Academics
StrengthsFinder™
“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?” Benjamin Franklin
Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.
To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in the 2001 management book Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller lists and ignited a global conversation, while StrengthsFinder helped millions to discover their top five talents.
In StrengthsFinder 2.0 , Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more. While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades.
Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself - and the world around you - forever.
How is UIC using it?
The 2008-2009 Academic year is the first year Campus Housing has used the Strengths Finder™ instrument. With this program, our goals are to:
- Engage students in learning about themselves and others
- Encourage students to perfect their talents into consistent strengths
- Expand students definition of learning outside the classroom
All incoming freshmen living in housing will have access to the StrengthsFinder™ instrument via a direct email. This tool contains much of the information from the best-selling Strengths Finder 2.0. Aside from the learning students get directly from the instrument, housing staff will:
- Challenge students to use their unique talents in difficult situations
- Advise and counsel students based on what strengths they have and what strengths they want to develop
- Encourage programs that push students to practice their own talents
- Design educational programming to help students more clearly identify their areas of talent
- Coordinate programming where students can interact and learn about each others’ talents