The Anatomy of Personal Excellence and High Performance
Throughout my life I have found myself in many different circumstances facing many different problems and challenges. I have had a variety of different friends and coworkers. Some that I liked very much and others that I could have lived without. The same is true of the diverse roles that I have had at work and in life. In reflecting on these three aspects of life (Work, People and Purpose), I have discovered something very simple and important. That is that I am at my best when I am doing work I enjoy, with people that I trust to accomplish something that matters to me. This is the trifecta of engagement. When you add education, skills and experience to the mix the result is personal excellence and high performance.
In working with hundreds of people over the past 30 years serving as a corporate executive, business owner and now as an executive coach, I have always leaned on my understanding of people to help me lead and guide others to achieve their goals. Of course, this “understanding” has evolved and become clearer as my knowledge of and experience with people has increased. The following is a framework that has been immensely helpful to me in my pursuit for personal excellence and as I serve as a coach to those seeking higher levels of performance.
It is clear to all of us that humans are diverse in many different ways. We cannot just look at one or even two dimensions of a person and come away with a clear understanding of who they are and what makes them tick. A good analogy is to consider a visit to your doctor. Upon arrival you are weighed and measured. Your vitals are taken. The doctor examines you fully from head to toe and has a dialogue with you to discover lifestyle, pain and experience. In some cases, when there is a problem or a desire to improve health, additional tests are ordered to go even deeper. After carefully considering how all these different data points come together a clear understanding of your condition can be gained. Then and only then can you and your doctor begin to work on a solution.
Using a multi-dimensional approach such as the doctor’s, we can now begin to parse out the different pieces. Foundationally we all have certain natural talents and abilities. As life ensues, we add to hard and soft skill competencies to these foundational components. Our natural talents include our behavioral style and our values. Soft skills are those skills that have to do with the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of life and Hard skills are related to the physical and systemic dimensions of life. Let’s take a look at each of these areas in detail and discuss how they are can be assessed and leveraged.
Natural Talent is something that is at the heart of who we are. These naturally occurring components are fixed in us by the time we are adults. Unless something traumatic happens in life these do not change. When considering these as part of a personal excellence plan, we are not trying to change them, but rather we are looking for ways to lean into them and begin to function more inside of them. These natural talents can be broken into two main components; natural behavioral style and driving forces or values. Behavioral style is “HOW” you prefer to behave. There are many instruments out there that measure this dating back to Hippocrates in 400BC. These instruments all have value,but remember the doctor’s analogy. Behavioral style is just one dimension and does not provide enough information by itself. The other area of natural talent are our values or driving forces. This is “WHY” we behave the way we do. It is these underlying drivers that really provide the fuel and motivation for us to achieve. Understanding our values and what drives us is hugely important and probably more of a determiner of success than any other dimension.
As we move on from natural talent to skills and abilities. Let’s begin with soft skill competency. Our soft skills are skills that we have developed as a result of experience and education. They are influenced by our natural talents but are distinct in that we can improve and add to them. They apply to the emotional and interpersonal dimension of life. They include emotional intelligence, discernment, decision making, problem solving, leadership, communication, and many more. In my work as a coach we use 3 different assessment instruments to measure these competencies. Often it is developing and improving in these areas that can catapult a person to the next level of performance.
Finally, hard skill competency is probably the easiest and most understood aspect of a person. These are also developed from education and experience. They are most often associated with the technical or physical aspects of performance. They are measured by taking a specific test related to a specific subject matter. We give diplomas and certifications for these kinds of skills. They are easier to assess than soft skills and therefore society tends to focus on them more. When I am working with a business leader on improving selection methods in the hiring process, we typically do not have much work to do in this area as most companies have good systems for matching these skills with what the role requires.
As we all seek to find personal excellence and reach new levels of performance, it is paramount that we keep all these things in mind. Understanding our natural talents and then leaning into them whenever possible will provide an unlimited source of energy and strength. Then we must take the time to develop and assign the level importance due those soft skill competencies. These critical interpersonal skills are the difference makers that high performers can rely on to help them achieve the next thing. Never stop developing the soft alongside the hard. With this framework in mind, please remember: “We are at our best when we are doing work we enjoy with people we trust on something that matters.”
Author: Robb Breding, Founder and Chief Evangelist at REV Advisory Group