Last week we defined talents and indicated that a good place to start in identifying your talents was to take the Gallup organization's StrengthsFinder online profile. If you went ahead and did this, good for you! If you haven't done this yet, what are you waiting for….this could change your life!

Now that you have your profile results….your top five talents, what does this mean? What do you do now?

Well, as we discussed last week, the key to success is to identify your talents and then build on these talents by developing skills and gaining knowledge in these talent areas. You need to develop these talents into towers of strength! The other thing you need to do is to apply these talents to each role that you have in life. You need to take a detailed look at every role that you have and redefine your approach to this role so that you can maximize the use of your talents. I have shown a few examples of this below;

Achiever –This is one of my talents and this is how I define it and use it: I have to have a system in place to measure my progress against preset goals. I have to make progress against these goals. My goals are balanced between personal, relationships, health, career, fun and financial. I have to measure progress in each of these areas each week, and I review these goals daily. It is not good enough to achieve one thing per month. I have to achieve something daily. This does not have to be a major accomplishment, but it does have to be something that takes me a step closer toward a major accomplishment. Making progress yesterday is not good enough. I need to accomplish something each and every day. When I don’t structure my roles in this fashion I experience some level of frustration which then causes me to be a lot less productive than I should be.

Analytical –I work with a project manager with this talent. He loves to look at different project scenarios and calculate what the gross profit would be in each scenario. This is a fairly complex calculation, including such things as rebates received, commissions paid, employee margins on straight time, employee margins on overtime, employee margins with uplifted salaries and margins on contractors. He also spends time looking at patterns within the portion of the project that has already been executed. He comes up with conclusions based on his research, and uses these conclusions to tweak his project and make it better. His projects are always well executed and profitable.

Intellection –I work with a technical expert that this talent. He likes to get away by himself and think through issues and problems. He does not like to make snap decisions, and he does not like to be interrupted while he is alone thinking. He was the first person in our company to make it known that he was not to be disturbed between 1 and 2 pm each day. This had been unheard of in our company before this time, as we prided ourselves on an open-door policy. Since this individual started his practice, however, others have seen the benefit and built reflection time into their own schedules.

These are just a few examples of talents and how they were applied. This process takes continual reflection and tweaking. This is more of a lifestyle than a one time activity. Take the time and discover your talents and define your roles to take advantage of these talents….you will become more engaged, productive, profitable and fulfilled!

So...over the last number weeks we have taken a detailed look at values and personalities. The next component of your Strength Zone is Talent.

What are talents? Why are they important? What unique talents do you possess? How do you define your talents?

According to Gallup Organization’s Buckingham and Clifton in “Now, Discover Your Strengths”, a talent is a naturally recurring pattern of thought feeling or behavior. Some examples of talent are singers with perfect pitch, musicians who play by ear without sheet music, the speed of a sprinter, or the grace and finesse of a ballet dancer. These are all talents, although the talents that we are talking about here are not focused on the physical as much as they are focused on the cerebral.

For example, one of the 34 Talent themes identified by the Gallup organization is “Analytical”. A person with this talent is always digging into data to validate theories, statements and thoughts. The data has to prove the point being made. Or how about the WOO talent, Winning Others Over. A person with this talent is energized by meeting new people and forming friendships with these people.

Now, just because you have a talent in a particular area doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work at this talent to fully develop. It just means that you find this area easiest to work in (and probably more enjoyable) than other areas. A good example of raw talent is Michael Jordan. Perhaps the best athlete to ever live, Jordan’s raw talent far surpassed the developed talent of many National Basketball Association players. However, the thing that made Michael Jordan really stand out was that he recognized his strengths and worked hard to develop them – to the point that on the court, he became an almost unstoppable force. Each week, he spent many hours developing his skills in the area of his talent. He would practice shooting, dunking, passing, and dribbling for hours, even after practice when the rest of the team had left. In contrast, Mickey Mantle – one of the best baseball players of all time – greatly limited his effectiveness by not capitalizing on his talents. Mantle was well-known for his drinking binges and his aversion to practice in the off-season. Most baseball experts agree that Mantle never achieved his full potential. He was expected to surpass players like Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth. It never happened because Mantle did not develop his talents. He relied on his raw talent and a minimal amount of practice. In doing this, he limited his potential.

The key to success is to identify your talents and then build on these talents by developing skills and gaining knowledge in these talent areas. You can use skills and knowledge to improve in an area of strength, but skills are not talents, nor can knowledge about a subject be called a talent. Anyone can gain knowledge or acquire skills in any area, regardless of their natural talents, but no one can become talented in a particular area unless raw, undeveloped talent is already present.

There are a number of tools available to help you determine your top talents. However, it is recommended that the Gallup Organization’s StrengthsFinder tool be used due to the vast amount of research and development that has gone into this tool.

"C" type personalities are the "Dilbert" type people among us that concentrate on perfection and the tasks rather than people and are typically introverted. They place more attention on perfection of the tasks than on people they interact with or on timelines provided.

These are the people that you can go to for any task requiring accuracy and a lot of detail.

These are the Spocks of this world, the Albert Einsteins, the Alan Greenspans. They are vey logical, analytical, high quality people who always strive for perfection.

Any team that needs any analysis completed or needs someone to check the quality of work needs to have a C type personality. They prefer to work alone, avoid conflict and need the time freedom to find the "best" solution. Although established processes are recognized, they prefer to have the freedom to work outside processes where they believe the processes are not leading to the most accurate or efficient solution.

C's, like any of the personality traits, have strengths and weaknesses. I have summarized these traits in the following table;

Tendencies

• Compliant


• Competent


• Analytical thinkers


• Try to improve everything


• Adhere to standards


• Diplomatic


• Uses indirect approaches to conflict


• Uses systematic approach to situations

 Required Work Environment

• Clearly defined expectations


• Quality


• Reserved atmosphere


• Demonstrate expertise


• Recognition for skills and accomplishments


• Opportunity to get to details

  Needs People Who

• Delegate


• Make quick decisions


• Treat policies as guidelines


• Initiate and facilitate discussions


• Encourage teamwork

 To Be More Effective

• Sufficient time


• Information


• Low risk environment


• Details and procedure

 Major Strengths

• Analytical


• Perfectionist


• Quality


• Very organized


• Attention to detail


• Cautious


• Logical and task focused

 Major Limitations

• Judgmental


• Narrow focus


• Fear of criticism of work causes too much focus on detail


• May withdraw under stress and focus on small details


• Not flexible


• Over analysis

 Dealing with C Types

• Be patient


• Be organized and respectful of their time


• Provide supporting details


• Be clear in your answers


• Stay calm and logical when they question


• Minimize risk


• Use open ended questions

If you are a C type personality, your biggest challenge is to work productively in a team environment where everyone has specific but interacting deliverables and a defined schedule. Work with your team mates to ensure that schedules, deliverables and quality expectations are clear, reasonable and achievable. Be willing to back away from the "perfect" solution to deliver a solution that is acceptable to you and your client.

If you are managing an C, be aware of these things and provide a low stress work environment complete with well defined expectations. Try to give them a role that takes advantage of their detailed expertise and recognize them for this contribution. Give the C adequate time to make decisions and pull them into conversations around team building.

If you follow these basic guidelines your interaction with C type personalities will be much more fun and substantially more productive!

"S" type personalities are the "Steady Eddie" people among us that concentrate on people rather than tasks and are typically more introverted than extroverted. They place more attention on others than on themselves.

These people are the ones that you can always rely on in any situation. They strive to please and work hard to maintain harmony in all situations.

These are the Florence Nightengales of this world, the Barbara Bushes, the Mother Teresas. They love to help other people and work hard to create a stable environment at work and at home.

Every team needs to have one or more S type personalities. They love teamwork and strive to build a positive work environment where everyone is respected and included. They are very process oriented and prefer to have pre-established processes for all of their work and not complete work that is in "uncharted territory".

S's, like any of the personality traits, have strengths and weaknesses. I have summarized these traits in the following table;

Tendencies 

• Stability


• Good listeners


• Patient and tolerant


• Logical


• Harmony - does not like conflict


• Perform consistently


• Helps others


• Develops specialized skills


• Creates a stable environment

Required Work Environment

• Where sincere appreciation is provided for work performed


• Requires process and time to finish work


• Acceptance


• Maintenance of environment without change


• Predictable routines


• Standard operating procedures


• Minimal conflict

Needs People Who

• Handle unexpected change


• Handle conflict


• Are flexible


• Who can apply pressure to others when required

To be more effective

• Needs appreciation


• Consistency


• Clear direction


• Must be conditioned before change occurs


• Must know how his or her effort contributes


• Must have creativity encouraged

Major Strengths

• Tolerant


• Patient


• Loyal


• Team player


• Dependable


• Supportive


• Manages repetitive work


• Practical and organized

Major Limitations

• Under stress can become stubborn and not want to negotiate


• Sudden change


• Indecisive


• Oversensitive


• Holds a grudge


• Does not like dealing with conflict

Dealing with S Types

• Provide sufficient detail


• Be sincere


• Provide time for decisions


• Reduce risk


• Let them know you care for them as people.

If you are an S type personality, your biggest challenge is to deal productively with change and situations requiring quick decisions. Change and decisions that don't fall into pre-existing processes can be stressful. Work with your team to manage and anticipate change and establish guidelines around decision timing. Make sure that you give yourself adequate time to think through issues before you have to make a decision.

If you are managing an S, be aware of these things and provide a low conflict work environment complete with pre-established processes and procedures. Try not to put them in a pioneering type role. Give the S adequate time to make decisions and pull them into conversations around team building.

If you follow these basic guidelines your interaction with S type personalities will be much more fun and substantially more productive!