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How do leaders discover their unique skills and abilities — their gifts – their “magic dust?”
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How do leaders figure out what makes them — them?
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How do you figure out what makes you — uniquely you?
Interesting questions! Right? Here’s our take on how they and you can do it . . .
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1. What’s an ideal day at work “look” like — feel like?
2.What do I really love about my work?
3. What work-related activities really make me feel I’m giving my best?
4. If I could “give up” certain types of work, what would I quickly discard?
5. When have I been told the work I did was great, outstanding, unique or done better than others?
Magic Dust . . .
These and similar questions will help you discover your true strengths — what PeopleTek Coaching calls your magic dust. These particular skills and abilities are those that make you uniquely you and help you to contribute and excel. Every leader has them, and if you are not sure what yours are, do the work needed to find out!
Once found — and acknowledged — your magic dust should be “given away” — used to make your best contributions. Hopefully and likely, you won’t find it hard to use and give away your strengths — that’s because doing what you are great at is usually the most rewarding work you do. And each time you act this way, you create a “win-win” situation. You have the opportunity to do the things you excel at and enjoy and the result of your effort dramatically helps peers, customers, your organization or company, and everyone else at work. Nothing could be better!
If you’ve yet to figure out your strengths and unique abilities, there’s still more for you to be concerned about — for your personal life and your career. Without understanding what you are uniquely qualified and interested in doing, you are likely to stumble as you seek to find a viable career path that gives you the freedom and opportunity to do what you do best and truly love to do. In your personal life, you may find yourself unfocused, demotivated, and disinterested. Whether you volunteer or do something you feel you “have to do,” you’re likely never fully committed and engaged because you don’t have a strong handle on what you are best suited to do to contribute to your family, friends, and community. Finding what you are good at is one of the least selfish things you can do!
Marcus Buckingham a guru on the issue of strengths explains it better than anyone in this two-minute video.
Additional Insights
Helping others find their strengths is an important role of any leader. Finding your own is, of course, the place to begin. But even if you are still searching you can encourage others to start their search too. Here are some simple ideas for helping your peers, boss, and staff to understand their own strengths:
- Praise good work with specific comments that will help the person receiving the compliment understand what exactly they are doing to earn praise.
- Tell people what you like best about them. Be clear why you like this or that ability or trait.
- Tell people what you think they are particularly good at in terms of their ability to work on a team or on their own, Consider situations where they may have excelled.
- Ask people for their insights on what they are good at from their viewpoint — and say you’ll be happy to do the same.
- Consider sharing resources like those here with others at work — or at a team meeting. It is a win-win for any team to know what various people excel at.
Additional Reading
This step by step how to guide can be useful for you or others.
This is “the bible” on this subject. Be aware of that. There are many offshoots and tools related to this book and its author’s other work.
Maya Angelou Made a Difference – Here’s How