The Power of Partnerships: Workshop Recap

Earlier this week, I facilitated a unique workshop co-sponsored by the Accelerate Leadership Center and the Tepper School of Business Partner's Club.  The MBA students and their partners & spouses were curious about how to improve decision making, particularly when a big decision may be looming, such as:

• Who’s career do we prioritize, mine or yours?

• What if I get a job in NYC, and you get a job in San Francisco?  

• Can our family afford (financially and emotionally) another year of full-time graduate school?  

• How can we make the best decisions as a family, but also as individuals?

The backbone of the conversation was an exploration of CliftonStrengths.  Each individual took the StrengthsFinder assessment and this time, I had the couples be surprised about each others’ results.  The big reveal was interesting - some couples had overlap of Strengths, and others were very unique!  

Through a variety of exercises, we navigated how to leverage our Strengths to communicate better with our partners, ask for what we need in the partnership, and when to be aware of our own blind spots.  All of the self-awareness exercises and discussion helped paint the picture of how we can make better decisions as couples, no matter how big or small the decision.

Some interesting patterns:  the MBA students were high in Execution strengths (especially Achiever!!), and the Partners were high in Relationship Building strengths.  It was interesting to see how the different couples navigated these nuances in their home life.  

As self-awareness is a foundational element of effective leadership, the CliftonStrengths assessment was also valuable to the students as they think about how they learn new information, how they form groups, and how they performed divide up work in diverse teams.  

A special thank you to the Tepper Partners Club!  Looking forward to our next event together.  

Are you interested in CliftonStrengths Finder assessment? Be in touch!

Are you interested in a similar workshop for your organization? Be in touch!