UNDERSTANDING YOUR GIFTS

Sometime ago I came across this fantastic read and I would like to share it with you. Each one of us, I believe has the potential to excel in our lives and our vocation that we’ve yet to imagine or discover. I would like to address just a few types of people that can be defined in 3 particular categories. 

(1) The Visionary

(2) The Process-oriented

(3) The Task-oriented

There’s an emotional response for each person in their area of giftedness as it relates to the birth and successful completion of a vision. A visionary gets an emotional high when the vision becomes clear to them. When they present it to those who’ll be charged with ‘making it happen,’ they think those in attendance will be as ‘high’ as they are upon hearing this perfectly clear, world-changing vision. For a visionary, when the vision is fully clear, it’s effectively 100% complete. That’s why they can go on to create and receive other visions long before the first one is truly manifested. 

But for the process-oriented person, the vision that has been presented is ‘on hold’ until it can be translated it into processes. The emotional ‘high’ for them comes when the processes are clearly defined and documented and they feel they’ll successfully support the completion of the vision. So their ‘high’ doesn’t come until well after the vision has been presented. 

For the task-oriented person, the vision that’s been presented is also ‘on hold’ as they haven’t yet been given anything to do. Their emotional ‘high’ comes with the completion of tasks, things they can mark off their to-do list. Thus their ‘high’ doesn’t occur until the end of the completed tasks mapped out within the processes.”

“To function successfully as a team, each person needs to be trained in understanding how the others function. That’s the only way they’ll be able to communicate, as they all speak completely different languages. 

The visionary has to become the cheerleader, holding the vision out before the people over the entire lifetime of the implementation stage so they can remember why they’re doing what they do. They have to understand that the process person and the task person have different measures for their own success, and they must acknowledge progress and milestones with affirmation & celebration. The process person has to be able to encourage the visionary that through the processes their vision will be accomplished. And they also have to encourage the task person that each and every task is imperative to the success of the completed vision, and that performing tasks according to the defined processes is critical for success. 

Likewise, the process person and the task person must realize that the visionary needs encouragement via responses that demonstrate their support for their vision. The visionary can’t lead without this understanding. The process person can’t serve or lead without this understanding. The task person can’t serve without this understanding. There are different ways each person that each individual will measure their success, allowing them to consider themselves a success in his or her particular role. And of course, the key is placing the right gift in the right role, communicating its value to the entire team, and constantly supporting it privately and publicly.”