Know thyself?

Two of the best experiences I've been involved with this month were a StrengthsQuest (https://www.strengthsquest.com/) conference that I attended with some JBU colleagues and a Working Styles presentation by Ashley Blair of Union University (ablair@uu.edu) while at Kina Mallard's Department Chair Workshop at Gordon with a different set of JBU colleagues. In both cases, the heightened understanding of what our individual gifts and abilities were helped us tremendously to understand how we might work more effectively by ourselves and with others at our institution.

It was no surprise to me when the StrengthsQuest facilitator, who didn't indicate any particular spiritual inclinations herself, commented that Christian colleges seem particularly willing to engage in these sorts of conversations, in her mind because we believe that people are all created with unique talents that should be treasured and developed. Perhaps that's also why Azusa Pacific has become the headquarters for StrengthsQuest efforts in higher education (http://www.apu.edu/strengthsacademy/).