The look on her face gave it away. I could tell even though the miles between us and the poor screen quality typical of a Google Hangout.
She was perplexed. Turning the question over in her mind.
The question; “What are you good at?”
It can be a very tough question to answer. Especially if you’ve never considered it before. And most of us don’t. Yet the answer to the question begins to unlock the mystery that surrounds your personal brand. Try it for yourself now. What are you good at?
Management expert Peter Drucker once said:
“Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong.”
If this true, how do we discover what we are good at and what would be better left for others? The answer to this question can be reached in a myriad of ways but here are three I recommend; thoughtful self-reflection, input from trusted advisors and taking assessments.
Self-Reflection
During the personal branding process, you will do a lot of self-reflection. If you don’t, you’re not doing it right. Self-reflection is very necessary and the most important part of the process. It’s also the hardest.
Why? Because you have to ask yourself tough questions that you may have never even considered before. Like the question my coaching client was mulling over.
If you didn’t before, ask yourself that question right now; What are you good at?
Take a minute and think about it. I’ll be right here when you come back.
If you think that question is difficult to answer here are some others to consider.
- What are your strengths?
- What am I known for?
- What do others know me for?
Answering these questions is a critical part of personal branding. In order for you to understand your brand, you have to understand yourself, what makes you tick so to speak. Understanding your “hot buttons” and why you do the things you do, does not come naturally to us.
This is typically the point where you discover you need some help. As humans, we seek out affirmation. We need others to help us validate our feelings. Having this validation makes us feel better about the decisions we make, the things we do.
This is especially true when you start seeking answers to the questions in this post. Most of my clients will eventually come up with answers to the questions themselves but they will still seek affirmation from someone else. Since I am their coach in this process and I don’t personally know them as well as others, this is when I recommend they reach out to their trusted advisors for assistance.
Trusted Advisors
We all have trusted advisors. Chances are good that you may not recognize them as a trusted advisor. These are the people you go to when you need help or assistance in making a decision. Not the “where are we going to eat tonight” decisions but important career and life decisions. These are the people whose opinion matters to you.
They can be family, co-workers, current or previous bosses, spiritual advisors. Their “title” in your mind doesn’t matter. What’s key here is you trust them. You take their advice seriously and are willing to use it as a basis for your own decision-making process.
These are the people who can provide you with the validation you need as you begin to answer these big questions about yourself.
We use trusted advisors during the personal branding process to gain additional insights into us as individuals. Their insights can and usually do surprise you. Why? Because this is where the “rubber hit’s the road” so to speak. It’s where our perception of ourselves runs smack into the perception of others.
The perception others have of us can either serve as a limiting factor or could be the greatest acceleration factor in our careers.
Through your interaction with your trusted advisors, you have been building a perception. If you choose the right ones, they can describe you to a “T”. They know through observation what you are good at. Often times better than you know yourself.
So we reach out them and ask, “What do you know me for? What am I good at?” To hear someone else answer these questions, especially someone whom you trust can be eye-opening. Dare I say life-changing.
Here are a few examples from my trusted advisors as I went through the process of understanding my brand. These responses came from four different people; a past boss, a co-worker, a direct report and a member from one of my teams. Notice how closely they correlate.
“Empowering/Trusting – I would work for you in an instant. You encourage and empower people to action” – Co-worker
“Excellent manager – while you have a clear vision of the current situation and the goal/result you want to achieve, you do not micromanage the process, people, or resources it takes to get there.” – Direct Report
“Good at not accept status quo – you question if things can be done differently, if there are new/innovative products or ideas to utilize, etc. which gets teams to look at a bigger picture, not just finding a band-aid for an immediate issue” – Team Member
“Goal Oriented – you are not satisfied with maintaining the status quo. Instead, you set goals and complete an action plan for the accomplishment of those goals.” – Past Boss
I still find it amazing how closely these four people view me in a very similar light. These perceptions form the basis, the foundation if you will, of my personal brand.
Hearing this from your trusted advisors is very empowering. I know it was for me. But some of my clients really struggle with the answers they get back from their trusted advisors. Some may even doubt their authenticity, thinking and even saying out loud, “They are just telling me what they think I want to hear”. If you think this way, you have chosen the wrong people to ask.
For these clients, I recommend they take a more scientific approach and use some well-established assessments to help them gain additional clarity.
Assessments
Some coaching clients find it helpful to take the more scientific approach to determine their strengths and discovering what they naturally gravitate towards. Assessments help do just that.
More than a personality test, the right assessments can help you understand why do the things you do, why you find certain tasks simple and even why you seem to “ride the struggle bus” with other tasks.
We are all wired differently. Assessments help us understand our unique differences. Once we know what makes us unique, we can use these differences to our advantage in order to excel in our chosen profession or better yet choose our next profession.
Assessments are powerful because they help us understand and identify our skills and our traits. Understanding this about yourself is key to creating a BRAND new you which is why it is the subject for my podcast on transferable skills.
Knowing this information about yourself can help you align who you are, with what you do.
There are many different assessments you can take today. For me and my coaching clients, I recommend taking, at least, one of these three assessments.
My recommendation is to take all three assessments. For such a small investment in your future (~$50) taking all three is best. Why take all three? Because you will find that they all reinforce each others results.
One assessment will be eye-opening, two assessments will prove enlightening. Three, game-changing. If you take all three you have the basis to understand where you fit in any organization and how you will add the greatest value. In addition, it’s harder for you to deny something that you see on three different assessments.
For me, taking all three has helped me understand a great deal about myself such as where and how I work best. I use the information from these assessments to help me analyze potential career opportunities for alignment with my strengths, skills, and traits.
Think about what that would be like. Choosing your next position based on what you know you can excel at, what you know you are good at vs. taking a position someone else wants you to do. Or worse, taking a position just for the money.
Side note: Please don’t ever take a position for money. It will prove to be the worst decision you’ll ever make.
Your work life can be so much better if you use self-reflection, trusted advisors and assessments to help you get there.
Oh, and my client I mentioned at the beginning, she is now searching for an opportunity that is aligned with her strengths, which happens to be in a function she felt she had always wanted to do but wasn’t confident enough to pursue. Now she knows it will be a perfect fit. Pretty cool, eh?
QUESTION: What do you think about assessments? Valuable or Hogwash? Tweet your answer to me @RyanRhoten
