When it
comes to our careers, we will yield better results if we leverage our talents
and capitalize on our strengths – celebrate your talents! As leaders and managers, empower others to
leverage their talents and capitalize on their individual strengths to enable
individual and team success. Self-awareness and exploration is the foundation of managing our careers. One piece of that journey includes knowing
our value add – what we have to offer. Identifying our strengths begins that journey. There are many resources that can help us to
identify our strengths and I would like to share a few of those resources with
you.
Books
and resources to help identify strengths:
- StrengthsFinder
2.0, by Tom Rath
- StandOut,
by Marcus Buckingham
- Emotional
Intelligence 2.0, by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
- Campbell
Leadership Descriptor, by David Campbell
A couple
of years ago I came across the following quote which I loved and have posted on
my office bulletin board as a daily reminder:
"I
am too blessed to be stressed, and I am too anointed to be disappointed." – Author Unknown
During
these challenging times, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of dwelling
on the difficulties rather than being grateful with the abundances we are
blessed. Celebrate these abundances –
recognize our strengths and leverage them in everything we do personally and
professionally. Take a moment to reflect
on and appreciate our accomplishments and achievements, and the positive impact
we have made in the lives of others. Optimism and gratefulness are part of the
celebration process.
As we begin
2013, let’s take this to heart and embrace the thankful spirit in our careers
as well and carry it throughout the year. Be grateful for our talents, our successes, our contributions and
celebrate them! Every day, take five
minutes to discover a deeper and new level of satisfaction and contentment
sprinkled with lots of optimism and gratefulness by doing the following:
Take Five and Celebrate Your Talents
- Acknowledge successes – big or
small
- Celebrate accomplishments – step back
and take time to enjoy
- Express gratitude – be happy for the
experience and the reward
- Recognize victories – as they occur,
relish in the moment
- Reach out to others – thank the
people who played a role in helping
- Accept challenges – see obstacles as
opportunities for learning and growth
- Stay positive – attitude is
everything, look at the cup as half full rather than half empty
- Smile and laugh – inject humor daily,
best stress releaser and energy booster
In
addition to being thankful for and celebrating our own talents, it is equally
important to show gratitude to others. Not just a thank you, but truly and selflessly acknowledging the role
someone has had in your success and expressing gratitude. Putting other people’s interest’s front and
center and reaching out to be of service, initiating without being asked. Sincerity and authenticity in showing support
and collaboration to express your appreciation is essential. Fast
Company published an article by Howard Jacobson in November of 2011 titled,
"Gratitude as a Business Strategy" and focused on this very topic. It discussed how people do a lot more
complaining than showing gratitude focusing on what’s wrong rather than all the
things that are good. It’s easier to
jump all over something that doesn’t go the way we expected yet we take for
granted when things fall right into place as we intended. It went on to describe how so many people
from all different professions suffer from "Gratitude Deficit Disorder" and
even referred to it as "a global epidemic" and challenged readers to "make a
list of people you are sincerely grateful towards and create an action plan to
communicate your thanks, with no hidden agenda," which inspired me to come up
with my own which I’d like to share with you.
Three
Ways to Say Thank You and Express Gratitude
1 – Send
a personal, hand-written note articulating how they played a role in making a
difference to help me fill a specific need; taking time to include anecdotes,
reflections and learnings that display the mark they left on me and/or the
situation.
2 –
Initiate an act of kindness to address a specific need or interest of the
individual who made a difference for me such as: introducing them to a colleague in my network
who could be a strong resource; invite them to a topical and relevant program
or event; forward an article or link regarding an area of interest; and/or
treating them to a meal to display my appreciation.
3 –
Maintain an on-going relationship and dialogue on a long term basis – don’t
stop after doing the first two but continue to stay in touch, follow up and
show interest in their needs and challenges as well as celebrating their
successes. Relationships are long term
and expressing gratitude is a process of establishing and enhancing trust so
that it is deeper than a one-time thank you but more of an on-going give and
take that will naturally result in meaningful and trusting relationships.
There
were several relevant quotes in Howard Jacobson’s Fast Company article that
spoke volumes to me and the following one was my favorite:
"Feeling gratitude and not
expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." –
William Arthur Ward
As
we begin 2013, let’s be grateful for all that we have and rejoice in
thankfulness. Be grateful for our strengths, leverage our
talents and rejoice in thankfulness every day of our career. Take five to celebrate your talents, thank
others who played a role and have a more fulfilling career and a happy quality
of life. Don’t waste energy on the
negative things that occur every day and/or on the actions of people which you
cannot control. Benjamin Franklin said
it best, "Life is ten percent what you
make it and ninety percent how you take it." Here’s to a happy, healthy,
safe and prosperous 2013 for all!
Rita Balian Allen is
the President of Rita B. Allen Associates, a provider of career
management/talent management consulting and executive coaching services located
in Waltham at www.ritaballenassociates.com and the President
of ACPI – NE (Association of Career Professionals International – New England),
www.acpi-ne.org
