Lee Ellis's Blog, page 152
March 2, 2020
Coaching Article: Jumpstart Your Leadership Talents – Find Your Strengths
By Lee Ellis
You’re a very talented person. I hope you know that. But you’re not alone. Everyone has talents. The specific challenge is to discover them and then pursue and develop the ones that you’re passionate about using.
In professional sports, teams spend a lot of time and money assessing the talents of candidates before they offer them a big contract with a healthy signing bonus. That is an extreme case, but the important point is that talents are the key to great performance. But before we can attach tangible value, we must discover them. Let’s explore this valuable insight and then learn how to exploit it for maximum results and performance in life and work.
What About You?
Let’s focus on yourself first –
Do you know your best talents?
Do you know what roles they fit the best?
How did you discover that?
Was it through trial and error?
Did you get confirmation through a behavioral assessment?
Did you learn about your talents through the affirmation and feedback from others?
All are important and valid ways of talent discovery. Trial and error is a good way to learn, but it can also be slow and painful.
Watch what Lee says about it in this month’s Leading with Honor Coaching, and click the emoticons and make comments as you watch –
Now in this blog, let’s look at the two best way to determine your natural talents (strengths): assessment and insights from others.
Assessments. There are many kinds of assessments, and here’s an extreme example, but you’ll understand my point. Each year before the annual draft, the NFL conducts its “Combine” to assess pro football candidates. Former college stars go through several days of rugged tests: physical, mental, and very exhaustive interviews all designed to evaluate their talents and fit. The Combine measures the candidates’ speed, strength, vertical leap, and even hand size for quarterbacks. These results are compared to established data and statistics to predict an athlete’s capability to block, accelerate to make a tackle, or throw a long pass needed for a “deep” route.
The assessment that we use in personal and team training does something similar in that a person’s scores are compared to a standardized score to predict their best traits and the strength of them. For 30 years I’ve been involved in developing and using assessments of natural talents. We employed the help of IO Psychologists (also called occupational psychologists, organizational psychologists, or applied psychologists) to statistically validate our assessments. Now we have data from millions of people who have taken the assessments to identify their strongest talents.
“When people focus on their natural strengths in work, they’re jumpstarting their potential to be among the best in their field.” [Tweet This]
We all know this obvious principle, yet so often it gets ignored. Sadly, many enter fields of work based on what Mom or Dad wanted, what their friends are doing, or what pays the most. Conversely, matching natural talents to roles is freeing and energizing to help people truly succeed, and assessments play an important role. In day-to-day work across many industries besides sports, we can implement our own version of a “Combine” assessment to measure and maximize natural talents.
Recently, we’ve been exploring the power of identity for building confidence and success in life. Knowing our talents is an important part of human identity. Knowing yours can be powerful. Helping others understand theirs is an opportunity to help them accelerate their growth in a positive direction.
Insights from others. We all have self-doubts. They come at us at many angles and one of those is our abilities. Do we have what it takes? Do we have the talents to succeed? Most of us face those questions along the way and especially in the early years or when we’re embarking into something new. One of the best solutions to those doubts is the specific affirmation of others who “call out” our talents.
This is one of the great responsibilities of leaders, teammates, friends, and family members.
“When leaders highlight and encourage someone’s talents, their confirmation is powerful to knock down self-doubt.” [Tweet This]
You are giving a gift that you may never know how it played out, but you can be sure it lifted them higher. Please coach yourself to affirm others’ talents. It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give.
I challenge you to reflect on your own life and recall the people who called out your talents and encouraged you. What has been the power those words have had on your life? That would be a story worth sharing.
Please do so as part of your response to this blog. We would love to read a bit of your story and how others encouraged your talents and believed in you.
LE
The New Primer for Discovering Your Natural Talents
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Every human is unique — and the best leaders know why this might be an advantage. Learn how embracing different talents and abilities, both our own and those of others, can lead to more effective leadership and success.
Grounded in statistical research and supported by data from millions of clients and more than 45 years of workplace experience, Lee Ellis and Hugh Massie reveal their personal stories and experience on how they’ve successfully helped organizations achieve their goals by applying practical insights on human design.
Additional discount available for bulk orders.
“…There are few that have made significant strides on making ‘knowing yourself’ operational and real as Lee and Hugh have in this marvelous book. Reading this book is a compelling adventure. If you follow the path, you will change for the better!” – Richard Boyatzis, Co-author of the international best seller, Primal Leadership and the new Helping People Change
“This is the book that I have longed for during my decades in managing talent. Having seen the positive impact of DNA Behavior on my teams, this is a must-read for leaders who desire to build strong teams by accelerating natural talents in an authentic and lasting way.” – Belva White, CPA, MBA, Vice President for Finance & Treasury, Emory University
The post Coaching Article: Jumpstart Your Leadership Talents – Find Your Strengths appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, January 24, 2020
“Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one.” – Perry Belcher
The post Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, January 24, 2020 appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
Save 30% on this brand new book!
Take your leadership team to the next level of unity, self-awareness and performance. Save 30% on Lee and Hugh’s brand new Leadership Behavior DNA book when you buy multiple copies!
Download a free sample chapter first – visit our Online Store
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March 1, 2020
On This Day in Leadership History, March 1st
On this day in leadership history in 1912, Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
What’s the leadership lesson? If you’re not a naturally daring leader, that’s okay but be sure and include someone with that natural talent to be on your team. Honorable leaders surround themselves with team members that balances their struggles.
Air and Space Magazine – Link
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February 28, 2020
Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, February 28, 2020
“When recently observing a client leader, the thing that impressed me most was a healthy balance of confidence and humility.” – Lee Ellis
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February 27, 2020
The Latest Book Recommendation – “Executive Toughness”
The Latest Book Recommendation from Lee’s Bookshelf – Executive Toughness by Dr Jason Selk. People with inborn talent may be good at what they do–but only the mentally tough reach the highest plateaus in their field. And here’s the best news of all: mental toughness is something anyone can learn.
Director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals and a top-tier executive coach, Dr. Jason Selk knows everything there is to know about developing the mental toughness required for achieving any goal you set for yourself. In fact, the techniques he outlines in this book are the same ones he used to help the Cardinals defeat the heavily favored Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series.
Please learn more on the GoodReads website.
And if you’ve read this book, please post your comments too – thank you
The post The Latest Book Recommendation – “Executive Toughness” appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
February 25, 2020
CEO Advice on a (Smarter) New Business Model, Closing Sales
Here’s a very practical and inspirational article from Lisa Jones, founder and chief executive officer of EyeMail, Inc., on ways that she was able to improve and refine her business to stay on that upward road to success.
See what ideas that you can glean from her experience in the CEO Netweavers article below, and then post your own advice and experience!
Read Here on the CEO Netweavers website.
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February 24, 2020
6 Behavioral Leadership Traits to Build Better Organizations
By Lee Ellis
Great organizations love to win and be the best in their industry, and any competitive edge makes that success more likely. The vision of smooth-running, efficient, innovative, profitable, adept organization captivates most leaders’ aspirations, and it’s natural to have those goals.
Not long ago after a speaking engagement, I enjoyed a corporate dinner event with the client and heard some great words of wisdom from the CEO. Earlier in the day, I had observed that the morale and energy of the group to be unusually high—even after a long day of training classes at a conference. Hearing the executive’s perspectives and observing his attitude and relationship with his managers helped me connect the dots about their culture. He was a leader who really understands how good relationships get better results.
His recipe for success came from both his experience and his heart. These ideas aren’t new, but sitting in the midst of a highly successful team and listening to their leader outline the “secret sauce” to their success was inspiring to everyone in the room including me.
Here are his ingredients –
Get the right people. We need good people on our team. This is the starting place for success.
Get the right people in the right roles/jobs. When a person’s talents, interests, and passions are matched to their work, they are less stressed, more energized, and more likely to add value to our mission. Everyday in the team development training that we do, we use behavioral assessments like Leadership Behavior DNA to pinpoint personal strengths and struggles and how they can optimize how they work with each other.
Communicate and clarify. Good communication is fundamental to cohesive teamwork. We must make sure that we are aligned in purpose and goals.
Collaborate. This is where teamwork really comes through with people sharing ideas and supporting each other. When we have trust and work together, we have the synergy that can make 1 + 1 equal 3 (the concept that positive synergies can produce better results).
Innovate. With talented, energetic people collaborating, we get the new ideas and improvements that make us more competitive, allowing 1 + 1 to equal even more than 3. This is how we compete successfully against all other organizations that have good people and the same resources.
Grow competent healthy leaders. To do everything, we must have leadership that gets it. We need supervisors and managers who create an environment that facilitates the steps above.
In observing my client, the thing that impressed me most about their leadership was a healthy balance of confidence and humility. [Tweet This]
There was a freedom and authenticity that was engaging and energizing. I can see how this company is a leader in their industry—especially when it comes to profitability.
If you’ve read my book, Leading with Honor, describing my time and leadership lessons learned as a Vietnam POW, you know that chapter 14 is entitled “Free the Captives” and tells about our release and return home. One of the key roles of leaders is to free the captives by helping people become all they can be. Listening to this CEO speak, I got the strong impression that he gets it. I had the sense that there was a lot of freedom in the room. Even though they probably had not thought of it that way, it simply felt good to me and others. Great leadership always makes a difference.
Ultimately, you depend on people for your profits. Do you have a winning recipe for releasing the power of people? If not, take a look at the secret sauce above and identify steps you could take to take your team to a higher ROI.
LE
NEW! The Debut of Lee and Hugh’s New Book
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Every human is unique — and the best leaders know why this might be an advantage. Learn how embracing different talents and abilities, both our own and those of others, can lead to more effective leadership and success.
Grounded in statistical research and supported by data from millions of clients and more than 45 years of workplace experience, Lee Ellis and Hugh Massie reveal their personal stories and experience on how they’ve successfully helped organizations achieve their goals by applying practical insights on human design.
Additional discount available for bulk orders.
“…There are few that have made significant strides on making ‘knowing yourself’ operational and real as Lee and Hugh have in this marvelous book. Reading this book is a compelling adventure. If you follow the path, you will change for the better!” – Richard Boyatzis, Co-author of the international best seller, Primal Leadership and the new Helping People Change
“This is the book that I have longed for during my decades in managing talent. Having seen the positive impact of DNA Behavior on my teams, this is a must-read for leaders who desire to build strong teams by accelerating natural talents in an authentic and lasting way.” – Belva White, CPA, MBA, Vice President for Finance & Treasury, Emory University
The post 6 Behavioral Leadership Traits to Build Better Organizations appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
February 23, 2020
Tomorrow is the day!
Join Lee Ellis and Hugh Massie for an upcoming, free webinar on February 25th @ 11am ET entitled “Discovering Natural Strengths and Struggles in Yourself and Others – An Interactive Interview”.
Register Here and receive the post-event recording even if you can’t attend –
The post Tomorrow is the day! appeared first on Leading With Honor®.
On This Day in Leadership History, February 23rd
On this day in leadership history in 1861, U.S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore. The final attempt on his life that resulted in his assassination occurred four years later.
What’s the leadership lesson? If you’re going to pursue your purpose and do it the honorable way, be prepared for those that may want to stop you. Will you decide now to stay in the fight and see through the challenges and opposition? We hope so.
Abraham Lincoln Inauguration – Wikipedia
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