Managing your Talents [12] - Strategic

According to Gallup, the essence of the talent theme of Strategic is the following:

The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allows you to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, you play out alternative scenarios, always asking, “What if this happened? Okay, well what if this happened?” This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. Guided by where you see each path leading, you start to make selections. You discard the paths that lead nowhere. You discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. You discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path — your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your Strategic theme at work: “What if?” Select. Strike.

But a talent like this on itself is quite meaningless unless you develop and manage it. That is why we believe that "a well managed talent becomes a strength, but a mismanaged talent becomes a detriment".

How do you manage the talent of Strategic?
  
First, your incredible talent of Strategic could take you "all over the show". You see options not only fast, but you see so many, that it can confuse your colleagues or team, and it can even start to drain you!  Just like any other talent, you see through it, not even being aware of the filter it creates.  It is like glasses.  You get so used to it that you do not notice that you have it on until you take it off and your focus changes.  Your incredible talent to see clear and many options instantly may not have an "off" switch.  This means that you constantly see new options, and better or easier ways to do things.   This surely is an amazing talent to have.  But, if you do not manage it well, it could very easily create confusion, irritation and even disengagement with your colleagues and team members.  They do not necessarily  have this ability.  And your constant surge of new and better ways may be interpreted as uncertainty or even instability.    


 How?

You should manage this talent well by setting boundaries for it.  You cannot simply step on the gas with this one.  It needs brakes from time to time.  Apply it. Create some intentional skills or even pointers to help you manage your constant surge of new options. Your Strategic talent drives you to act on the options you see.  It has an immediate practical consequence.  Obviously when applied at the right time in the right manner, this ability is crucial to any team. So, you need to think before deciding.  You need a "pause" button. Do not think about this as a constraint.  It will make your Strategic all the more effective and respected.  Remember that your team might start to regard your decisions as "only temporary", because you will simply make another call at the next opportunity.  Even when, to you, the new call fits in perfectly with the direction, others might find this very difficult to see or understand.  You need to take them with you.  Remember:  if you understand it (your Strategic), you can command it (control it).

You need to apply focus.  Although you have the capability to do many things at once, be sure you focus in such a way that you engage others, and sustain yourself.

A second important aspect of managing your Strategic, is understanding, that part of this talent's strength is its ability to "make the call".  Not only do you instinctively see many options and possibilities, but you have the ability to act on it by making the call to action. This is a great ability, but, in alignment with the previous point, needs management.  Making the call is crucial, It leads to action and productivity.  Making the call without consulting others, without considering implications, and without aligning your call with the bigger picture, can be detrimental.  It may work well in certain, life threatening situations like war or were safety and survival is at stake. But I have seen so many times how this ability of the Strategic talent, combined with position and power, alienates a team and even destruct cohesion. The best sign of this happening, is taking it seriously when your team gets disengaged from your decisions, and you regularly start loosing team members that simply resign.  You may regard this as a weakness on their side, but it is actually often mismanagement on yours.

How?

Make the call after you gave it time and consideration. Involve others in your call - even if it is simply for them to understand it.  Most important of all, do not let your position or power taps into this talent and cause disengagement with others - obviously except when it is a matter where you need to make a fast call.  But you need to understand that sometimes, waiting a while and involving others, will have more advantages than a fast call being made.


Now go and offer this awesome talent to the world!

- by Dries Lombaard, founder and owner of Africanmosaic and TALENTmosaic.

Important note when reading this: in this series, I simply focus on the specific talent in isolation. I do not take the crucial element of Talent Dynamics (two or more talent themes combining) into consideration. This is very important as any Coach should take that into consideration when coaching people in their talents. But you need to understand the challenges that the talent theme on its own might hold. Therefor the challenges in managing the talent as explained below might not be applicable to everyone, as the dynamics with some of their other talent themes might override the specific challenge and "make up for it". But, knowledge of the most common management challenges in every talent theme still is crucial in talent development and when turning the talent into a strength.  All information is my own, acquired by years of Strengths Coaching experience, and not verified or scientifically tested by Gallup. The definition at the beginning is the intellectual property of Gallup, and well researched.