If this question has you stumped, you’re not alone. Most of us don’t take the time to figure out what we’re good at, never mind best.
Someone asked this of me recently and it made me realize I had not seriously thought about it for a long time. Unfortunately I only came to that realization after babbling on for a couple of minutes. Not long after that conversation I read a great book on recruitment that led me to add two questions* to my interviews:
1) What are you really good at professionally?
2) What are you not good at or not interested in doing professionally?
Having just had the experience of not truly knowing the answer yet feeling obligated to come up with a response helped me to recognize this state in some of my candidates. Test your own self-awareness. Approach someone you trust and try to tell them in a dozen words or less what you excel at. Then ask them if you appear to be working in alignment with your strengths.
The Payoff
In my last post I talked about using goals to add backbone to time management decisions. The real payoff comes when your goals are in alignment with what you do best.
Completing this exercise clarified my career path and – as hokey as it might sound – it’s reduced the power of some of the pressures I’ve been putting on myself. Check back with me in six months. I’m betting my deliverables will show the difference.
Resources for Strengths Based Living
Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham – The author advocates for organizations to start building teams based on strengths and stop throwing training and resources at weaknesses
How Great Leaders Inspire Action – Simon Sinek, the author of “Start with Why” (a TED video)
Organic Team Building - My take on accessing and building on the strengths of the collective
Thanks for the article. – it can be difficult to figure out what you’re best at, especially when one decends from a long line of overachievers..ahem. For the better part of my career, my perspective was, “I can do that”, shifting to fill any gap leadership identified- no matter how temporary or ultimately trivial (says the girl who learned to play the oboe in six weeks so her band teacher would be able to include his favorite piece in the winter concert). Ive learned that I naturally speak techy (convinced I’m really an immigrant from techlandia with collective consciousness memories of my native tongue), and that I’m a fabulous teacher with long-suffering patience. I also have this crazy House-like near-eidetic memory for medical information. And, Ta-Da! I landed a job as an RN business analyst and training/ deployment specialist building and installing electronic medical records. In the words of Mr. T, “I love it when a plan comes together.” well, time to put my ego to bed. …. Thanks again. Delaney
Delaney,
Fabulous career path! Congratulations on developing such astute self awareness. And don’t put your ego to bed. Confidence powers us over hurdles so we can forge new roadways.
Susan
ps – 10 points for eclectic thinking. Medical terminology and Mr. T all in the same thought. My hat’s off to you.
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Hi Susan,
I’ve been enjoying your blog posts immensely. Having just finished “Now, Discover Your Strengths” myself I have spent much time in introspection, considering my strengths. I also have realized that we do spend far too much time trying to bridge skill gaps, when maybe we (as managers, leaders, employers) would be better off trying to ensure best fit bewteen candidates’/employees’ strengths and the jobs they fill. It would mean increased job satisfaction for many, I’m sure.
I would say Buckingham’s advice is best illustrated with the ven diagram that shows the intersection of what you’re good at, what you love, and what brings value (to society, the organization, etc.) I am fortunate enough to say I’m sitting in that “sweet spot” right now.
Keep up the great writing!
Erica,
Thanks so much for kind words — and for sharing your experience with discovering your strengths. I would love to connect with you to compare notes on recruiting with strengths in mind. We should be able to create stronger organizations using this principle.