Continuing our series on Devup 2018 (gosh I wrote that like I have a huge readership) let me introduce another rockstar, Angela Dugan. If you get a chance to hear Angela speak, particularly on the subject of soft skills, make it a point to be there.
I first heard Angela speak at Devup in 2017 about Imposter Syndrome which was a new term to me at the time. It really opened my eyes, gave me a lot to think about and internalize as well as the spark of hope that I might not be the most out-of-place-nerd that I sometimes feel like.
But that was last year’s talk. Let’s talk about this year’s talk .. and maybe I can use the word talk some more (wow).
The takeaway from this ta … er … session, for me, was all about leaders learning to recognize strengths on their teams and working with those strengths to build great teams or at the very least stronger teams. Some highlights I took from this talk were:
- Leaders possess the following qualities (active listening, mediating, assessment, evaluation, coaching, empathy, facilitation, and delegation).
- Team members need one another to get work done. She shared this really cool story that she and a co-worker were having some challenges working together once but only because they were each working “out of their element”. Once they communicated well and began working to their strengths, the road smoothed out and things got awesome.
- She highlighted the key points about being an introvert, extrovert, and an ambivert (which is much more common than the extremes of the other two).
- The Personal Journey Line! This is something I will have to do for myself. It’s hard to find info on but I asked Angela about it after the session. It’s one tool that can be used to understand your fellow teammates better. The gist is that you graph out, in as much detail as you’re comfortable with, your personal journey – both highs and lows – over the last several years of your life. You can go as far back as you wish. It provides both you as well as whoever you’re comfortable sharing it with a personal insight into how you became who you are today; what has shaped you. I thought it was very interesting.
- Meeting people where they are. This is so huge.
- She gave us some action items we can do right now as teams to learn more about one another. The Clifton Strengths Finder and the Meyer’s Briggs assessments came highly recommended to help find the different personality types on teams.
Angela’s sessions on soft skills are not to be missed. If you can be at a conference where she is presenting, do all you can to attend. She makes the information funny, engaging and interesting.
And as always, at this year’s Devup, she kept up the great work! Another great session from another amazing speaker.