How does it feel to be in a position you aren’t particularly suited for? In a workshop several years ago a young lady was experiencing some negative feelings & felt trapped. She loved the company but not her role & couldn’t find a way to transition. After a few discovery lessons, she found out why & within 6 months was on a new path. Her new journey could begin with better balance. There isn’t work & life there’s just life. How we choose to use our time/talents is only our choice. In finding personal wisdom we free ourselves to follow our own path!
In a previous post (A Values Exercise) I took a portion of a professional development class I’ve delivered many times. This offering will focus on another aspect…personality. We often hear from our parents, teachers & mentors along life’s journey that we have the ability to be anything we want to be when we “grow up”. Is this true, can we?
In preparing the slides & discussion points for the class a book was recommended; “Strengths Finder 2.0” by Tom Rath of the Gallup Organization. He starts out with this premise…
“You can’t be anything you want to be but you can be a whole lot more of who you already are!”
Needless to say, this concept really challenged my thoughts & those in attendance. This concept can seem to limit some & comfort others. If you’re an “if you can dream it you can achieve it” person you might initially dismiss this thought.
After some initial discussion, we begin by writing down something that we have a true passion for. Think about it & write it down. It can be skydiving, hair/make-up, cartooning, fitness, mountain biking, baking, flying…anything you can imagine. We tie our discussions & discoveries back to our individual passion items throughout the session.
Next, we discover some personality type characteristics through various assessment methods available. The focus is less on the delivery type & more on individual results. What our results inform us is important & can open a deeper understanding of what makes us “tick”. Discovering how our personalities & passions are interconnected makes for some “a-ha” moments. What are the things you can’t do? What part of your day includes true “passion” areas? How would your quality of life be altered if you spent more time engaged in them?
10,000 Hour Rule
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers” he coined the 10,000-hour rule. This has made its way into our vernacular & can be instrumental in expressing our “value” proposition to enterprises we wish to make an impact with. Finding an opportunity to spend time working on a passion (curiosity) area can be tricky but as we discover, people always seem to find time for things that are important to them. It’s natural, we just don’t stop to think about when/where/how we’re doing it. Gladwell gives us this equation…
Natural Talent(s) + Time Invested = Strength
There are many takeaways here. We can’t escape our DNA! Learning to accept ourselves & others for who we are is vitally important. It becomes the true diversity of our families, where we work & play. We should be asking ourselves not what we want to “be” when we grow up but what we want to “do”. Where can we make the most impact in the world? There is no wasted effort! In developing our innate talents over time we are able to focus our efforts on consistently delivering impact. What company doesn’t want this?
Opportunities for “Growth”
We often hear this over our almost 50-year working lives. Our leaders sell these new opportunities to us for many reasons. Some positive & some not. After all, companies need people to do stuff & if you’re one of the dependable ones you’ll get the nod. As flattering as it might be, these might be great for our development & maybe they won’t. If you truly know yourself, your talents & passions you’ll be better equipped to take advantage or pass. Money, position or title should be the last considerations. How effective is a collective “workforce” when people are putting their effort in some area they aren’t suited? If employee engagement keeps things moving forward then we only have ourselves to blame when we take a position that works against our DNA. However, seeking out opportunities that “stretch” us in new/different ways is always a great learning position. We take the best of ourselves into every job we accept, in or out of our personality/passion area. It’s all we have. We can’t do a job like someone else, we do it our way in partnership with other functions of the business. Hire the best you can in each area & develop them compassionately. When this growth is encouraged people will naturally combine their talents for the good of the team & everyone wins!
Peter Drucker asserts that we are all good at just a couple of things. If we focus continually on all the aspects of our personality/talents/gifts in which we are lacking it leads to insecurity & disengagement. He also states that it is our responsibility then to become “effective” in the areas we have true potential. No matter the outcome of any test we can all become effective.
There are many resources available to provide insight into who we are, here are a few…
Understand Myself from Jordan B. Peterson
It’s difficult to lead others without understanding ourselves first. The ability to communicate effectively with those we lead encourages them to do some self-discovery of their own. Mastering ourselves is the hardest & most rewarding thing we can accomplish in life. We owe it to ourselves & those we lead to thoroughly understand the unique aspects of who we are. It’s the beginning of unlocking our leadership superpowers. The most rewarding journey is to discover how we can leverage them in service to others!
All the best,
Karl
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*Thanks QuoteFancy for the Steve Jobs image!
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