What is Strengths-Based Learning?

Don't look at me like I'm supposed to know.

I just think it's interesting how our schooling system prepares kids for neither the skills they need to survive as an organism, nor the skills they need to survive in the 21st Century.

The schooling system is an antiquated relic of what our economy used to be based on. With a knowledge-, trust- or integrity-based economy, the rules are all different. Kids are gonna need a different set of skills than the ones they are being taught in school.

Marcus Buckingham worked with the Gallup Poll surveying achievement based on strengths assessments that revealed the most successful people focus on what they are best at, and essentially outsource or delegate the rest. This, in contrast, to struggling with shortcomings and working on improving areas of weakness. It's the simple understanding that your best salespeople shouldn't be doing admin work, or anything else but selling. Most suck at admin work. Everyone is served better if the salesman can just do what he's best at, and someone else who rocks out the admin can support the sales process. The salesman will get a lot farther investing time and money improving his sales ability than investing the same time and money improving his administrative abilities.

What Buckingham determined is that, to be our best selves in this life time, we need to determine (as Jim Collins would say in Good to Great) what can we each be the best in the world at? What are we passionate about? What adds value to the marketplace?

The confluence of these three things is what makes a person or an enterprise successful. It would make sense that we begin with this end in mind, since, afterall, we say we want the best for our kids. We want them to be viable in the marketplace so they can have things in their lives that make them comfortable and happy. A good income doing something they enjoy, abundant health for them and their family, great connections and a sense of compassion for the suffering we are fortunate enough to transcend as a result of our education.

So, Strengths-Based Learning would be something along the lines of:

Drawing forth the latent talents and interests the child carries within his DNA. Mentoring those abilities, and aligning the learners with each other based on strengths and needs compatibilities. Sending the team on a mission to fulfill their souls' purposes.

Or something to that effect.

Got anything to add or amend?

Cheers,

Craig

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