Together with a lovely cosy group this month made up of old faces and new, Dovile Corrigan introduced the idea of understanding and leveraging our natural talent and how and when these talents show up.
Talent v Strength
She started with an energizing exercise, where in groups of 2 we shared details of a successful project that we had worked on in the past that we thought we had done well. This had the room lighting up with the buzz of energized and confident women and it wasn’t too long before we realised that these were the kind of successful projects that we need to focus on. It’s not only the positive results that make us feel good, but it also shows others our talents are well performed.
In a scale of energy v performance, there will be skills that we either don’t have the energy or skills for, so its knowing what to do in these situations that’s going to help us keep our energy & performance levels running high.
If we constantly share our success stories, it serves as a way to to not only remind us of our successes, but to see the patterns in where our natural talents lie.
And interesting fact: there is a 1:32 million chance that someone will have the exact same 5 talents in the exact same order as you! That made us all feel a little more unique!
Pillars of Your Best Performance
- What Contributions do you need for your best performance, for example an ideas person might need to share their ideas to perceive value
- Needs of our talents and to understand what those needs are
- Triggers happen when our needs are not met and your talent becomes a weakness. If you understand what yours and others triggers are, these situations can be managed.
- Overused/Underused strengths and understanding them are very important!
What about Weakness?
This can be viewed as a natural way for others to contribute to know what you are and what you are not. Both, of course, are OK!
- Misapplied strength happens when you overuse or under-use a talent. For example, we all know those who are full of ideas, but not good at putting those ideas into practice!
- Or you have an area of no talent whereby its simply a case of not being born with those strengths. Of course one can train in any skill, but without natural talent, does it still work under instinct?
What can you do when you hit a low Energy Zone
Its important to first stop and understand what is going on.
- Is it that there is no talent in this area, or are the needs unmet? Can you outsource or find training?
- Can you leverage your other strengths to gain support in this skill?
- Or can you collaborate and find the talents in your network that compliment you
4 Questions to ask if and answer when entering any Joint Project
- What do I /you contribute
- What do I/you need to be at your best
- What do I/you need to know when approaching me/you with a request
- How do I/you know when I/you are getting triggered
By answering these questions, it can help our collaborations work much more smoothly!
There are a few tests that you can do to help determine where your talents lie:
www.gallupstrengthscenter.com
viacharacter.org
peopleacuity.com
Or any book written by Clifton O.D. such as this one that has a Gallup positivity test and a personality assessment inside!
Thank so much Dovile for an enlightening talk on how to use our natural talents for our best performance!
