Item 3: "At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day."
Full human potential is realized only when people are in a position to use their talents and strengths. Great performance is found when an individual's natural talents fit his or her role. Matching the right person with the right job is probably the most significant challenge organizations and managers face today.
Our research found that the best measure of the degree to which employees feel that their talents are being used in their jobs is their level of agreement with the Item 3 statement above. Having an opportunity to "do what I do best every day" is tied to the integration of a person's talents (recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors), skills (what he or she knows how to do), and knowledge (what he or she knows). Talents are those patterns that one cannot turn on and off at will. Great managers realize that, while talents are the differentiating factor in excellent performance, they are also neither created nor altered. In contrast, one's skill sets and knowledge can be impacted and altered.
The best managers see the specific talents needed for every role. Conventional wisdom dictates that some roles are so easy, they don't require talent. Great managers rebuff this belief. The best front desk clerks in a hotel, for example, have a talent for "winning others over." They establish a trust relationship with people within the first 7 seconds of an interaction. Great telephone service and sales personnel are talented in having a "third ear" or the ability to connect visually and emotionally with people they talk to on the phone. Outstanding accountants see patterns in numbers and "hear" a message or story.
Excellence should be revered in every role. Often, we manage from the perspective that because we would not want a particular job or have the talent to perform it well, we must manage it as a job no one would want to do, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is, however, a false perspective. The task of the best managers is to clearly define the talents needed for each role, and then choose the right person for that role. A manager's job is not to make people grow talents they do not have, but to identify and utilize existing talents to their fullest potential.