| home | contact | sign up for our newsletter |

about     |  unique genius    |  services   |  product portfolio   |  speaking – workshops   | rave reviews  | tilt 360  

‘Unique Genius’ Coaching Model

Strategy 1: Be Distinctive. Differentiate.

In Strategy 1, you identify your ‘Unique Genius’ that can be integrated into your brand positioning statement in Strategy 2.  

Through a series of assessments and coaching exercises, you discover your Signature Strengths, Career Anchors, Interest Style, and Needs/Values and learn how to quickly realign a new role so that you play to your core competency and consistently deliver on it, exceptionally.

• Step 1: Play to Your Signature Strengths
• Step 2: Career Anchors . . . What Anchors You to Your Career?
• Step 3: Interest Style . . . The Secret to Motivation!
• Step 4: Driven by Your Needs or Inspired by Your Values?

When you apply your strengths and build a career in which you excel, you consistently function at peak performance.

Step 1: Play to Your Signature Strengths

There are many amazing benefits for playing to your strengths . . .

1. You are more motivated and productive when you align your daily tasks with your strengths.
2. You progress more rapidly and experience greater success ...and it's EASY!
3. When you leverage your strengths, you operate at "near-perfect performance" continually.
4. You feel more fulfilled and motivated ‘toward’ your goal rather than struggling to ‘push the boulder up Mount Everest’!

When you apply your strengths and build your leadership style around your strengths, you consistently function at peak performance.

Benefits of Playing to Your Strengths:
Of course, you know that there are many indirect benefits from high performance . . . a promotion, being tapped on the shoulder for advancement opportunities, and increased financial compensation to match the unique contribution that you add to the organization.

What else?

• Identify, focus, and cultivate your top 5 signature strengths so that you are considered the best in your field and display passion, and energy … and have more fun in the process.
• Play to your top 5 signature strengths so that you exhibit high energy, consistent near perfect performance, and continuous inspiration to improve.

Unfortunately, many people are not able to identify their strengths because they come SO easily. For example, you might say, "How can something so easy be so valuable?"

Well, if you look at it historically, performance evaluation systems focused on identifying your weaknesses and you were expected to ‘strengthen your weaknesses’.   As a result, we became experts in our weaknesses and invested far too much time on training or experience to improve our ‘areas for improvement’.

Doesn’t that sound a bit illogical?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on your strengths so you would enjoy what you were doing, you would perform at an exceptionally higher level, and your productivity would skyrocket?

There is a new focus on ‘strengths-based performance’ in leadership and career development!

• Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton launched this new approach in their book, Now Discover Your Strengths.  The book described the 30 year study of two million people conducted by the Gallup Organization in which they identified 34 themes that comprise your top five Signature Strengths that are defined as your Strengths Finder Profile.

There have been many more books published on the subject to add depth to the new focus on your strengths. The latest versions are Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath and Strengths-based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie.

• What are Signature Strengths? They are a set of special talents in unique combination that you apply to diverse situations. When they are in play, you operate at near perfect performance, consistently. You demonstrate superior skill, high level of energy, continuous improvement, and passion.

WOW – doesn’t that sound inviting!

• Through an online Gallup Assessment Tool, you identify your top 5 Signature Strengths.
• Your three Description Reports provide comprehensive explanation about the Genius and Beauty of Your Strengths, Leadership Action Strategies, and Personal Insights that help you to understand the themes of your Leadership Strengths apply them in your daily life.
• Your Coaching Exercise helps you to and realign your current work environment so that you play to your strengths more consistently, as well as capture key phrases and statements for your ‘Unique Genius’ Portfolio* that will be used to build your brand-driven resume.

* Each Coaching Exercise contains one step that includes capturing key phrases and statements for your ‘Unique Genius’ Portfolio.

What’s the benefit to you?

• You are more motivated and productive when you develop your natural talents into strengths.
• You progress more rapidly and experience greater success

...and it's EASY!

top of page

Step 2: Career Anchors . . . What Anchors You to Your Career?

Is It Serving You or Sabotaging Your Success?

• Your top 3 Career Anchors help you to understand WHY you prefer a certain type of task or work environment.
• The insight that you gain by understanding your Career Anchors will help you to make better decisions that are sustainable over time AND help you to realign your current work environment so it provides more meaning . . . right now!
• Your Anchors function as the stabilizing force, hence the metaphor of "Anchor," and can be thought of as the values and motives that you will not give up if forced to make a choice.

Well, you might be saying, “I think that I can easily assess what my Anchors are.”
Well, you are absolutely right … on a few points. Many people have great insight about their values and motives. However, the Career Anchor Assessment provides even greater clarity about a ‘best fit’ career direction for you and provides clues to your authentic ‘leadership brand’.

For example,

• Some people thrive on being creative and innovative whereas others prefer stability and continuity.
• Challenge and constant simulation may be important to one person, while creating a work/life balance is paramount to another.

For example, many clients express a desire to start their own business when they are frustrated with their boss, co workers, or corporate challenges.

However, the results of their Career Anchors Assessment often show that their ‘Anchor’ is in Autonomy / Independence and Lifestyle.  Entrepreneurial / Creativity is their lowest rated anchor.

Our coaching then shifts to redesigning their current work situation around their  ‘Anchors’ to reduce their stress and increase their productivity.

So, to effectively manage your career, you need to know more than what you enjoy doing. You need to understand WHY you like to do it.

• The Career Anchors Self-Assessment is designed to help you think through those tough questions in a highly complex, sometimes turbulent and dynamic work environment.
• Your Description Report provides a comprehensive explanation about the following qualities of your top 3 Career Anchors: characteristics; type of work you are ‘anchored’ to; how to best communicate and give recognition to the ‘anchor’.
• Your Coaching Exercise is a perfect opportunity for you to assess how to best redesign your work style so that you are more ‘anchored’ to what you value and what motivates you.

top of page

Step 3: Interest Style . . . The Secret to Motivation!

• Interest is very closely correlated with Motivation, and is also one of the most important factors for long term career satisfaction. As one author is quoted as stating, “Find a job that motivates you, and you’ve found the right career”.
• Motivation is often inspired by something that gives you a sense of achievement. It is also related to your values, your interest, and your ‘Unique Genius’ – what you enjoy doing, do well, and excel at doing.

How does this relate to your discovering the right career/work environment?
Based on the theory of John Holland, Ph.D., people with the same or similar interests are often found in the same work environment. The work environment allows them to express their interests, skills, attitudes and values and take on interesting problems and complementary roles.

1. In a short Assessment, you will discover if you prefer work environments and interests similar to others who are Enterprising, Social, Conventional, Realistic, Investigative or Social.
2. With this information, you can evaluate how a specific job or environment fits your Interest Style and realign it NOW to be a better fit for you through a Coaching Exercise.
3. In addition, the exercise includes Targeted Interview Questions, based on your Interest Style.

If a more advanced assessment is needed to clarify your Interest Style as it relates to a mid-career change in direction in business, the CareerLeader® is the perfect solution!

CareerLeader®: Advanced Online Interest Style Assessment
As quoted from CareerLeader®, “This assessment generates a comprehensive Professional Report of your unique profile of interests, abilities, and motivations in that relate to different business functions.  These include:

1. Your core interests, and what they mean for your career success and happiness
2. The kind of organizational culture in which you'll most likely enjoy working and succeed
3. The rewards that tend to motivate you most
4. Your strengths and weaknesses (as you see them and as others see them)
5. Characteristics that may limit your success

Most importantly, you'll identify the careers that are most likely to bring you success and satisfaction, along with suggested actions to take to work toward your career goals.”

One important note about the CareerLeader® Assessment . . . The behind-the-scenes analysis takes into account that you are a unique individual, and that there is no "right" answer. There are a number of different options for you to pursue.

The key to this powerful tool is the extensive research available to you that links to your Professional Report, such as industry trends and questions for you to ask during an interview. These questions are designed for you to assess a company’s culture as it relates to your preferred company culture.

top of page

Step 4: Driven by Your Needs or Inspired by Your Values?

Are you confused about the difference between a Need and a Value? Join with many others. Let’s explore the contrasts . . .

• Have you ever felt driven by a need to complete a task in a way that drains your energy OR feels heavy or overwhelming, but you NEED to complete it anyway?
• You are most likely being driven by a NEED! When your NEEDS are out of balance and driving your behavior, your productivity decreases and you begin to lose energy.

A Need is deeply personal and emotional, something that you MUST have to maintain peak performance.

If your needs are not satisfied — most people feel like a Saturday morning facing a full day of chores — drained, tired, lacking energy and motivation (unless you enjoy a day of chores!)

How do these relate to your success? Well, if they're met — watch out! You feel like you would if you were off to a fun day at the beach, enjoy lunch with a friend, or challenge your friends to a golf game!

A Value reflects what matters MOST to you.

• Do you recall a time when you were so engrossed with a task or project that time just flew by! You almost seemed to lose awareness of the time because you were enjoying the task and were enthusiastic about producing a quality outcome?
  
  This is most likely a time when you were inspired by your VALUES! When you are inspired by your values, the task is more meaningful, your productivity increases and you experience a lighter energy and creative aspect to the task.
  
  
• Did you ever feel compelled to follow through on something that you REALLY cared about in spite of other's judgments and it didn't matter what anyone else thought?  It was your values that were in play.

Although people complain about their boss or salary, value conflicts are the most frequent reason that people resign from companies!

In the ‘Unique Genius’ Coaching Model, you identify what’s driving you so that you eliminate the energy drains and focus on what inspires you.

• Your Needs/Values Assessment contains a comparative description of Needs and Values and a series of behavioral questions to help you identify your top 5 Needs and Values, as well as your Exact Need for each of your top 5.
• Your Coaching Exercise helps you to understand how to get your Needs met more consistently and experience a lighter energy by focusing on the Values that inspire you!

*Unique Genius Portfolio!

After each Step, your Field Work includes updating your Portfolio with key phrases and statements from your Description Reports that differentiate you. By capturing this information, you begin to experience the uniqueness that you contribute.

In Strategy 2, Add Value. Contribute . . . you integrate these key phrases and statements into your leadership career brand story in the format of a brand-driven resume in a way that piques the listener’s interest to learn more about YOU!

Are You Ready to . . .

• Transform Your Success and Stand Out with Distinction?
  
• Articulate Your Uniqueness?
  
• Showcase Your Talents with Authenticity and Credibility?

Contact Information
Gerrie Dresser, Leadership Strategist for Mid-Career Leaders
Unique Genius™, a division of Success Associates
P.O. Box 2176
West Chester, PA 19380-2176
Phone: (610) 429-0359
Email: gerrie@successassociates.biz

READ ABOUT OTHER Client Rave Reviews...

top of page