It is amazing to me the amount of talent that lies under the surface in an organization just waiting to be discovered. And mining for that talent is incredibly rewarding for the individual as well as the person that discovers it.
It can be noticing a team member that has potential for a leadership role, or when moving an employee from a role that didn’t fit to one that suits them perfectly. I often see this potential with entrepreneurs that are new to business and helping them see that they know more than they think about business. Often, they have applicable, transferable skills to their new role.
Talent Isn’t What You Think
Talent is different than skill. It is a natural strength, or an innate or ingrained ability. It is something that the individual is naturally drawn to. It is often hidden because they take their talent for granted as it comes naturally to them.
I like to think of talent as your superpowers. Helping employees identify, use, leverage and develop those superpowers is a lot of fun, but it also makes for a happier workplace. And here is the good news. Everyone has a hidden talent that can be discovered and utilized. It doesn’t necessarily mean a leadership role for everyone, but it can mean small ways that they enjoy contributing.
Pushing Versus Inspiring
Inspiration is a lot easier when people are moving toward talents they enjoy using. Rather than pushing tasks on people, they feel more drawn or inspired to do them.
Imagine if everyone at your organization had one less thing on their to-do list that they dreaded and one more thing on their list that brought them joy or tapped into their innate strengths. How much easier is the average workday get for your entire team?
Identifying Talents or Superpowers
Want to help identify an employee’s talent or wondering what your superpower is?
Think over the last week: what was a great moment where you truly felt energized? Go back a bit more, through your personal and career pursuits, what stands out as times when you felt really “in the zone?”
Talents show up early in life and are typically not something you learned but come through in patterns.
Maybe you have a gift for thinking through complex strategies and decisions or managing groups of individuals to a common goal. Or you may have the gift of organizing data into something that others can understand or translating a plan from department to department.
Next Steps
Armed with these talents, take some time to look forward. If you could redesign part of your role, what would you change? Then lastly, what value does that bring to the organization?
What’s one small step you can take this week to increase the time you spend using your talents? What can you delegate that’s a current drain on your energy because it’s so far removed from your superpowers?
What a Gift
When you spend more time operating from your own innate talents, your company wins and your employees win. And when you can help someone use their talents, it benefits them and benefits the business. And in my opinion, is the ultimate reward of leadership.
Get more tips on developing talent here.
