Making an Impact

I chose my Clifton Strengths as my artifact because they have shown me which ways I best lead and have the most potential.  My strengths are includer, adaptability, positivity, woo, and  competition.  During Mount Seminar class, we have been talking about seeing our own strengths.  This is different for me because usually it is difficult to talk about myself.  I’ve found that finding what I’m best at can make me a stronger leader, person, and friend.  I learned my Clifton Strengths right before I went home to lead a retreat called Kairos from September 22,2020 to September 25,2020.

During this retreat, I was able to identify some of the strengths I use constantly and how I put them in action.  For example, includer was found to be my best strength, and throughout the week of leading a small group, I was able to see that strength being used.  I made sure that everyone in my small group felt welcome and included in our small group discussions.  I always try to make the environment as welcoming as possible so that all people feel welcome.  There was one girl in my small group who was very introverted and quiet.  At first, she only said a couple of sentences to the group, but by the end of the week she was open and shared with us.  I believe that my strength of being an includer helped this happen.

The other main strength I used throughout the retreat was adaptability.  I actually didn’t find out that I was going to lead this retreat until about a week and a half before it began.  As you can imagine, I was not completely prepared coming into the retreat.  I led another Kairos retreat last year, but this one was very different — being that there was a small preparation time and covid-19 rules.  There were also times where my co-leader had to leave the small group room to take her classes.  This left me alone to lead the group by myself which I had never experienced.  It was definitely different, but I actually really enjoyed leading a small group by myself.  Although this experience may seem a bit chaotic and stressful, I am always calm in these types of situations.  This retreat was definitely not like the past time I led, but I was open to change and everything fell into place.

Lastly, my strength of positivity came in to play many times throughout the retreat.  As I mentioned before, some things did not go as planned, but I had to keep my head up.  For example, one thing we always do after someone gives a talk is every single person goes up to the speaker and hugs him or her.  Due to covid, we obviously couldn’t do this during the retreat.  Since I tried to stay positive about the situation, I told my small group that we should make up a motion that meant “I care for you” and we would do that motion after each talk was given.  Another example was that the leaders couldn’t make hot chocolate at night for the retreatants, so instead we brought each of them a cookie and they were really happy about it.

Overall, I believe that my ability to acknowledge my CliftonStrengths helped me in my process of leading a retreat.  These strengths are really important to me because they show me how I can become a better person.  I will continue to focus on these strengths so that I can become a stronger leader in the future.

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