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You at your finest is your "Remarkable Talent." It's a collection of hard-wired innate abilities and skills that you're passionate about and apply in every aspect of your life. It respects what you already have, what people expect of you, and how you achieve your best successes. In this blog post, I will share how to create and manage high performance teams through the uncovering of your “Remarkable Talents.”
IF YOU WANT TO LEAD, YOU'VE GOT TO USE YOUR EARS
Today, our companies look much different than they did for our fathers and grandfathers. Today, we are more diverse. We see more and more multi-generational organizations with individuals working longer than the expected retirement age. Our board rooms are now made up of five different generations.
It is due to this fact that as leaders of an organization or department, we need to lead much differently than ever before, taking in all aspects of our team. If we want to build and lead high-performing teams, we need to stop and look at it from a completely different place. That’s starting first with YOU! The leader.
So how do we start to build our “High-Performance Team?”
As I mentioned above, it starts with YOU.
It’s time to begin the discovery PROCESS of uncovering your “Remarkable Talents.”
WHAT ARE REMARKABLE TALENTS
The are defined as you at your finest. It's a collection of hard-wired innate abilities and skills that you're passionate about and apply in every aspect of your life. It respects what you already have, what people expect of you, and how you achieve your best successes.
Uncovering those “Remarkable Talents” entails going back to the characteristics and abilities that set you distinct as a youngster.
It entails recognizing yourself for who you are at your core in order to contribute your entire potential to your company, team, and the rest of the world.
It entails growing the highest level of self-awareness in order to have the clarity and capacity to build a rewarding, purposeful, and enjoyable organization and team.
You must know all aspects of yourself in order to pioneer a future that is appropriate for you and your team; otherwise, you will not know where to focus or direct your efforts for optimum contribution and direction. So, do you have a good understanding of yourself? The only obstacle preventing you from managing a high-performing team is your own creation.
Take some time to reflect on your “Remarkable Talents.” Where do you stand out from the crowd? Where do you shine? What are you inherently good at?
In thinking of those “Remarkable Talents,” I’m curious to know if in the past you have chosen to work on those talents? My guess is that instead of working on what you’re good at, you’ve actually tried to work on what you’re not so good at. This is potentially due to the narrative we’re taught when we were younger. You were likely taught that success comes from working on your flaws as well as your talents. As a result, you have a bunch of incredibly powerful weaknesses and little opportunity to stand out by concentrating on your inherent abilities.
WHAT IF WE CHANGED THE RULES & PERSPECTIVE?
What if I asked you to devote your time and energy to only those things in which you excel at and are passionate about?
This is the beginning of your adventure to find your "Remarkable Talents."
It necessitates a fresh perspective on life.
It's an emotional journey that forces you to confront yourself and put a light on your biggest assets so you can be more deliberate about how you add value to the organization. Through the "Remarkable Talents" approach, your dedication to getting to know yourself better and trusting yourself will pay off for the rest of your career.
ADVANTAGES TO UNCOVERING YOUR REMARKABLE TALENTS
There are four commanding advantages to defining your “Remarkable Talents.”
1. Greater Self Awareness
2. Transparency of Application
3. Increased Assurance
4. Authority to Let Go
GREATER SELF AWARENESS
The first of these is Greater Self Awareness. When you unpack the unique set of abilities for which you have boundless energy—and come up with the words to express that talent—it provides you with a level of self-awareness and knowledge that few others accomplish. Consider the benefit this provides.
You could take it for granted, even if you have a very solid sense of what you do really well and are enthusiastic about. Most individuals minimize their extraordinary abilities, believing that anybody can accomplish what they do—which is just not true.
Because of who you are as a person, you have a specific manner of accomplishing what you're greatest at. There is no one who is precisely like you. You've been sculpted just for this purpose. Many years ago, a close pastor friend of mine gave
the acrostic S.H.A.P.E. to me to help me think about how I was uniquely molded.
You may also use it to find out what your Remarkable Talents are:
S) Special Gifting
H) Heart and Passion
A) Abilities
P) Personality
E) Life Experiences you have had
Once you get that you have “Remarkable Talents”—and you can define it and find more and more ways to apply it—imagine how your life will change, your organization and team can be impacted.
TRANSPARENCY OF APPLICATION
The transparency that comes with uncovering your "Remarkable Talents" will be your greatest filter for every decision you make in life and business—how you spend your time, the people for whom you can generate the most value, the culture you want to be a part of, your relationships, and so much more.
It defines the bounds of the playing field, allowing you to add the most value and get the best outcomes while having the most fun. It keeps the good stuff in while keeping the bad out. It translates to reduced suffering, messiness, and irritation, as well as increased creativity, contribution, and effect.
Now, doesn’t that sound refreshing?
INCREASED ASSURANCE
Your "Remarkable Talents" are proof of your abilities. This is your true self. The "Remarkable Talents" Discovery Process (which I’ll give you actionable steps soon!) allows you to elicit it, put words to it, and genuinely appreciate its worth. Therefore, you'll have an instant belief in who you've been molded into as a leader.
You'll gain even more confidence once you acknowledge its worth and begin making decisions based on it—building your life around it.
What would it feel like to build a life and business around the things you do best for others?
THE AUTHORITY TO LET GO!
So many times, we hold on to bad habits or old friends because we don’t know what it would be like without that pain. While it sounds silly to hold on to pain, many of us do it unintentionally.
This is where uncovering your “Remarkable Talents” and purposefully driving all actions and decisions based on those talents will give you the authority to let go of things that do not serve you, your team, your family, or your friends well.
You'll feel more and more comfortable letting go of activities outside your "Remarkable Talents" as you understand the advantages of functioning from a "Remarkable Talents" perspective and everything that's available as a consequence. You'll be able to draw a line between what you will and won't do with your time and let it go guilt-free. As you can see, this is where the exponential results are found.
I’m sure by this time, you’re ready to jump into the steps to defining your “Remarkable Talents” as we’ve defined what those are and the advantages to building your life and business around them.
At the same time, I also know how it takes time for a new seed to take root and grow, which is why we’re taking this slow and intentional.
FOUR STEPS TO UNCOVERING YOUR REMARKABLE TALENTS
Step 1: Organize Your Workload
As previously stated, every one of us possesses "Remarkable Talents." Furthermore, we have additional abilities from which we do not get the best outcomes.
The first step is to consider all the numerous things that you engage in at work on a daily basis, both major and little. Take a sheet of paper and write down all the activities you've come up with during the day at work. Then, using the graphic, organize your list of activities. Determine which of the four categories your daily activities belong to. Write a "R" for Remarkable Activities, "E' for Excellent Activities, "C" for Competent Activities or "I" for Incompetent Activities.
Step 2: Collect Information From Trusted Sources
Build time into your schedule to ask individuals around you what they think your talents, unique skills, and abilities are as a person and/or colleague. Choose eight to ten people who have a significant impact on your life. These people can be coworkers, clients, friends, or family members whose opinions you trust, and you can ask them the following question:
"What do you think my unique talent is, what talents do I have, what qualities best define me, what am I excellent at, how do I accomplish things, what do you rely on me for, and anything else about who I am that impresses you?"
This may be accomplished by sending an email to each member informing them that you are beginning the process of establishing your High-Performance Team by highlighting your own talents that can provide value to the group. Let them know you'd appreciate their feedback and that you'd like it if they could react within the next two weeks.
After you've gotten all of the emails, start looking through what they've said about your skills and abilities. What are people's impressions of you? What adjectives do they use to characterize your skills? Then, on a separate piece of paper, write down the words and phrases that best define you.
Begin by asking yourself, "What do I do that makes others say this about me, "I always......?" Make a list of the ten best practices for yourself. "I always approach things with an open mind," for example, and "I constantly connect with people and help them improve."
Step 3: Develop Your Remarkable Talent Statement
Now that you have your list of activities sorted and your opinions from your trusted eight to ten contributors, list the keywords that best reflect your talents and enthusiasm. Any other words that define what you do, how you do it, or why you do it should be included. Make a list of as many words as possible. You will be using this information to make a carefully curated one sentence Remarkable Talent Statement and you'll need as much raw material as possible.
Using the keywords from your list, you will now create that one sentence statement starting with “My Remarkable Talent is……” followed by two parts:
A description of what you do (Your Talent) - Take a look at your key words and find the action words that best express what you're doing. This should be a wide description that covers all aspects of your life where you excel in terms of talent and passion.
Why you do it (Your passion) - Then consider what drives you to do this. What outcomes do you aim to achieve? This is how you characterize your motivation.
Write a few drafts of your Remarkable Talent one sentence statement and rearrange them, adding descriptive words, using a thesaurus, and experimenting with alternative options.
Finally, as you review your statement, ask yourself, "How and where do I employ my Remarkable Talents?" This can be used in a multitude of settings, including business, family, community, church, and youth, etc.
Step 4: Create Remarkable Talents Action Plan
After you have created your Remarkable Talent Statement and list of your remarkable talents, now is the time to implement improvements. These are areas where you need to spend more time using your remarkable talents more effectively.
To create your Remarkable Talents Action Plan take a sheet of paper and make four columns with the following headings for each column. Improvements Needed, Benefit, Specific Action Steps, and Deadline.
Improvement Needed
List the specific changes which will allow you to do more and focus in your remarkable talent areas. Your improvement will include ways of doing more of certain activities and eliminating others. Remember to be mindful of boundaries for yourself. For every activity that you may be saying yes to, you also need to be saying no to something else. If you’re no longer going to do certain activities that need to get done that are outside of your remarkable talent, make sure you have a skilled person to replace you and that they are set up for success. This may require you to delegate to a staff member, train an individual to take on that activity, or even require you to hire a new team member who can focus on the activities you are choosing to eliminate.
Benefit
To help motivate you to take action, describe the benefit of making each improvement. How would this improvement make things better?
Specific Action Steps
List the specific things that you can do to make each improvement a reality. Be conscious of the language that you use when creating these action steps. Use words like “Call David regarding…”, ”Meet with Carol to discuss…”, “Strategize”, “Create”, “Talk to…”, “Ask…..”, and so on.
Deadline
Give yourself a target date for making each improvement. Be realistic with the time that is needed to examine each area of improvement, the action steps needed and if there is anyone you need to meet with or talk to. Calendar each of these action steps and target dates on your calendar. Remember, what is not on our calendars is quickly forgotten and does not happen.
My hope is that by recognizing the benefits of identifying your unique strengths and reflecting on them will provide you with a new outlook on how you can dedicate more time to activities you enjoy and excel in. This approach also enables others to focus on their passions and strengths, fostering a successful and flourishing business for all. Ultimately, I hope that by the end of this process, you feel inspired, driven, and achieving significant progress towards success for everyone within your organization.
Arthur M. May AIA Assoc. President / CEO
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