Do You Know Your Transferable Skills?

The skills and competencies to produce extraordinary results are rarely acquired. Why? Most of the explanations given for outstanding performers revolve around luck or genetics. Therefore, very few people have a way to impart a method for reproducing extraordinary. However, sometimes when people are faced with devastating odds against them, somehow they accomplish results that are considered miraculous.  You hear stories of people lifting a car off of their child.  Those abilities are inexplicable.  No one has been able to teach how to transfer those incredible talents that happen in a spur of the moment into professional or personal abilities. 

Throughout history, there have been instances where groups of people have taken on those abilities to avail themselves of great achievement.   Yet, when the emergency is over, it becomes

difficult to reproduce the extraordinary performance. 

For example, in 2008, the NY Giants beat the undefeated New England Patriots in the last 90 seconds of the Super Bowl.  On one play, the entire Giant team appeared to be of one mind: unstoppable. Before the final 90 seconds, they were losing and it appeared the game was over. Perhaps we can credit it to the coach. Uniting teams in such a way requires extraordinary coaching and a team aligned with the coach in the face of anything. At the same time, why hadn’t the Giants played with the same intensity throughout the entire game?

If the Giants knew how to retain and replicate the performance they displayed in the last 90 seconds, they would have played at the same level for every game thereafter. It would have been a matter of transferring the performance from one game to another.

The challenge is that most people who produce those results are unable to explain how they did it. In fact, they say it was like an outer body experience. Therefore, they are unable to retain the process.

I, on the other hand, am a proponent of a different mind. I believe the method can be retained. In some cases, it is. The person is just unaware. 

In 1984, I had a personal experience that required me to perform beyond what was normal while facing devastation.  I received a phone call one morning in August.  I was told that both my parents had died.  At 21 and the oldest of 4 children, my life had changed forever.  Yet, my siblings and I produced results that were not predictable.  It was incredible how my brother 19 and sisters 16 and 12 were able to accomplish tasks that no person in their right mind would ask a 16 or 12-year-old to do. 

For me, it wasn’t until several years later that I realized I had retained the skills and competencies I gained from my parents’ death. While working as a manager in a business that was growing rapidly, I was once again faced with tremendous chaos.  Regardless of what was happening in the company, I always knew that I had seen significantly more chaos when I was 21.  

In time, I realized I was in possession of valuable skills. I had developed the skill to lead people in the face of tremendous problems. I also became very good at being able to see the big picture, the pieces and how they fit together. Perhaps the most important skill was to delegate huge responsibility while coaching the person up. This is a critical skill for a leader in a growing organization. And those are all the same things I used with my sisters and brother. While there were other skills, to my surprise, I had retained and transferred many of them.

Since then, I have spent the past 2 ½ decades exploring how to replicate the performance my siblings and I produced because of what fate demanded of us. Furthermore, I have shared the process with clients. As a result, those clients have been able to produce results that were above and beyond what was normal for them, without having to experience the chaos I did. Therefore, it is not only retainable it is teachable.

 

At the same time, what was most difficult to replicate was the state of mind. There is where I have made the most progress with clients. It is the mindset that happens in a split second during extreme emergencies that has to happen first.  

Now, if you were to look at your life, you will find you experienced situations that required you to produce results that were not normal for you. If you can do an inventory of the skills you developed from those circumstances, you can then create circumstances that allow you to enhance and transfer those skills to your career or personal life.

This is a strategy for making yourself a much more valuable employee. For some of you, you may find that you have underestimated your abilities for many years.

Good luck!

What do you think? I’m open to ideas. Or if you want to write me about a specific topic, let me know.