Steve Lee, PhD Graduate Diversity Officer

ABRCMS 2013

Succeed with your strengths: Assess and apply your unique strengths toward your ideal career

#1 Succeed with your Strengths: Assess and apply your unique strengths towards your ideal career

Friday 8:30 am, Lincoln C/D/E

#2 Succeed through your F ailures: Learning to fail productively

Friday 6:45 pm, Jackson A/B

Presentation materials in Slideshare.net

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Achieving success is like navigating along a path

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Achieving success is like navigating along a path

But how do you navigate? Where are you now?

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What’s your ideal destination, and your definition of success?

How will you know when you

get there?

Let’s discuss!

The “rules for success” in science …

are usually too simplistic, and

don’t consider your unique strengths.

1.)

2.)

3.)

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All students at ABRCMS …

Why not?

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have been successful,

and want to succeed,

but not all succeed.

Marshall Goldsmith points out …

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Key Message:

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To achieve success, you must:

assess your strengths accurately apply your strengths strategically

Key questions for today:

What exactly is a strength?

What are your unique strengths?

How can you apply your strengths strategically?

What’s the current research in assessing and applying strengths?

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What exactly is a strength?

For our discussion:

strength = skill + joy

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= +

Don’t most people already know and use their strengths?

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In a Gallup survey:

Many don’t assess their strengths accurately

Survey: do you have “the opportunity to do what you do best every day” at work

Most aren’t using their strengths regularly

36% India 15% Japan 32% USA

97% said their leadership skills are at or above average (!)

14% China 13% France 26% Germany

Most students aren’t aware of their strengths and weaknesses

Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.

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Bottomquartile

2ndquartile

3rdquartile

Topquartile

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Actual Test Score

Perceived Test Score

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We can improve our metacognitive skills by:

being aware of the context of our peers,

and by improving our competence.

Many don’t assess themselves accurately, but there’s hope!

Kruger and Dunning, 1999 and 2003.

Addendum to Key Message:

Your chance for success is improved when you accurately assess and

strategically apply your strengths …

which is not trivial, but can be developed by sharpening your metacognitive skills.

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What metacognitive skills do I need to develop?

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Personal Competence self-awareness self-regulation motivation

Social Competence empathy social skills

You can assess your strengths with the Myers-Briggs types

How do you prefer:

● to relate to people? ● to gather information?

● to make decisions? ● to relate to the outside

world?

○ Extroverts or E-types ○ Introverts or I-types

○ Sensors or S-types ○ Intuitors or N-types

○ Thinkers or T-types ○ Feelers or F-types

○ Judgers or J-types ○ Perceivers or P-types

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Let’s practice applying strengths in a case study

Discuss the case study and respond to the questions

with your neighbors

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Suggested activities:

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Take an unofficial, free Myers-Briggs test humanmetrics.com

Self-reflection exercises

7 success stories and 40 year vision fiveoclockclub.com

Write and keep a journal

Resources

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Please Understand Me II David Keirsey Myers-Briggs test and explanation

Strengths Based Leadership

Rath and Conchie another assessment test

What Color is your Parachute? Richard Bolles “bible” of professional development

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Assess and apply your strengths

to improve your chances for success.

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Succeed with your Strengths: Assess and apply your unique strengths toward your ideal career

Steve Lee, PhD Graduate Diversity Officer at the University of California Davis (started November 12, 2013) www.linkedin.com/pub/steve-lee/5/9a1/857 ABRCMS 2013 – Friday, Nov 15, 2013 at 8:30 am

• Group Activity – Case Study

o To help you understand and apply the Myers-Briggs personality types, discuss this case study within your group, and address the questions. This case study is based upon a real situation that a student encountered. However, it was simplified to involve primarily only one of the four possible categories of the Myers-Briggs types, since this workshop is an introduction into the Myers-Briggs personality types.

Case 1 – John and his research advisor o John has been having trouble understanding his research advisor’s expectations and goals for his

research. This is particularly frustrating for John, because he’s very friendly and gets along with most people. He has weekly meetings with his advisor, where he tells her all about his ups and downs from his research progress, along with complications and successes. John is aware that he’s communicative and talkative, so he believes that he’s doing a good job with informing her about his research progress. But recently his advisor has asked him questions that surprised him, because John didn’t realize that she had wanted something else. John just wishes that she would explain more clearly what she wants and expects, so that they can work better together. But his advisor doesn’t seem to say much during their meetings, and seems withdrawn from John’s perspective.

Questions: o Which of the 4 Myers-Briggs (MB) categories might explain their different preferences?

─ Based upon this description, what do you think is John’s MB type? Explain your reasoning, referring to details mentioned in the case study.

─ What do you think is the PI’s MB type? Explain your reasoning. o How might John adapt to improve his understanding of her expectations for his research? o How might John use his strengths from his MB type to help resolve his problem? o What underdeveloped type skills (see tables below for some ideas) might John need to address

as he considers how to improve communications with his PI? o Converse question: how might this situation become different, if both John and his PI had the

opposite types? ─ What potential problems might arise in this situation?

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• Success Types in Medical Education by John Pelley: http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/

What the Types Can Offer Each Other EXTRAVERTS • Provide the outwardly directed energy needed

to move into action • Offer responsiveness to what is going on in the

environment • Have a natural inclination to converse and to

network

INTROVERTS • Provide the inwardly directed energy needed for

focused reflection • Offer stability from attending to deep ideas, and

listening to others • Have a natural tendency to think and work alone

Well-developed type skills and

Positive Perceptions Underdeveloped type skills and

Negative Perceptions Extraversion Active approach Bring breadth

Introversion Reflective approach Bring depth

Extraversion Hyperactive Superficial

Introversion Withdrawn & secretive Overly serious

Sensing Practical Brings data

Intuition Imaginative Brings perspective

Sensing Slow & dull Narrow focus

Intuition Careless Impractical & dreamy

Thinking Analyze situations Bring consistency

Feeling Affiliate people Bring harmony

Thinking Cold & uncaring Overly competitive

Feeling Easily hurt Overly sentimental

Judging Decisive Bring a plan

Perceiving Inquisitive Bring options

Judging Overly opinionated Controlling

Perceiving Indecisive Procrastinating

• Thanks for coming to my workshop! I hope that it was helpful. • My presentations and handouts for both workshops are available at < www.slideshare.net >. • Succeed with your Strengths : Assess and apply your unique strengths toward your ideal career

o Friday, Nov 15 at 8:30 am • Succeed with your Failures: Learning to fail productively

o Friday, Nov 15 at 6:45 pm