Last week our very own Sarah was highlighted in the Coronado Eagle & Journal.  Here is the full article:

Rady Children’s Hospital’s Coronado Auxiliary Unit To Present Workshop March 20

Rady Children’s Hospital’s Coronado Auxiliary Unit will present a two-hour workshop entitled “A Life Well Lived Through Strengths” on March 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Methodist Church, Social Hall, 700 D Avenue.

The fee for the seminar is $35, which includes a pre-assessment of strengths to be taken online that will help individuals understand how to harness their top five strengths out of the following list:

Achiever, activator, adaptability, analytical, arranger, belief, command, communication, competition, connectedness, consistency, context, deliberative, developer, discipline, empathy, focus, futuristic, harmony, ideation, includer, individualization, input, intellection, learner, maximizer, positivity, relater, responsibility, restorative, self-assurance, significance, strategic and woo, which stands for winning others over.

To sign up, go to www.recreatestrengths.com, registration closes March 17.

The seminar will be conducted by Sarah Davis, a member of the Coronado Auxiliary whose company, reCreate, works with organizations and individuals nationally, helping them identify, embrace and focus their personal strengths into the most fulfilling and constructive paths for personal and professional development.

“We’re going to ask participants to bring their reports with them to the seminar,” Davis said. “We’ll then participate in activities that will help them understand their strengths and how they can apply them to their lives..”

For those who want to go further, a follow-up workshop may be scheduled.

Davis holds a bachelors degree in marketing from Kennesaw State University in Georgia, where she attended on an academic scholarship. She relocated to California in 2008. Davis is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. Gallup is a 75-year-old research-based company, which also certified Davis’s partner, Jennifer Fore. A third partner, Amanda Flisher is obtaining her certified coach certification through International Coach Federation. She is also a Gallup Strengths Coach.

It was while working in the field of private education, that Davis’s company selected her to participate in their Future Leaders Program and she was introduced to Clifton StrengthsFinder. After completing the leadership program, Davis decided to turn her own passions and abilities into her career of strengths developments in others, which led her to found reCreate.

Rather than teaching new traits or skills, strengths finding is about taking talents that already exist in a person or team and recreating them into strengths through coaching, training, and consulting.

Davis coaches teams in corporate America, particularly in the fields of real estate and education as well as nonprofits across the country and also has several independent clients including college students that she works with one-on-one.

A portion of the proceeds from the seminar will go towards In - Unit fundraising of the Coronado Unit of Rady Children’s Hospital. The Coronado Unit was formed in February 2013 and is still accepting members. For information on membership, contact chapter chairman Dr. Rev. Marilyn Menges at 619-791-6344.

Coronado Eagle and Journal Article
http://www.coronadonewsca.com/news/coronado_island_news/rady-children-s-hospital-s-coronado-auxiliary-unit-to-present/article_a37d33d6-aa27-11e3-b522-001a4bcf887a.html

What are your Top 5?
Harmony, Context, Consistency, Developer, Relator

How do you see them playing in your life?
 I see my strengths at work all day, every day, but I see them the most in my relationships with people I interact with. If I meet someone new and find something in common with them, I get really excited about the conversation. I realize that is my relator strength. I also love history, and find myself looking back to my past experiences to explain and understand who I am today. That is my context strength. I love working with people who want to better themselves, and seeing people have their “ah-ha”, or breakthrough, moments. That is my developer strength, a strength I want to hone in on.

 What's your favorite theme?
It is difficult to choose a favorite because they are all important to me, but I think my favorite (at the moment at least) is harmony. It is my favorite because it has helped me deal with the shadow of harmony, which is conflict. Conflict is a part of life, and before I went through StrengthsFinders, I didn’t realize how uncomfortable I was when I had to confront someone over an issue, or be confronted. My fight or flight instinct kicks in and flight is always my instinct because I don’t want to deal with the conflict. Now that I know and understand my harmony strength, and realize why conflict is uncomfortable, I better understand how to embrace it and use my harmony strength to resolve the conflict, instead of shying away from it.

What's the one theme that "get's in your way?
Relator gets in my way a lot in social situations. I am terrible at small talk and I always feel awkward when I can’t find something in common with someone. As soon as I do find something, I latch onto it so that I have some context (another strength!) of who that person is. Once I am able to connect with them I am instantly more comfortable and enjoy the conversation. This also hinders me on a professional level when it comes to networking. I would be terrified to go into an event where I do not know anyone. I feel like I am missing out on opportunities because I am too scared that I will not be able to relate to the people I come in contact with.

How has knowing your Top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life?
When I first saw harmony as my top strength, I was actually upset. As someone who has always been intrinsically motivated and a goal setter, I felt like my top 5 did not align with who I thought I was. But as I read the details of each strength, it was like looking into a mirror. I kept nodding my head as I was reading the descriptions, going “yep, that’s me…yeah, that sounds about right”. Once I understood my strengths and saw how they played out in my life, I felt empowered. I realized that, while I might be a goal setter and enjoy achieving these goals, I have other strengths that are more important to me, and that I enjoy more. Now I have these badges to wear that showcase my personality and help me to explain who I am.

reCreate's Strengths Mission
For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal.  We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. 

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