What are your gifts?
When I was young I lived and breathed horses. I drove my mother crazy because I was on hands and knees more than I was on two feet. It was no surprise that I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up.
Fast forward to my first semester in college, where I discovered a copy-editing class (I had already fulfilled my English requirements). I don’t remember being so excited to go to a class. I was literally in my happy place as I searched for typos, grammar errors, bad sentence structure in the weekly assignments. I nerded out. Where I’m going with is everyone has a unique gift or something they enjoy doing that is effortless—their Happy Place.
What does this have to do with business, you ask? Well, a lot. In my mid-30s, I came across this book in the library that dug into the psychology of finding the right career field. The author explained when people understood what brought them joy, what type of tasks frustrated them, and which ones they would never see themselves doing, they were better equipped to look for work that matched their personality type and their inherent gifts.
There has been considerable research around this topic and countless books. The business world began to understand the value of soft skills and how getting the right people in the right seats is good for business.
During the pandemic when Webinars were rampant, I discovered a company called Entrepreneurial Operating System or (EOS). The presenter was speaking my language about organizational structure, core values, and strategic planning.
EOS is a business operating model developed by Gino Wickman, author of Traction. It has what’s called an Accountability Chart that essentially defines the roles and responsibilities of your company’s leadership team. It creates an orderly structure within the company that not only ensures the person in a particular role has the capacity to do the job, they also are a natural at it.
The EOS chart goes like this:
Integrator Visionary-At the top
| Sales/Marketing | Finance | Customer Service | Operations |
Not everyone is cut out to be a leader (visionary or integrator) and not everyone can excel at financial matters. An exercise I recommend your team do before making an accountability chart is the gift test.
However, don’t confuse a gift with a talent. A talent can be learned with practice and discipline. A gift is something you are born with.
Have your team answer the following questions:
What can I do that I’m best at, with little effort?
What is the one thing that other people associate with me?
I’ve been recognized for having this gift, so how have I used it?
Your chart doesn’t have to look exactly like this one. Each business is different but the concept of this type of structure creates a stability in your business and confidence knowing you have the right people in right seats.
