Tag Archives: Talent Development

Using the MBTI to Make Life Easier

There are at least a hundred personality assessments on the market today – all with the promise that if we know ourselves better we will be happier and more successful in both our personal and professional lives.  We can take Emergenetics; the DiSC; the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); Skill Scan; StrengthsFinder 2.0; Career Liftoff; Knowdell’s Motivated Skill Sort; the traditional 360° Assessment; Personal Branding surveys; Emotional Intelligence self-assessments and the list goes on and on.

But are they worth it?  Can they help us learn something about ourselves that we didn’t already know?  And how can we use the information to make our life a bit easier each and every day?

My answer is yes!  A bit of self-knowledge wisely applied can go a long way.  But first make sure to ask and answer these two questions for yourself ahead of time:

  1. What do I want to learn about myself?
  2. How will I apply that learning to my life today?

The answers to these two questions may be more difficult than you think.  That is why it is important to take the assessments under the guidance of a certified administrator that can clearly delineate the differences in the assessments, what you can expect to gain and then help you clarify how the resulting knowledge can benefit your goals at this time in your life.

But what about all the on-line assessments?  Yes, they have certainly gotten better in the last few years with many providing you with a robust report with more detail than maybe you even wanted.  A word of caution – be careful of the freebies.  You may be left with more questions, be more confused and more vulnerable for them to sell you a bigger package.  Look before you leap!

I am biased though and believe that nothing takes the place of talking with a real live professional that knows and cares about your own goals.  I want to know that they really know what they are talking about.  Over the years I’ve obtained certification in several of the well-known assessments.  I weave them into the beginning of the leadership or career transition coaching that I’m doing and people love them.  Maybe it’s the mystery of figuring out “Who am I really?’ or maybe it’s just trying to figure out what makes their husbands tick?

My favorite is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  It’s the best-of-the-best because once we know and really understand our own innate “preferences” life really does become much easier.  And the icing on the cake, is now we know what motivates and energizes other people both in our families and in our work settings.  We also become a little less critical and a lot more appreciative of the “gifts” we all bring to the table every day.

Posted in Career Tips & Strategies, Communication Tips, Emotional Intelligence, Inspirational Leadership, Navigating Change, Personal Development, Your Time & Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Secret to Knowing Your Own Talents

It’s actually easier than we think. A natural talent is the way we think, act or behave that comes easily to us with genuine enjoyment.

It’s almost like “second nature”.

Ask yourself these five powerful “what” questions and then confirm your answers by simply watching yourself when you are the happiest and “at your best”. The answers are right there in front of you.

  1. What do I gravitate toward?
  2. What appeals to me spontaneously?
  3. What comes easily to me?
  4. What attracts others to me? What do they say about my talents?
  5. What do I genuinely enjoy doing? Who do I enjoy being?

And our natural talents often have a central theme to them – like a red thread running through them. The next step of clarifying this theme(s) will be the single most important work you can do for yourself as you are growing and developing your professional career.

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To Delegate or Not? A Struggle for Leaders

To delegate or not? Delegation is one of biggest challenges for a leader in today’s work world.  With work loads increasing, more complex problems to solve and fewer staff to cover the bases it’s no surprise that anyone in a leadership role (managers, supervisors, team leads etc.) struggle with the who, what, when, why and how of delegating wisely.

Why is it so hard? 

As a executive coach, this is what I hear from both experienced leaders and emerging leaders in both corporate, government and non-profit business environments.

  • It takes too much time for me to explain it.
  • I’m not sure it will be done right.
  • I could do it faster, easier, cheaper etc.
  • If someone else does it – maybe I’m not needed as much.
  • I don’t want to bother people – they’re already working hard enough.
  • I don’t want to be self-important. (Jimmy Carter carrying his own suitcase)

Getting In Our Own Way

So the bottom line is that we often get in our own way.  Are we a perfectionist? No one else can do it as well as me.  Or do we delegate too much to one person that we trust but then others don’t get a chance. Are we concerned that if the other person does a great job that maybe – just maybe – we will be working our way out of a job.  Or maybe it’s simply the rush we get from being that “go-to” person all the time even if it means working 24/7.

Those are important questions to ask ourselves.  Are we actually the biggest obstacle to ourselves because we can’t get out of our own way?

What does a good role model look like?

Interesting, leaders often mention that they haven’t had a good role model in delegating over the years either from parents, colleagues or bosses.  So in a great round robin discussion these 7 qualities were identified by experienced leaders as critical for a “ideal delegator”.

  • They create a “culture of delegation”.
  • They create a “culture of mutual trust”.
  • They plan ahead so they aren’t “dumping” tasks on others.
  • They delegate “results” not just “activities”.
  • They delegate both important and maintenance tasks as well.
  • They have confidence in their staff and want to utilize their staff’s strengths.
  • They are truly committed to growing & developing their staff.

So how do you measure up? Are you willing to get out of the way and let others grow, develop and succeed?  If so, you will be delightfully surprised how it will help you be more productive, manage your time and energy better and ultimately provide greater benefits to your own company.  And the icing on the cake is less stressLet me know how you are doing!

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The Power of Story Telling in Interviews

Do you get a little nervous and tongue-tied when asked to describe your talents, skills and strengths in a telephone or face-to-face interview? That’s normal.  It’s not that you don’t have anything to say – actually you have lots to say – but the challenge is saying something concise and meaningful in a way that captures the interviewer’s interest and conveys the value you can bring the organization.

So try this new, old approach . . . story telling. Everyone loves a good story.  And people remember a good story because it creates a visual image for them.  We come alive while both telling stories and listening to them.  Stories are powerful, but they take planning to avoid the pitfall of a tale that goes on and on.

Selecting Strengths for a Story

Here’s how to get started in deciding what is most important to communicate in an upcoming interview.  First, think of a strength that you want to highlight for the interviewer(s).  This strength should speak to one of these five P.E.A.K.S areas:

  1. Your Personal Characteristics (ability to work in a team, leadership, handle conflict, attitude etc.)
  2. Your professional Experience in this industry or in the responsibilities being requested
  3. Your Accomplishments which you have been recognized for by your colleagues
  4. Your Knowledge (formal education and on-going professional development)
  5. Your range of Skills appropriate to this job opening.

Use the C.A.R. to Create Your Story

Once you have selected the strength that you want to showcase take a minute to rough out one short paragraph that tells the story.  And here’s the trick . . . use the C.A.R. format.  This works beautifully to keep your story short and to the point.

  • C = Challenge (what was the challenge you faced ie. new project, a conflict etc)
  • A = Action  (what was the action you took – focus on your actions)
  • R = Results (what were the concrete results that happened as a result of your actions)

And then the icing on the cake is tieing in the results with the value you could bring this company if hired.  Play with this . . . do one story completely and then a couple more.  Shoot for about 8 – 10 short stories.  Create a cheat sheet for yourself with the C.A.R. format.  For each story hit each of the three points briefly adding in the final touch of the value you would bring.

Practice each story out loud to your dog but don’t overdo it.  You want your natural voice, enthusiasm and energy to come through as you’re telling the story.  After all, you’re talking about you at your best.  Good luck out there, and if you see me along the way tell me your best story.  I’d love to hear it!

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“City Slickers”: The Ultimate Internship

I just finished laughing my way through the classic movie “City Slickers” with Billy Crystal.  Do you remember this one?  It’s all about three good friends in the throes of middle age who sign up to be volunteers on a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado.  I’ve watched it many times and love the themes of friendship, adventure and finding what is uniquely meaningful to each of us in different chapters of our lives.

The Ultimate Unpaid Internship

But this time, I watched this movie from a different perspective . . . here are three friends paying a lot of money to essentially be volunteers on this cattle drive.  As the story goes, the paid cowhands disappear one by one leaving only the volunteers and the herd of cattle.  The other volunteers bail out – after all they are suppose to be “on vacation”  leaving behind our three cowboy heroes.  Now the cowboy volunteers are not getting paid to “bring the herd in” but they are committed.  So risking life and limb in torrential rains they drive the herd for miles and deliver the livestock successfully to the cattle ranch owners several days later.  For their efforts, the boss refunds their money and each of our cowboys goes home knowing that they have finally found the true “it” in their lives.

Working Without Pay But Loving It

Written in 1991, City Slickers gives us a fascinating glimpse at what would become a career & economic phenomenon in the 2000’s.  People of all ages being willing to work for no or little pay for the experience and possible opportunities that this work could open up for them – sometimes even paying out of their own pocket  for the opportunity (as I’ll be doing when I work in Greece in October).  These positions can be called any number of things: internships, externships, job shadowing,  apprenticeships, mentoring etc.

Both my college-age daughter and niece are doing summer internships here in Northern Nevada.  Why?  They are enjoying having this inside track to experience and do things they wouldn’t have been able to do through traditional hiring practices. And it very likely this unpaid work will give them some advantage in future paid job opportunities.

Is It Worth It?

I have to believe that it’s a win-win for both the intern and the businesses but it is an interesting wrinkle when interns are being used more and more to replace paid staff especially in a deep recession as we have been experiencing.  In a brand new book “Intern Nation” Ross Perlin explores both the history and the pros and cons of “contingency labor”.  It’s fascinating.  Watch for more on this topic in my July First Monday Tip Newsletter.  For now, I’m with Billy Crystal and his fellow “unpaid interns”.  It’s too much fun to miss!

Posted in Career Tips & Strategies, Inspirational Leadership, Navigating Change, Personal Development, Your Time & Energy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments