After 14 years as the Dean of Students and Associate Vice President of Student Affairs on the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Dahlonega Campus, Dr. Alyson Paul transitioned to the same position on the Gainesville Campus in July of 2018. As a key member of the Dahlonega Campus during her tenure, she ended her time there appreciative of her experiences and excited about the new opportunities she faces.
The Gainesville Campus is a commuter location. Paul said she is anxious to cultivate a campus culture in which all the students are immersed and involved.
"This is going to be a real challenge for me, to learn how to contribute to building that type of community," she said.
Paul believes it is more personally and professionally beneficial to spend time recognizing and developing talents into strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses.
"You should focus on understanding what your strengths are and pouring into developing those talents into strengths, rather than focusing on areas of weakness, which is more of a natural instinct we have, to try to hide or make our weaknesses less vulnerable," Paul said.
Paul's experience with strengths knowledge began almost 15 years ago. In addition, her doctoral dissertation was focused on how strengths-based training impacts the self-efficacy of higher education professionals. Paul used an instrument produced by Gallup called "Strengths Quest or Strengths Finder" to identify one's top five strengths.
"There's so much research with Gallup that shows that it's really not an efficient use of time to focus on weakness building but rather building on strengths, because that's what really takes a person from good to great and outstanding," she said.
In her position at UNG, Paul the opportunity to offer strengths-based facilitation among organizations, departments and groups. She finds when participants go through the process, they have a new perspective of themselves as well as others.
"What I tend to find usually is that they (members of organizations) begin to understand themselves a little bit better as an individual and they begin to understand the colleagues they work with," she said. "Then they begin to change their perspective about it."
Lucky for Paul, she understands her strengths. One is being an "arranger," in which she is always looking for a better way to do something. She has the ability to look at something critically and question whether or not it is being done the best way.
However, she understands not all people can see their strengths. For a person in that predicament, Paul recommends pushing the limits, venturing out of one's comfort zone or participating in a "self-study" to learn more about oneself.
"Students need to be aware that they're constantly evolving," she said. "What you were three years ago may not be what you are today and so, they should take every opportunity to learn more about themselves," she said. "I think it's learning who we are and being much more comfortable and confident in who we are, the good and the bad, that gives us that resilience. That’s what I really hope students will take away from learning more about themselves."
