The Genius Study is a study that involved 197,000 individuals across 23 countries and was designed to identify differences between the best performers (highly engaged people) and the rest.
What talents do you think the best performers had? Do you think it was a talent of conceptual thinking or attention to details? Or how about empathy or the ability to follow directions?
If you picked any of the above, you could be right! Because, what the study found is that natural talents did not determine whether someone was a best performer. A top performer may have all of these talents, some of them, or a totally different set of talents. Instead what differentiated the best performers from the rest was the acquisition of 2 skills.
Best Performers’ Edge Secrets
1. Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the skill of being aware, of knowing what your natural thinking talents are. It is also the ability to understand where you do not have a natural talent.
2. Authenticity
Authenticity is the skill of applying those talents. At its simplest level, it is ‘being true to you.’ It is setting goals that capitalize on your talents and working from your strengths.
Jay Niblick in his book, What’s Your Genius?, gives a great example of Gretchen, who is an inside sales agent. Her job is to call prospects over the phone to get scheduled home visit for a field representative. She was taught that sales is a numbers game and she was given a high daily call quota. Gretchen however, struggled to make her call quota because she would spend too much time on the phone with each prospect. So she kept beating herself up for not making the quota (which impacts her emotional energy and productivity).
However, then Gretchen learned about her talents and strengths. Through this process she identified that she has a very high empathy talent. So, instead she was encouraged to depend on that talent. Gretchen ended up spending more time on each phone call which caused her to make 20% less calls than the other reps. But, she still booked 3 to 5 appointments per day which led to 2 sales contracts per 5 home visits. The company average was one signed contract per 5 visits. Soon field representatives were fighting to get Gretchen’s phone prospects. Gretchen is now a top sales performer in the company.
Emotional Engagement
Now let’s go back to the idea of emotional engagement. Inauthentic people are: depleted, dissatisfied, impassionate, stressed, frustrated, struggling, and feel unnatural. Authentic people are: energized, satisfied, passionate, comfortable, peaceful, effortless, and feel natural.
Which type of person would you want to be? Which type of person would you want on your team? Authentic employees are not only the most productive, but also the most satisfied and fulfilled.
If someone is satisfied and fulfilled, do you think they tend to stay in their job? Do you think this impacts employee retention? What kind of impact do you think this has on morale? What kind of impact does this have on emotional energy and effort within a team? How do you think this kind of productivity impacts profits or reaching your mission?
By changing the engagement in their workplace, the Southeast Georgia Health System went from a $11 million annual deficit to a $13 million profit. That is a $24 million turn around.
On the other side, being inauthentic leads to stress, such as lowered immune systems, cardiovascular disease, muscle pain, stomach and intestinal problems. How does this impact productivity? How does this impact retention?
I like this quote from Frances Hesselbein, founding director of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation and former CEO of the Girls Scouts of America. “Success is about finding your passion and being true to it. People like me have never had a job. When you are doing things that align with your talents and strengths, you don’t consider it work, it is your passion.”
How fulfilled do you feel? How satisfied do your team members feel? Please contact me for assessments that help you to measure your current life fulfillment and satisfaction.