Uncovering Your Gifts and Strengths

How do we discover our gifts and strengths – I’ll go so far as to name it grace- as my mentor calls it.

At times, I think it’s related to our values. Those are things we have held dear and played with since we were children. I often say those who drew treasure maps with x marks on the spot – are the ones doing adventure travel today.

Other times it is different- something we simply excel at without 10,000 hours of training. And we enjoy it.

Often we downplay these gifts – we think if it’s easy for me- it’s easy for everyone. But not true.

It’s part of our essence – the egg yolk of our nature as eggs - regardless of how those eggs are served or presented on the outside – the egg yolk still has its essence. Timeless.

I’m challenged this week with the death of a friend. A sweet dear boy who grew into adulthood alongside my girls. Always adored by my family. We were always delighted to see him when running into him at the store or a football game. Genuinely interested in the latest developments of his most recent adventures. That bright light extinguished- for us here but I am heartened knowing his light continues in another space. His essence remains and how he made us feel remains.

I think of his gifts. Creative, upbeat, always a smile. These gifts and your gifts are what people remember about you. Your brand.
My mastermind group was sharing methods for planning the other day- one was to think of your funeral – and your greatest self attends – the fearless one who displays their gifts and has lived the better life- the healthier one the full out one- and I suppose pities the small self.

Another being this idea of being on your death bed – surrounded by your gifts and talents- angry because they still had so much to give but your selfish and insecure tendencies never allowed them to play full out.

Both of these scenarios are built to figure out what is the song unsung.

When I work with my clients I ask them the following:

What are the consistent themes that people tell you -you are good at- teachers, work evaluations, sincere friends?

Have you taken an assessment designed to uncover strengths? What you are naturally inclined to think or do?

What are you fall out of bed naturally good at? And enjoy? - This last question comes from Gallup’s strengthsfinder coach…

These answers help reveal your essence – they don’t necessarily point you to a profession – since so many gifts are transferable to many professions. But they do help you focus on the activities you perform and to amplify them to the biggest wedge of your personal performance pie chart. Meaning: let’s find the role that is the most satisfying because the greatest percentage of your time is spent conducting tasks or activities that are your gift or strength. I took the strengthsfinder years ago and I can say while I wouldn’t have used the terms that Gallup used for the themes- I certainly agreed with them and find I enjoy them tremendously. My own are: Maximizer, Positivity, Activator, Strategic, and Input I use these strengths regularly in my work as a coach and am thrilled to say it’s the majority of my own pie chart making my work very rewarding and satisfying. I want the same for you and your team. This leads me to announce even more of a refinement to my own pie chart. I recognize in the past I prided myself on being able to tame the lions – or if you’ve listened to my podcast on the jerk whisperer – the jerks. Although I excelled in this space – was falling out of bed good at it- I have realized this is not where I want to spend my time. These clients are not the vibe I want surrounding me. The clients I have really enjoyed over the years were a layer below these.
They were the directors or VPs who wanted to get to the next level but didn’t want to compromise to achieve it. The ones that had a good sense of humor and were intentional about the culture they wanted to bring with them and shake up the old command’s ways. They were emotionally intelligent. Sometimes to really fill the pie chart with our strengths and gifts we have to let go of things we are good at but don’t feed us.
I’m refocusing my client base to be those who are part of this Renaissance- a new way of bringing in multiple perspectives to be generous and wise- I’m interviewing prospective clients and ensuring they want to be good and bring the good to their families, staff, and workplace.
I’ll bring my lightness, intuition, faith, femininity, discipline, humor, as well as the Gallup strengths of positivity, strategy, and activator to the partnership – as well as the input to maximize your success. When in the right partnership, I make everything I touch better. My background in project management, coaching, and as a business owner round out my enthusiasm and encouragement.
It’s the ideal combination for my ideal client whose attributes include: : ethics, ambition, optimism, a sense of humor, a desire to work on things bigger than themselves, innovative, and trust your intuition, willing to do the work, but also with strong boundaries to be with family and sharpen the saw, eager to take risks and slightly ok with learning from failure, disciplined and they follow through. If you are a leader who is ready to bring the Renaissance to your workplace, and you have these qualities-we are a win-win and I want to talk to you – schedule some time with me… This brings us to our tool of the week: The Strengthsfinder Assessment
You can either purchase the book with the free code in the back – or you can go out to the Gallup Strengthsfinder website and take the assessment from there. I love how they show how each theme plays out in dramatically different roles.

If you’d like to look at your team’s strengths and how they help your team be more engaged you can schedule a workshop for your team email me: shawna@shawnacorden.com

SO, HERE’S YOUR fieldwork –because COACHING WITHOUT ACTION ISN’T COACHIng – IT’S JUST ENTERTAINMENT

Draw a pie chart of the major buckets of work you do for your role. How satisfying is each slice of the pie for you? Can you overlay your strengths and gifts with the pie? If not- perhaps a different role is in line or having a candid conversation with your leader about how you can play with your strengths. Create a plan to move to a very satisfying pie. If you need help with this – I can help you. I love helping leaders who are ready to be playing to their strengths and making changes to improve the quality of the workplace for everyone.