took the Four Domains of Leadership Strengths and color-coded them to develop our teaching teams.
- Executing = Red
- Influencing = Yellow
- Relationship Building = Blue
- Strategic Thinking = Green
This color-coding has positively helped our team members identify themselves as they approach a specific situation or begin to work with someone new. In the Additional Resources section of the book, each strength is described and a how to lead others with their strengths is also provided. Knowing our strengths has supported effective communication, challenging conversations, and collaboration. On our team, everyone is a leader… our strengths are the foundation to build and to ensure teacher collective efficacy and, ultimately, how we rise up and lead all students to achieve high levels of success.
Natalie B. Miller 