Putting personal strengths to good use during online General Assembly committee meetings

LOUISVILLE — General Assembly committee leaders began their time together on Tuesday learning about their individual and collective strengths — and their go-to options especially under pressure — courtesy of Dr. Cynthia Ganote, Education and Training Manager for Presbyterian Life & Witness.

Ganote relied on the VIA character strengths inventory, which committee leaders had taken ahead of their time together.

“You are, of course, coming to General Assembly with incredible gifts,” Ganote told the 73 committee leaders meeting through Wednesday at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. “This time together is an invitation to reflect in a different way or more deeply on your gifts, to share those with your committee leadership team and then to make some agreements together so that when things get hard, you’re not figuring it out for the first time in that moment.”

VIA, for Values in Action, helps those who take the online inventory to identify six virtue categories: Wisdom, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance and Transcendence. Within that framework are 24 character strengths.

“People tend to lead with their strengths under stress,” Ganote said. “VIA helps us to think about the overuse and underuse of a strength.”

Indeed, under the “Courage” category, for example, bravery is a strength. Overusing bravery under pressure can mean the person takes unnecessary risks or pushes forward without reading the room. Underusing bravery can mean the person goes silent and avoids necessary confrontation.

Here are the categories and the strengths that can comprise each category:

• Wisdom — creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, and perspective
• Courage — bravery, honesty, perseverance, and zest
• Humanity — kindness, love, and social intelligence
• Justice — fairness, leadership, and teamwork
• Temperance — forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-regulation
• Transcendence —appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality.

“Many faith leaders lead into transcendence,” Ganote said.

Every strength is a gift, but under pressure — like the fast-moving, emotionally charged environment of General Assembly — that gift can tip over into overuse (too much, too intense) or underuse (withdrawn, held back), Ganote noted, adding that “neither is a flaw. Both are information. The goal is the golden mean: the right strength, at the right intensity, in the right moment.”

“Noticing your shadow side is not self-criticism — it’s self-awareness,” Ganote said. “When you can say, ‘I’ve been underusing my bravery and the group needs me to speak’ or ‘I’m overusing my humor right now and it’s slowing us down,’ you become a more grounded, responsive presence.”

“That’s a gift you can bring to your team!” Ganote said.

After the 73 committee leaders had identified their top five strengths, they paired with a neighbor they didn’t know well to share what those strengths are. Ganote asked leaders, “which one feels most like you, and does it show up when you’re under pressure?”

Once they’d completed that task, Ganote asked a few to share what they’d learned. One committee leader said she was surprised that “joy” didn’t show up as a strength.

“Add it!” Ganote suggested, “and put it in the mix of your committee leadership team.”

Leaders then met with their committee teams to discuss their strengths, especially looking at when they’re overused and underused. They also shared “what that quality looks like when it’s healthy,” which VIA identifies as “the golden mean.”

Participants were asked to share which qualities they can lean into when they’re under pressure. The committees reported out once they’d completed the task, and later met together to begin building a covenant agreement for their particular committee.

The General Assembly Leadership Briefing continues through Wednesday at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Read a Presbyterian News Service report on Monday’s activities here.