“If you were really talented, you wouldn’t need to be here, and you wouldn’t need us.”
This is how I opened the first event of a group of our company’s brightest and best, joining our top talent development programme. To say my colleagues on the organising team were shocked was an understatement. Not to mention the jolt it gave the audience. Not what they were expecting.
Although this was many years ago, the principle still resonates with me. My belief is that really talented people are extremely good at developing themselves.
They are highly motivated, have a good sense of what they need to acquire by way of knowledge and skills, and then they go find it. They don’t wait for the next slot on the talent or leadership development programme. Instead, they’ll scour the internet, dive into books, and go find the courses they need, when they need them. They are also extremely good at learning by doing.
My point to this new group was not that I didn’t believe them to be talented but rather, to force home that this was a major opportunity for them, but they had to pick it up and run with it as fast as they could. Our role was simply to “turn on” their talent and show them how to accelerate their progress.
And it worked.
That particular group, many of whom I am still in contact with, have risen up the ranks. Most are now senior directors, many at a global level. From that group, one individual is now responsible for a budget in excess of $2.5bn.
Talented people sometimes need a little helping hand to get moving, and this is what we did for this, and many other groups. Once the talent has been ignited, progress continues at pace.
How to Ignite Your Ambition
Over the last 15 years or so I have coached and mentored well over 1,000 talented and ambitious individuals, and here are a few suggestions if you want to pick up the pace:
- Make a firm decision that you’re not going to settle for where you are right now.
- Stoke up your emotions about it. Get angry, get determined, and then get passionate. You are going to make it happen.
- In the process, develop as much clarity as you can about where exactly you want to end up, or what you want to be doing. What does success look like? How will it feel?
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- Clear the decks and make it a major priority in your work and in your life. What is getting in the way right now? Whose expectations have you got to manage?
- Determine a range of short-term influencing goals to clear this space. Then use the stakeholder mapping process to make sure you move these things fast.
- Gaze into your future. What skills, knowledge and capability will be critical to you realising your future? Make a list, and then rate yourself against each in terms of your current level of skill, etc.
- Finally, select the one that is the highest priority for you to develop right now. Then create a detailed action plan that you are going to start today. Don’t hang about, don’t procrastinate – get moving.
Naturally, if your priority is to develop your ability to influence – make sure and get in touch because we have loads of ways to help you. But, that was not the point in writing this article.
My purpose was to influence you to get moving.
Go on, make it happen!
Colin Gautrey
Provocative Coach/Mentor | Specialism: Impact and Influence
Ready to take the next step? Discover how personalised coaching can unlock your potential and accelerate your success. When you’re ready, let’s talk about how we can work together to turn your vision into a reality.
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