Leading with Strengths: A Conversation with Youth Development Network

Few people know what their strengths really are, and even fewer get the opportunity to use them in their daily work. Bringing personal strengths into school or the office can lead to greater engagement, satisfaction and quality of work. For the past year, Visions staff has been attending trainings led by Youth Development Network (YDN) to help identify and lead with their strengths. This is the first step in a process we hope to bring to our students as Visions becomes a school based on strengths.

Superintendent Dr. Steve Olmos sat down on the YDN In Our Tribe Podcast last week to discuss how focusing on strengths has paid dividends for our staff and how we hope to put our students in touch with their personal strengths as well.

“I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while,” said Adrian Ruiz, YDN Executive Director. “I’ve been really following the Visions story closely and I just want to let you know that you have some amazing people that work for you.” 

“We started on the strengths-based road pretty quickly when I got here,” said Superintendent Olmos when asked how Visions is leading with strengths. “By the end of this year, all of our staff will be trained in their strengths. What we’re looking at for next year is to get it down to our students.”

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Dr. Olmos also reflected on his thirty years in public education and on a few things he was grateful for.

“First and foremost, my family,” Dr. Olmos said. “[I] wouldn’t be where I am without my family and their support. And it might sound cliche, but I’m really grateful for being here at Visions…We have an incredible staff and this is just an incredible place to be.”