Participants in new CUES course identify their workplace strengths, so they can make the most of them.
By Lisa Hochgraf
Cornell Professor Kathleen O'Connor, Ph.D., presented, answered participant questions and wore really cool glasses during her first Web presentation for CUES' blended learning class, "Leadership Brand and Shadow."[/caption] What are your biggest strengths--the strengths on which you can build your best work and your best career? Creating a "reflected best self" portrait can help you answer this question, according to Cornell University Professor Kathleen O'Connor, Ph.D. As lead faculty member for "Leadership Brand and Shadow," a new course being offered by CUES in partnership with Cornell, O'Connor is asking each participant to create such a portrait. The new course, like all the CUES Blended Learning offerings (Editor's note on Jan. 26, 2015; This is now called CUES Elite Access), is designed to maximize educational value, while minimizing travel and time away from work. In the first session of the program, participants watched from their desktops as O'Connor presented live about leadership brand and the project to be undertaken. (See the image at the top of this post.) O'Connor asked for and received participant feedback via chat. In addition to attending another session with O'Connor and doing the project, program participants receive individual sessions with executive coaches. Creating your "reflected best self" portrait is a three-step process, O'Connor explained. First, think about situations you have been in that have brought out your best. Second, ask people in your life to share stories about when they've seen you function at the top of your game. Last, compile both into one view of your strengths and when you are able to put them to work. "My best self emerges when ...," is a key starter statement that O'Connor recommends when developing a reflected best self portrait. If you've missed the start of the course this time, you can still reflect on your leadership brand--the three or four words that people consistently think of when they reflect on you as a leader--by considering your answers to the following questions: * What do I want to be known for? * How does my brand message get communicated in the organization? * How does my network reinforce what I am known for? * How do I change or improve my brand perception, if need be? * How do I merge what I think I am good at, what I enjoy doing, and what others and my organization value?
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES senior editor. CUES Elite Access courses starting in May 2015 include Strategic HR Leadership, Leadership Brand and Shadow, and Women who Lead, all through Cornell University. Read a related post on CUES Skybox.
