Context

Today’s Goals You should be able to: Articulate what having the Context strength means to you Identify two ways you can develop your Context strength. Reflect on ways you can use your Strengths to contribute to your community now and in the future. Facilitator Notes Welcome Introductions (name, title, department, fun fact) If there are 10 or less participants in the session who are not familiar with one another, ask them to introduce themselves. Share that this session is a part of the Be Better @Iowa Initiative The Be Better initiative is aimed at establishing the University of Iowa as the university that creates leaders who leverage their strengths, leadership knowledge, and leadership skills to contribute to their communities now and in the future. Learning Goals Share the takeaways Ask students if they have additional things they’d like to learn about the Context strength Engagement Ask students to silence and put away electronic devices Make sure everyone has something to write with. Ask who is and who is not Context. If applicable, sit next to someone who does not have your same strength.

People who are exceptionally talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history. Facilitator Notes Time: You look back. You look back because that is where the answers lie. You look back to understand the present. From your vantage point the present is unstable, a confusing clamor of competing voices. It is only by casting your mind back to an earlier time, a time when the plans were being drawn up, that the present regains its stability. The earlier time was a simpler time. It was a time of blueprints. As you look back, you begin to see these blueprints emerge. You realize what the initial intentions were. These blueprints or intentions have since become so embellished that they are almost unrecognizable, but now this Context theme reveals them again. This understanding brings you confidence. No longer disoriented, you make better decisions because you sense the underlying structure. You become a better partner because you understand how your colleagues came to be who they are. And counterintuitively you become wiser about the future because you saw its seeds being sown in the past. Faced with new people and new situations, it will take you a little time to orient yourself, but you must give yourself this time. You must discipline yourself to ask the questions and allow the blueprints to emerge because no matter what the situation, if you haven't seen the blueprints, you will have less confidence in your decisions. Source -http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/655/context.aspx

Facilitator Notes Time: 7 minutes Clip from the film Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). Clip is 4:32 Po learns about his childhood and family. Group Discussion As you think about the Context strength, what resonated with you in this clip? Give specific examples.

What’s Your Perspective? Balcony Historical frame of reference Understand how things came to be Can leverage knowledge and lessons of the past Basement Uncomfortable with change Closed-minded Lives in the past Puts focus backwards Facilitator Notes Time : 7 minutes A barrier label describes when a talent is mistakenly devalued and dismissed as a weakness. Remember: Nobody is perfect. Nobody can always be in the balcony. Everyone finds themselves in the basement from time to time. Understand the basement and the barrier labels Develop a plan to manage and/or avoid them Recognize when you are in the basement Climb back up to the balcony!   This post is part of an ongoing series that include Group Discussion: Do you agree with the balcony and basement/barrier labels associated with Context? Now that you are aware of the basement or barrier labels. What are some things you can do to manage and/or avoid them? If you do not have Context as a strength, how would you work with someone knowing this information.

Life Map Facilitator Notes Time : 20 minutes You are your story. It contains plots, characters, and themes. This exercise is an opportunity for you to become more conscious of your story and create a map of personal changes and transitions that you have experienced so far. Becoming more conscious of your story can help you become, more clearly, the author of your future. Instructions: Utilize blank paper and markers to draw a timeline (or continuum) that reflects the story of your life beginning with your years to the age you are now. In thinking about your past, please think about the basic contours of your life story. A life map is a "symbol timeline" of your life. There are no words on a life map -- just pictures/symbols and arrows. Arrows connect the symbols in the sequence they happened in your life. Reflect your accomplishments, happiest moments, personal peaks from past to present. Include activities that you have been involved with that have impacted your life. Be sure to put a date on each marker so you can recount your story. Adapted from - https://my.vanderbilt.edu/vucept/files/2014/06/lifeMap.pdf

Next Steps for Context Partner with Strategic Partner with Futuristic Join organizations with strong traditions, rituals and sense of history Facilitator Notes Time : 7 minutes Because you value the lessons of the past, you may have a tendency to feel it’s important to do things the way they’ve always been done in the past. Partner with Strategic talents to see the best way to approach challenges or new opportunities. Partner with Futuristic talents. They can help you build an even greater bridge from the past to the future. Environments with strong traditions, rituals and a sense of organizational history will often bring our your best. Intensify Strength (handout –Supplemental Activity 2.K: Intensify Strength p. 38 of StrengthsQuest Activity workbook) Ask the students to develop talent based actions to respond to each touchpoint on the worksheet. Debrief this activity by asking students to share their responses with a small group. As with so many others, the positive effect of this activity can be enhanced by having students discuss their work in small groups and/or report to the entire group.