We all have talents or gifts. In Christian communities, they are often called charisms which people are blessed with upon baptism or perhaps you refer to them as God-given talents. Well, we all have them. However, not everyone is aware of their own or knows how to use them.
Once identified, you can transform those talents into strengths. You can take the Clifton Strengths assessment which I have and use with my clients. This identifies 34 themes. Your top 10 talents are also identified and when used often can turn into strengths.
I highly recommend this tool and I facilitate team building exercises around the results but there are other ways to identify talents and weaknesses even prior to taking the assessment which includes asking specific questions.
As a Gallup certified coach with communications in my top five talents, I used the assessment to find ways to connect with people by bringing attention to and refining their messages. I can use my Communications talent to help team members put their ideas or feelings into words. Whether communication rates as a top 10 for you or not, you can still help your team by using your own talents.
Part of the coaching process and using your talents is about becoming self-aware. Know your talents and focus on them so you can turn them into strengths and lead with them.
There are Five clues to identifying a Talent, according to Gallup.
- Yearning: What kinds of activities are you naturally drawn to?
- Rapid Learning: What kinds of activities do you seem to pick up quickly?
- Flow: During what activities do you seem to automatically know the steps to be taken?
- Glimpses of Excellence: During what activities have you had moments of subconscious excellence, when you thought, “How did I do that?”
- Satisfaction: What activities give you a kick, either while doing them or immediately after finishing them and you think, “When can I do that again?”
