Do you know your Talents, Attributes and Gifts ? (TAGs)

Now, Discover Your Strengths opens with a handful of compelling cases concerning people that we clearly identify as successes, pointing out that these people, too, are just a mix of strengths and weaknesses – they’ve just learned to maximize their successes and focus on them. The two examples that stand out were Warren Buffett and Tiger Woods. Buffett’s strengths lie in identifying bargains. He became one of the richest men in the world – he’s actually pretty poor at other investing concepts. Tiger Woods is not the master of the golf course – he is very, very good at driving and putting, but merely average among PGA Tour level players out of a bunker. Thus, he has designed his game to maximize the value of his drives and his putts, often taking risks that lesser players with better sand skills wouldn’t even attempt.

Buckingham argues that this is a completely natural phenomenon – we all have strengths and weaknesses. The big question is what useful things can come from this revelation. Buckingham argues that there are three very valuable tools that can come from this: the ability to distinguish natural talents, attributes, and gifts (TAGs) from learned skills, the ability to single out and identify those TAGs, and the ability to unambiguously and distinctly describe those TAGs. Taken as a whole, these would enable anyone to easily identify a group of people that would work well together, no matter what their background, because you could clearly identify people with complementary TAGs.

Buckingham addresses the idea that when you observe a great strength in someone, like a great public speaker, you’re actually witnessing a mix of that person’s skills and TAGs, and a strength is just a confluence of these two elements.

A skill is something that can be learned. For example, a person can take a course in Java programming and gain the basic skill of programing in Java. That does not imply that they will be a great Java programmer, just that they have the basic skill of programming in Java.

A TAG is something that can’t be learned. For example, an individual may have the gift of being able to quickly break complex tasks down into bite-sized pieces. On its own, it’s not all that useful – where it becomes useful is in combination with skills. Think of the Java programming skill – if you also have the talent of quickly breaking down complex tasks, you have the beginnings of a very strong programmer.

The real key to identifying your strengths is to focus in on your immediate near-instinctual reactions to various situations. Thus, the best way to really reveal your strengths is to look at a wide array of situations, take your gut reactionary solution to these situations, and tabulate as many of these as you can. Eventually, some patterns will emerge, and those patterns are directly indicative of your strengths. Serious self-analysis can do a very good job of revealing these strengths without the need to take a standardized test.

Now, Discover Your Strengths lists a set of thirty-four strengths, identifying and describing one per page. The Just Wait Teens Program helps teenagers identify which ones of the 34 strengths is theirs. The individual descriptions of each strength are detailed enough that, with some honest self-evaluation, you can pretty quickly figure out which strengths you have and which ones you do not have.

The real power of this came with the self-evaluation, not with the actual naming of the strengths. It’s tough to admit to ourselves that we aren’t strong in every category, but it’s often a major key to our personal success. A person will learn as much from reading and thinking about the strengths that they do not have than the ones that they do have.

In the book, a question and answer session follows, addressing a number of issues with strength identification. The first interesting question was about weaknesses. Is it useful to use these strength descriptions to identify our personal weaknesses, and if so, how can that information be used? Identifying and understanding our weakest traits is similar in importance to identifying and understanding our strengths. Knowing our weaknesses can help us clearly identify areas we need to work on as well as give us a good framework for identifying tasks that we should delegate to others that match our strengths. Even better, it can give us a good framework for finding partners to work with – partners should be strong in our weak areas so that we can complement each other.

Another question concerned overfocusing. Once you’ve figured out what your strengths are, is it dangerous to focus too intensely on those strengths? Buckingham argues that it isn’t – by focusing on your strengths, you’re maximizing the gifts that you have, using your true gifts to benefit the world, instead of miring yourself down in things that force you to grind with your weaknesses.

It makes a lot of sense in the workplace for everyone to have a good grasp on their individual strengths and weaknesses, but what goes into managing a workplace with such identified strengths in your workers? Buckingham offers a ton of advice, from the obvious such as matching people with complementary strengths and weaknesses, to how to manage persons who exhibit each strength. This section can be a powerful guide for any person even if they don’t go through the formality of actually testing each the other person for their strengths and weaknesses. Careful attention can reveal what strengths people have, and then this guide can show you how to translate those strengths into greater output in the whole.

In a world where efficiency and competency rule the workplace, where do personal strengths fit in?

It's a complex question, one that intrigued Cambridge-educated Marcus Buckingham so greatly, he set out to answer it by challenging years of social theory and utilizing his nearly two decades of research experience as a Sr. Researcher at The Gallup Organization to break through the preconceptions about achievement and get to the core of what drives success.

What would happen if men and women spent more than 75% of each day on the job using their strongest skills and engaged in their favorite tasks, basically doing exactly what they wanted to do?

Marcus Buckingham who spent years interviewing thousands of employees at every career stage and who is widely considered one of the world's leading authorities on employee productivity and the practices of leading and managing says that if companies would focus on cultivating employees' strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses, they would dramatically increase efficiency while allowing for maximum personal growth and success.

If such a theory sounds revolutionary, that's because it is. Marcus Buckingham calls it the "strengths revolution."

As he addresses more than 250,000 people around the globe each year, Buckingham touts this strengths revolution as the key to finding the most effective route to personal success -- and the missing link to the efficiency, competency, and success for which many companies constantly strive.

To kick-start the strengths revolution, Buckingham and Gallup developed the StrengthsFinder exam, which identifies signature themes that help employees quantify their personal strengths in the workplace and at home. Since the StrengthsFinder debuted in 2001, more than 1 million people have discovered their strengths with this useful and important tool.

In his role as author, independent consultant and speaker, Marcus Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and is routinely lauded by such corporations as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, and Disney as an invaluable resource in informing, challenging, mentoring and inspiring people to find their strengths and obtain and sustain long-lasting personal success.

Marcus Buckingham holds a master's degree in social and political science from Cambridge University and is a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management.

The Just Wait Teen Program The teenagers of the Just Wait Teen™ program  are exposed to the information and research concerning their Happiness, their Temperaments, their Talents, their Attributes, their Gifts and how to maintain long term relationships. The Just Wait Teen™ program  is life enhancing program, not a substance rehabilitation program. Although its' objective is to give the teens tools and understandings to reach 21 years - substance free. This Program was developed by the Just Wait Foundation a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation to prevent drug, alcohol, and tobacco problems among teenagers. The Foundation provides one-year scholarships (two semesters) at a Community College or $1000 award to teens that completes the 4 year Just Wait Teen™ Positive Youth Development Program, obtains a GED, or graduates from high school - alcohol, tobacco, and drug free. The Just Wait Foundation has arranged to use of 80 acres to raise fruit and vegetables to finance the scholarships We offer free training for any person or group that wants to start this program in their community. Contact Us    Copyright 2009  - 2010 & Developed by  Just Wait Teens