People First-

The Strength

Revolution
Let your mind dwell
strengths- Bob Conkin

on

your

Guided by the belief that good is opposite of bad, mankind has for centuries
pursued its fixation with fault and failing. Doctors have studied diseases in
order to learn about health. Psychologists have investigated sadness in order
to learn about joy and schools &workplace around the world each one of us
has been encouraged to analyze and correct our weakness in order to
become strong. This advice is well intended but misguided, fault &failing
deserve study but they reveal little about strength.
Strengths have their own patterns. To excel in ones chosen field and to find
lasting fulfillment one needs to understand his/her unique patterns. On
needs to become an expert at finding describing, applying &practicing ones
own strengths.
Strength revolution-Context
At the heart of the strength revolution
is a simple decree: the great
organization must not only accommodate the fact that each employee is
different &it must capitalize on these differences. It must watch for the clue
to each employee has natural talent and then position and develop each
employee so that his or her talents are transformed into natural strengths.
Why? Because most organizations remain startlingly inefficient at capitalizing
on strengths of their people globally 20% of the employees working in large
organizations feel that their strengths are in play every day at workplace.
(Source-Gallup data base of 17 million employees in 101 companies in 63
countries).
Most organizations are built on two flawed assumptions about people:
1-Each person can learn to be competent in almost everything.
2-Each persons room for growth is his or her areas of greatest weakness.

Most organizations take their employees strength for granted &focus on

minimizing weaknesses, where employees struggle to fill documents titled
skill gap or areas of opportunity and then they are packed to training
programme to fix their areas of opportunity. This is not development but
damage control and damage control is very poor strategy for elevating either
the employee or organization to world class performance.
BRAHMANIC WISDOM OF TALENT
We all are genetically coded (theory of nature) therefore most of the
script is already written hence

People dont change that much

Dont waste time trying to put in what was left out

Try to draw out what was left it

Thats hard enough

To break out of the weakness spiral& launch a strength revolution in an

organization the core leadership team must change assumption about
people. There are two assumptions that guide the world best leaders:
1-Each persons talent are enduring &unique.
2-Each persons greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her
greatest strength.
Over the last 30 years Gallup has conducted a systematic study of
excellence by interviewing two million people to understand what excellent
performers are doing to achieve high performance standards and they have
discovered Thirty four the most prevalent themes of human talent.
(see table 1)
These thirty four themes in their many combinations can do the best job of
explaining range of excellent performance. These thirty four do not capture
every single human idiosyncrasy-individuals are too infinitely varied for this
kind of claim. These thirty four are akin to eighty eight keys on a piano. The
eighty eight keys cannot play every single note that can possible be played,
but in many combinations they can capture everything from classic Mozart to

Madonna. The same applies to these thirty four themes, used with insight
and understanding they can capture the unique themes playing in each
persons life.

Thirty Four Talent Themes

Achiever

Activator

Adaptability

Analytical

Arranger

Belief

Command

Communicative

Competition

Connectedness

Consistency

Context

Deliberative

Developer

Discipline

Empathy

Focus

Futuristic

Harmony

Ideation

Inc

Individualizatio
n

Input

Intellection

Learner

Maximizer

Positivity

Realtor

Responsibility

Restorative

Self Assurance

Significance

Strategic

Woo

Strength Building
Strength is a consistent near perfect performance in an activity that one can
demonstrate it time and time again. Practice doesnt necessarily make
perfect. to develop strength in any activity requires certain natural talent
(recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings or behaviors).
The three raw materials -Talent-knowledge Skills combine to create strength
in an individual. Although all are important to strength building, of these
three raw materials the most important is talent. Our talent is innate,
whereas skills and knowledge can be acquired through learning and practice.
E.g. as a sales person one can learn how to explain companys product
features-benefits(knowledge)one can learn how to ask right form of
questions during the sales call(skills) but one can never learn how to

push/pull the prospect to commit at exactly the right moment and exactly
right way .These are talent(Command &Individualization).
Although it is occasionally possible to build a strength without acquiring
knowledge or skills.-there are natural. In many roles one can acquire
relevant knowledge and skills to the point that one is able to get by, but no
matter what the role, if one lacks the necessary talent, one will never have
consistent perfect performance. Thus key to building bona-fide strength is to
identify ones dominant talent and then refine it with knowledge and skills.
Overtime each one of us becomes more and more aware of who we really
are. This growing awareness of self is vital to strength building because it
allows each one of us to identify more clearly our natural talent and cultivate
it into strength. Unfortunately this process is not always smooth. What looks
on the surface like transformation is actually acceptance of some things that
can never be transformed-talent. Spontaneous reactions, yearning, rapid
learning& satisfaction can help one detect this/her talents. As one rushes
through life, honest reflective pause on successes of life give clues to ones
talent.

Putting strengths to work

1-Self Reflection
Each one of us has experienced some moments of success and fulfillment,
the secret of strong living lies in being able to replicate these moments time
and again, to understand this one must understand these moments deeply.
One needs to discern which three or four strengths were in play and how
they produced overtime consistent performances. In the world of work
difference between excellent and average is slight. In Golf top players
average 27 putts per round as against average 32,the difference between
struggling salesman and great one might be three extra calls or two more
implication or need pay off questions asked. The difference between
exemplary mentors and run of the mill is few more relevant questions asked
and few more moments of listening. No matter what ones profession is, the
secret to consistent near perfect performance lies in these kinds of subtle
refinements. To achieve these refinements demand expertise .One needs to
study ones five strongest themes of talent and figure out how they combine
to create strengths. Pondering them in this way one may always realize
overtime that a small shift in emphasis from one theme to another or

deepening of knowledge or skill acquisition in one particular area is all one

needs to help one-self leap from middling to excellent performance.
2-Discover your signature talent theme
Strength finder is web based assessment of normal personality from the
perspective of positive psychology developed by Dr. Donald Clifton which
helps one identify his/her big five signature talent themes.& than with
awareness of ones dominant strengths weave knowledge skills experience
to enhance the strength
3-Find a partner
Art of complimentary partnership is one of the most effective methods of
discovering ones strength .Discover a partner whose strength is your skill or
knowledge weakness &then define achievable goals where actions can be
taken. As partners we should bear in mind that people do not change their
basic nature (talent themes) they simply redirect their talent towards very
different and positive end. Talent like intelligence is value neutral.

Your unique talent is a treasure which is hidden

inside you &only you can unlock it because you
have the key to your mind, heart &soul.