The inaugural Student Strengths Leadership Summit brought more than 100 students from across the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and other regional universities to campus April 17 for a day of breakout sessions, peer coaching and leadership development centered on CliftonStrengths.
Hosted by the Clifton Strengths Institute housed in the College of Business, the summit reflected Nebraska’s role as the home of strengths-based psychology, where educator and researcher Don Clifton, '48, '49, '59 and '90, began developing a different approach to human development.
“Don saw all these books on psychology focused on identifying what was wrong with people so they could be 'fixed.' It was then that he had this thought: 'What if we think about what’s right with them instead of fixating on what’s wrong with them?'” said Tim Hodges, Joan Heiser Endowed Presidential Chair, executive director of the Clifton Strengths Institute and associate professor of practice in management.
Unlike many conferences, the Student Strengths Leadership Summit was completely coordinated by students. A five-member student planning committee developed session topics, secured student speakers and organized the day’s activities.
The committee included student strengths coaches Audrey Frohloff, senior management and marketing major from Omaha, Nebraska; Tenley Kozal, senior management major from Waverly, Nebraska; Isaac Lagman, junior marketing major from Papillion, Nebraska; Ellen Magnusson, senior Clifton Builders management and psychology major from Oakland, Nebraska; and Natalie Moore, junior marketing major from Omaha.
Students trained as strengths coaches led all 13 breakout sessions, covering topics ranging from using personal strengths to prevent burnout and improve teamwork to internships, interviews and goal setting. Twenty-eight student presenters volunteered to create and lead sessions throughout the day.
“This conference is designed for students by students. We want you to leave empowered to lead where you are — no matter your college, major, campus involvement or leadership role,” Frohloff said during the opening session.
The summit drew students from across campus and other universities, including Kansas State University and Midland University.
“Because student strengths coaches help every first-year student in the College of Business learn to leverage their top strengths in the Investing in Strengths class, people assume the Clifton Strengths Institute only serves this one college on Nebraska's campus. We actually host workshops for different groups and organizations across campus and expanded one-on-one coaching into the College of Education and Human Sciences this past year,” Kozal said. “I hope that through this event, we can continue to reach more people on the UNL campus and at other universities.”
Kozal said the summit focused on helping students move beyond simply receiving their CliftonStrengths assessment results.
“These sessions are about how we can continue using CliftonStrengths past taking the assessment and receiving your top five strengths,” Kozal said. “We say that we need to name, claim and aim your strengths. Naming it is just receiving those strengths in that assessment, claiming it is seeing how it relates to your life, and then aiming is setting goals and how your strengths can help you achieve them.”
Attendees could sign up for one-on-one coaching sessions with trained student strengths coaches. About 30 students registered for the sessions, while roughly 25 volunteer coaches donated their time for 30-minute conversations.
“I think the one-on-one coaching is really the heart of CliftonStrengths and we get to tailor the session to what someone might be needing in that moment,” Magnusson said. “You really get to learn more about them and what they value, ask them questions to go deeper and help them with their leadership or whatever struggles they may be having.”
Fred Hausman, senior business administration major from Omaha, co-presented “Own Your Strengths: Using CliftonStrengths to Stand Out in Interviews.” He said he offered to present on the topic after seeing how talking about his natural talents helped him during internship interviews.
“Understanding my strengths has helped me get a lot of internships and meet a lot of people. I wanted to give back to other students by presenting,” Hausman said. “It’s very common for people not to know what they are good at. My favorite part of being a coach is seeing their eyes light up and smiles get big in the moment they realize, ‘Oh wait, I am really talented at this.’”
Myles Wieseler, freshman accounting major from Lincoln, decided to attend after hearing about the event in one of his classes. He took advantage of the one-on-one coaching sessions and said he plans to immediately apply lessons from the day.
“I thought attending would be something good and fun to do to continue to build on my leadership. The sessions have been great. In a session about teamwork, they said something that really stuck with me: 'Conflict is not person versus person, but rather priority versus priority,'” Wieseler said.
Suzette Navarro, junior life sciences major at Kansas State University, attended with other students involved in their strengths program and co-presented a session on developing strengths beyond a person’s top five.
“Being involved with strengths at K-State, it's interesting to see how things are navigated differently here at Nebraska because it's such a bigger program. Everybody engaged in strengths here has such a passion for it. Their hospitality, friendliness and how excited everyone is to meet each other make this unlike any regular conference,” Navarro said.
Helping launch the inaugural student summit felt like one more opportunity for Frohloff to leave her mark before graduating in May.
“The CSI has been around now for 10 years, and so many people have come through and left a legacy,” Frohloff said. “It’s neat to be part of that history and be involved in offering something new this year. I can’t wait to see how this new tradition grows.”
