“We are all gifted but some of us take longer to open our packages”
When I speak about “talent” you may think of famous artists, musicians or athletes, those with exceptional ability who excel in their field. Looking closer to home you can probably point people you’ve met that you’d describe as talented.
Perhaps you know someone who has a “green thumb”? They have an almost magical ability with plants. They love to be out propagating, pruning, weeding, feeding. Their garden is abundant, a joyous creation that they love. I’ll bet you know someone who loves to cook and delights in serving family and friends their culinary treats. Or maybe you have a friend or relative who’s into craft and gives you a hand made card or gift for your birthday?
Talents are often expressed in hobbies but some of us are fortunate enough to build on natural talent in our work.
My chiropractor, Angus makes me feel better the moment I see him. He applies his leading edge knowledge, skill and experience as he treats me but there is some underlying, difficult to define, natural element that makes a difference. I get the feeling he’s just being himself, doing good and having a fine time.
Talents may be evident at an early age.
My nine-year-old grandson is showing extraordinary talent in tennis, golf and soccer. His older sister is a voracious reader. Both perform above average for their age in the pursuits they are attracted to but what if they lived in an impoverished environment with no books, computers, tennis courts or golf courses?
Each of us is unique. We have different preferences, innate tendencies, instinctive interest in some things and antipathy to others. Like gravity, our natural born temperament pulls us to develop the raw ingredients nature provided because they must be nurtured if they are to emerge and put to use.
Science is uncovering more and more about the influence of genes on personality and behaviour. Nature endows us with physical and psychological attributes that are strengthened or inhibited by the environment into which we are born. A baby may have a genetic pre-disposition for musical or athletic ability; or a natural affinity for language or logic or numbers; or any other of a myriad of proclivities. As the baby grows, these attributes will be nurtured or undermined by the circumstances of his or her life.
An impoverished environment has a detrimental effect on childhood development. A child without the right resources will not develop the skills and ability that their raw biological potential would allow. Even those of us who grow up in relative affluence do not necessarily experience an environment that provides an opportunity for our natural abilities to flourish. Some of us get caught up in the day-to-day necessities of life and making a living. Most of us are “busy”. There’s no time to explore, let alone develop our potential.
A writer I know is working on the third in her series of successful novels. It was only when the circumstances of her life changed such that she switched from career to carer of her aging mother that she was able to fling herself not only into her talent for writing but also the social-media marketing necessary for a financial return as an indie author.
Each of us has untapped potential – aspects of our self that are unrecognised or yet to be put to use. The good news is talent is pre-disposition, raw material, a natural part of your personality. You are born with talents and they stay with you they may be dormant or hidden but they are there. A mentor can help you find them, build them and use them. The Talent Matrix below illustrates how.
Figure 1: The Talent Matrix
Acknowledgement: This model is inspired by the Johari Window, developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram.
Undiscovered Potential
There is raw material lying dormant with in you, potential that you don’t know is there and others don’t either. It could remain undiscovered forever. It’s like gold, you might be lucky enough to stumble upon it by being in the right place at the right time. I was, when I walked into a training room for the first time and knew I belonged out front. Eight months later I did the train-the-trainer course that began my life-long love affair with adult learning and a new career path. Panning or digging for gold requires you to know what you’re looking for and use the right tools. Fortunately, there are tools that unearth hidden potential. My favourites are the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator and Strengths Finder 2.0. You need an accredited practitioner to administer the MBTI but you can access Strengths Finder 2.0 online. Details are at the end of this chapter in recommended actions.
Unrecognised Potential
Your inborn talents pull you toward activities to use, develop and enjoy them. It is likely that others see your ability just as you are able to recognise the “green thumb”, the great cook or craft skills of those around you. However, quite often people don’t see their own talents. They remain hidden because they are so natural. Things that seem normal to you and come so easily to you that you think: “anyone could do that” are hard to recognise as talents. I had this experience recently when one of my mentors pointed out that I like to take concepts and illustrate them with a model (like the Talent Matrix above). I never had thought about it before as a talent that helps my job as a trainer and communicator.
Camouflaged Potential
Spots on leopards and stripes on tigers serve to conceal them in their environment. Many animals, insects and plants are masters of camouflage that makes them nearly invisible unless you look really hard. Camouflage works by creating a pattern that blends in with the background. Your talents may be less visible to you and/or others because they are so much a part of the patterns of behavior you exhibit. You may use them to a degree but they are largely unnoticed. They’re a part of what you do that allows you to do it well but they don’t stand out. Due to a lack of attention from you or others, it’s likely that these talents are under-developed and under-utilised.
It was not until the Strengths finder 2.0 highlighted “Strategy” as my number one theme that I saw that the model I created: The Mentoring Conversation[i] based on strategic planning, classic problem-solving and decision making; my insistence that workplace mentoring programs should be properly planned and integrated with organizational strategy; as well as my contribution on various boards of directors were all manifestations of that theme, hidden in plain sight.
Potential Strength
The talents you unearth, either by happy accident or deliberate excavation are potential strengths. Talents that have been identified may not be strengths yet because their potential has still to be developed.
Marcus Buckingham in Go Put Your Strengths To Work. Defines strength as: “Things you do consistently, near perfectly”.
The components of a strength are
- Talent – your pre-disposition, raw materials, a natural part of your personality, you are born with them and they stay with you.
- Skill – ability, technique, know how that comes from practice
- Knowledge – information gathered from various sources, insight developed through observation, analysis and/or reflection
You are born with talent; you can learn skills and knowledge.
It has been argued that anyone can learn anything but the fact is learning is quicker, easier and more enjoyable when you are building on natural talent and it’s a more efficient use of your resources (time, effort, money etc.). Talents call you. You are interested, look forward to learning more. You feel invigorated by developing them there is this sense of the bud getting ready to bloom, learning in your area of talent is like the sun, the rain and the nutrients that help a plant to grow.
So what do you think? Are these ideas about hidden talent new to you? Challenging? Or do they make sense, simply reinforce what you know to be so? Do you have questions? Are you ready to put them into action?
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