Work In Colour - Work. Think. Live. In Colour
Thursday 27th May 2010 | 6 comments
It's not currently fashionable to talk about talents: we focus on skills and experience, or describe someone as 'gifted' without getting too specific. But talents are part of our essential make-up - the gifts, passions, interests and natural aptitudes we are born with.
If you want to find long-term satisfaction and success, it's helpful to identify your talents (and equally, your non-talents).
Start by listing everything that comes easily to you, areas where you just 'get it', where you're a 'natural'. No matter how big or small, whether work-related or not, all these talents have a place. Maybe you are known for your bump of location, or your ability to read IKEA instructions, or your singing voice. Are you the one with no sense of rhythm, or a talent for saying the wrong thing when meeting with the boss? Are you the one who everyone relies on to soothe a disgruntled client, or organise the Christmas party, or wrestle with a problem til it is solved?
Don't include things at which you're competent, but have no passion for - maybe you have become a good organiser through having to run your own office for a decade or more, but if it's not something you would do just for the pleasure of it, then leave it off your list!
Now, look at these categories based on Howard Gardner's work on multiple intelligences. Gardner, who has done some brilliant research and writing on creativity, has come up with at least eight kinds of intelligence. His research has had a wide impact over the last twenty years - a few years ago I was informed by my then-9-year-old that he already knew all about Mr. Gardner and the 'smarts'.
So, take a look at Gardner's eight core intelligences and think about which ones contain your natural talents - and which do not.
Facility with spoken and written language. This can include foreign language, written or conversational skills.
This is as it suggests, talent with logical or numerical ways of looking at problems. These first two intelligences are the ones traditionally valued and tested for on schools. It is quite possible to excel at both numeric and linguistic intelligence,but far more common to prefer one or the other.
This goes beyond core musical (and other artistic) ability and includes those who use underlying rhythms to structure a film or a teaching program, a book or a public event.
This refers to the capacity to form images in one's mind and to use them to do things in the 'real' world. Examples might be as varied as flying a plane, playing a game of chess or comprehending a complex organisational chart for a company.
This is the ability to solve problems or create things using your body or parts of it (such as hands or mouth). Core examples include athletes, artisans and plumbers...but also people like Einstein, who often said he solved problems in his body and not his mind. (If you have an immediate sense of what he was getting at, you probably have a good dollop of the tool smarts!)
This is about being able to recognise similarities and differences, to detect patterns and make distinctions, to categorize things - whether they be mushrooms from toadstools, friend from foe (a vital skill in our distant past) or this brand of T shirt from the other brand (a skill much prized amongst teenagers today).
This involves knowledge of others, being able to understand others, work and connect with them and influence them. It also extends to being able to anticipate reactions, to lead others and to mediate between them. (Think Daniel Goleman and his work on emotional intelligence.)
This involves knowledge of yourself, being able to identify your own goals, fears, strengths and weaknesses and use them to be effective in your life.
Which of Gardner's 'smarts' belong in your talent profile?
Underlying all the smarts are other ways of looking at this stuff. What about creativity? problem solving? Idea generation? What about abstract v. concrete ways of looking at things? Big picture v. fine detail? Good in a crisis v. slow and steady? Lover of routine or variety? Adaptable? How about your attitude to change? And so on, and so on...
Once you have digested this material and have your list fairly complete, write your talent profile, something like this:
'I am talented at solving complex problems, and am good at quick-thinking in a crisis. I instinctively see the patterns in things, but struggle with too much fine detail. I love being with other people, but not too many at one time; I am good at one-on-one discussions or listening. I love the chance to do creative thinking in my work, preferably alone. I have a real green thumb and a way with dogs (but not cats!). I have a good ear for music, but am hopeless playing an instrument, let alone singing. I make a mean curry but have no hand for pastry, it's too finickity for me.'
[And yes, that's mine.]
What does your talent profile look like?
Thanks Joanna. Another great "working tool" post! I've been a fan of Howard Gardner for years, and helped integrate his theories in my children's schools and then in my own curriculum development for seniors' programs.
Thanks Elizabeth - I too have been a Howard Gardner fan for years, though I am struggling a bit with his latest, '5 Minds for the Future'. Maybe I just need to read it in one go, rather than little dribs and drabs!
I like your profile a lot, Joanna. You're so open - it's great to get a further insight into your fascinating character. Best regards, P. :)
Thanks Paul, I suspect my character might be improved if I could make pastry like Margaret Fulton, but...:)
Love the post Joanna
A good reminder to notice all the arena's of life in which we have talents. Sometimes these natural gifts the ones we are born with are so innate they get overlooked.
Ensha
Thanks Ensha. Overlooked and also often undervalued, I think. We assume that because we have always been able to do something well (like writing or arguing or making pastry) that there's nothing special about that talent...whereas others who have different gifts may see our talents and value them more easily than we do.
I often have clients ask their family or friends for their views on talents, and the answers can be quite revelatory!