What are you good at?

It makes real sense to put people in jobs that play to their strengths. This was brought home to me last night in a conversation with family where I discovered that their daughter who had taken the drama school / arts route had joined a start up in the financial services. After a very short period of working for the company she was sent abroad as part of a team to train a group of people, and was loving ever minute of it. She felt almost overwhelmed by the thanks and appreciation showered on her for 'just doing her job'. What that start up had seen in their raw recruit with no training experience was the way she was 'just doing her job'. Her ability to tell the story, the way she cartied herself, her abilty to create rapport quickly, her care and concern for her learners, always making sure that the other person learned. Never belittling them and always making them feel special. This was what gave her an edge, as she was playing to her strengths.

So what are you good at?

How do we truly discover our person edge that we bring to work and life? Obviously the earlier we are aware of our strengths, the sooner we can start working on them and developing them. Also finding jobs that make use of these skills always results in a higher lever of motivation and greater performance. A real win win situation, but what happens in real life so often does anything but develop your strengths.

To tell you more watch Marcus Buckingham who has dedicated his career to helping individuals discover and capitalise on their personal strengths. Hailed as a visionary by corporations such as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and Disney, he has helped to usher in the strengths revolution, persuasively arguing that people are dramatically more effective, fulfilled and successful when they are able to focus on the best of themselves. In his nearly two decades as a Senior Researcher at Gallup Organization, Buckingham studied the worlds best managers and organizations to investigate what drives great performance.

Note: I will provide more information later on solutions.

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