How you answer two simple questions will lead you down two very different paths in your career.
The first path is filled with growth, clarity and fulfillment.
The second path is a thorn-filled trail of misused time and energy.
1) Is there someone (at work or school) who encourages your development?
2) Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
If you can’t answer yes to either question, that’s ok—for now.
You’re not alone. Millions of people can’t answer yes to both questions.
As Gallup Executive Director Brandon Busteed demonstrates in his commencement speech at Augustana College, getting these questions right is crucial to your success.
1. “Is there someone (at work or school) who encourages your development?”
Hopefully, someone, most likely your manager, is consistently supporting your growth and development. They seek to know you as a person, understand your goals and help you develop your innate, natural talents.
Your talents are the way you naturally think, feel and behave—they’re unique to you.
In fact, as Gallup research shows, the chance of two people having the same top five StrengthsFinder talent themes in the same order is one in 33.4 million. Pretty cool!
A good manager helps you channel these talents to help you achieve your goals.
For example, several years ago, I was discussing a project with one of my managers.
I said something like this: “You know, when I was working on “Project ABC,” it never felt like work. I loved every second of it. I was energized and fascinated throughout each step. I was so in the zone on the work, I even seemed to lose track of time on a few occasions!…It never felt like work…”
(Click here to help you realize where you may be experiencing your own work “flow.”)
He smiled, and I could see a glint in his eye. To his great credit, he seized the moment.
He could have considered his busy schedule, blown through my comments, and moved to the next item on his discussion list.
Instead, he said, “Ok, Doug…We’ve got something here…We really need to dig into this. You’ve got it! You’ve found your sweet spot…”
Yes, it takes time to develop your people. Yes, it takes energy, effort, compassion and commitment. But, guess what?
That’s what great managers do.
Quality managers are constantly scanning the horizon to help direct reports become their best.
Moreover, managers aren’t just powerful forces (for good or ill) for the individual, they’re incredible force multipliers for the entire organization.
As the great Peter Drucker pointed out in 1967: “Organization is a means of multiplying the strength of the individual.”
In other words, great institutions (populated with great managers) harness and focus the talent of their people exceptionally well. This process is often sparked by an alert and engaged manager.
Since managers are often cast into the role of coach in organizations, it makes sense that he or she is the initial, obvious point for your development. Some managers get this. Some managers can’t be bothered.
Hopefully, you have a manager who relishes developing others. It’s a key criterion for your success.
By the way, I once mentioned how useful Drucker’s insights had been to me to a “business director” in an interview. The “business director” had never heard of him. (This was at a Fortune 500 company…) Sigh.
What matters more than your salary, the “prestige” of your organization, or any other perks or benefits, is another person who encourages your development.
2. Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
One huge roadblock we still face, not just in the U.S., but globally, is the notion that we improve more in our areas of weakness.
This is simply not true.
On a recent executive coaching webinar, I had the opportunity to ask Gallup CEO, Jim Clifton about this very issue.
Why do so many organizations still cling to out-dated, erroneous ideas about talent development, specifically, the notion of improving one’s weaknesses?
After humorously summarizing other slow-to-die mistaken ideas in medicine and people development, Mr. Clifton said, “Find one piece of research—anywhere—that describes the process anyone has had that developing weaknesses works. You can’t. It doesn’t exist.”
Conventional wisdom still too often prompts students, employees and managers to grind away and “fix” what appears to be “broken.”
Yet, not one bit of data show this is an effective use of time, energy or resources.
He continued, “Once you get started on strengths, you’ll never stop. Why? It’s a river. You’re continually growing, learning and changing. And, strengths are the best way to deliver growth and improvement.”
Consider how many talent development programs are cluttered with hollow buzzwords, subjective “core competencies” and cookie cutter templates loosely based on an impossibly, “perfectly-rounded” employee.
Heads-up, folks: That employee doesn’t exist.
However, the benefits of focusing time and energy on enhancing your natural, innate talents is proven.
The path to success isn’t a guessing game. We know what works.
The hurdle is replacing years of entrenched preoccupation with what’s wrong with people with a focus on what’s right with people.
A favorite line within the strengths-based coaching community is:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing its stupid.”
A quick way to start answering “yes” to Question Two is to take the time to discover your natural talents in the first place. Go invest 30 minutes in yourself by taking the StrengthsFinder 2.0 talent assessment and begin unpacking your innate greatness.
As you get to know yourself better, you’ll interact with others in a more informed light, as well.
In conclusion, I hope you can soon answer these two crucial questions affirmatively. Once you can, your days may begin to feel a bit more like, well, like this.
May you have an excellent week growing your natural talents and turning them into strengths.
They’re yours. Own them.
Cheers,
DW
*Image Credit – Dima Bushkov
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