Talent Temperature Check

Once upon a time there was a worldwide pandemic that was so bad they took your body temperature before they would allow you to come into work. Those of you under the age of 4 like my grandchildren may not remember that but I’m sure the rest of you do.

So, what if you took your Talent Temperature every day before you came into work? Not to be prohibitive in any way but to help you understand how your talents may be engaged, overused, or underused. If this interests you, reach out to Karey for your personal talent check up.

The unique thing about the Talent Temperature tool is that we start in the middle. Ideally, we would like to be in roles and activities that keep us in the green zone. The baseline middle zone is when our talents are engaged. We are using them, and they are helping our productivity stay on track. Sometimes the talent is working well individually as well as with other four talents in our top 5 so the grass gets a little greener in the flowing zone. In a perfect world our talents would bounce between those two lanes.

Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world (sorry Positivity) and we often may begin to overuse a talent to compensate for a talent deficiency or because of extenuating circumstances. Now our talent may feel on fire as we begin to lean into it more than is normal or healthy. Think of an Arranger constantly dealing with changes that bring new options and variables into play each day. They can begin to over-Arrange, and if not dialed down, will eventually jettison into the fried level, causing burn-out and the need for rehab. A worst-case scenario would be an overused Restorative so toasty they can’t use their Restorative to troubleshoot or fix themselves.

Let’s go back to the middle of our tool to inspect the downside of our talent dynamics. When a talent is a little less than engaged, we can slide into the functioning level. We are using the talent but not in a constant state of engagement. It may be showing up in spurts or streaks but lacks the consistency of use to approach engaged or flowing. Still good, but could be better for growth and development.

Below functioning is the frustrated zone. Here our talent is getting blocked off or disrupted by external circumstances or internal conflicts. Think of an Activator excited to get a project launched but the start date keeps getting moved back or budget restraints hold the reins on action at a tight standstill.  If the delays continue, it is conceivable the frustrated Activator finally throws their arms up in resignation and says fine -- I’m just putting this talent on the shelf for now to avoid the angst. Welcome to the cold depths of a talent that is frozen. Be it a temporary pause button or a long-term stint on the back burner, the talent is being ignored or undervalued, and not utilized.

As enlightening as this is it now begs the question- what do I do with talents frustrated or on fire or worse? Those answers will come in July and August.