Do you ever wonder why you make certain choices?
Why you tackle certain tasks in different ways to your peers?

or

Why you are better at some things than others

There are 7 billion people on our planet, with no 2 brains wired the same. We all have different talents and our greatest talents – the ways in which we most naturally think, feel and behave – represent our innate power and potential.

When we tap into our natural talent source, we are more efficient, act with more confidence, direction and hope, and we are more productive.

Talent (a natural way of thinking, feeling, behaving – BEING)

X

Investment (Time practising/developing)

=

STRENGTH (DOING)

Our best bet for success lies in building on who we already are, not in trying to become someone we’re not, and yet a conventional approach to personal development has been to maintain our strengths while working on fixing our “weaknesses” with the assumption that fixing them leads to success.

Yet, ask yourself:

Have you got any weaknesses?

Have you worked on them and they’re still weaknesses?

We have to accept, some things come more naturally to us than others. Taking an approach of fixing can be tiring, soul destroying, and create a feeling of never achieving, as there is always the next thing to work on. It also limits the development of your natural talents and strengths because you’re not focusing on them.

What if we accept there are some things which are just naturally not our thing – and that’s OK!

Many businesses are seeing the advantage in turning to Strengths Based Development in helping employees discover what they naturally do well and using those talents more to create positive outcomes every day.

Weakness fixing prevents failure, but it is strengths building which leads to success.

Donald Clifton (1924-2003), was the founder of the Clifton Strengths Finder which facilitates people identifying their most natural talents. He was awarded the American Psychology Association Presidential Commendation as the Father of Strengths Based Psychology in 2002. Together with colleagues he found

• People who know their talents and have the opportunity to use them at work are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their jobs
• People who know their talents and have the opportunity to use them at work are 3 times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life
• People who use their strengths every day have 7.8% greater productivity

So, let’s accept it, we can’t be anything we want to be – but we can be a whole lot more of who we already are and, with that, there are 3 Key Truths which shape effectiveness in the workplace:

1. There is a strong connection between who people are and what they do best
2. There is a strong connection between what people do best and how they feel
3. There is a strong connection between how people feel and how they perform