Strengths at Work to Activate Agency
Strength-based leadership takes a positively oriented, growth-focused approach that leverages the inherent strengths, capabilities, and successes already present within a school. Rather than starting from what needs to be fixed, it starts by asking what’s working well for students, staff, and the wider school community. This shift changes how leaders approach data, policy, and practice. Drawing on two decades of scientific evidence, Professor Lea Waters will explore how strength-based leadership equips schools to better manage challenges and achieve their goals.
The talk centres on three ideas: how a strengths-based approach expands continuous improvement by challenging deficit thinking, how it strengthens leader performance and influence by empowering agency in others and building the relational capital; and how it boosts leaders’ own wellbeing, since noticing and naming positive progress is an energizing and meaning way to lead.
Key takeaways:
- An overview of the latest research findings on strength-based leadership.
- An understanding of why we’re often blind to our own strengths.
- A practical strategy for strength-spotting at work.