Picture this. An elderly woman waits in yet another healthcare waiting room. Electric lighting, hard chairs and refreshment from a mostly empty watercooler. She watches a young (in her mind) doctor approach, and strengthens her resolve, bracing herself for the inevitable standoff.
She has spent the last week refusing numerous health professional’s advice, pleas and arguments to go into hospital for treatment. She may be frail, but all of her faculties are in tact and so far no one has given her good enough reason to leave her own home for a cold and unfamiliar hospital bed.
The doctor, who is not so young, and just as experienced as his peers who have tried before him, approaches with an easy smile and a gentle gait. He is wondering if he will have to section this elderly lady, who has now become his patient, to ensure she gets the care she needs. As he approaches something subtle but profound happens – he intuitively knows what he should do.
The doctor seats himself next to the elderly lady, he gently takes her hand, and in his crooning Scottish accent he begins to sing to her. Just to her. In the next few moments magic happens. The elderly lady, quiets, relaxes, listens to his song and then stands up with him as he leads her to the car waiting outside.
What happened? Perhaps too many things to deconstruct here: the healing and persuasive connection of touch; reaching out beyond language into a more emotional intellect?
To be honest I don’t know. I am not that doctor or that elderly lady, but what I do know is that the doctor has an amazing talent for connecting with people in a way that they can understand and respond to.
I suspect that his talent is even more honed than that. I believe he is particularly gifted at healing and caring for older people. Perhaps, even more specifically, healing and caring for older people towards the end of their lives. And what a talent to have!
In his book StandOut 2.0, author and strengths specialist, Marcus Buckingham argues that our talents are highly refined; they often fulfil a very narrow need.
It is my belief that we need to be much more intentional about the use of our talents by refining them and nurturing them into strengths. When we use our strengths for work or play we can do magic – we create positive energy and a positive impact on the world.
For one, I was in awe, when I heard the tale above, that someone could be so talented that he could make important things happen that no-one else could, by letting his strengths guide his response.
It is often the things that come most naturally to us that are our greatest gifts, and often the things we take most for granted.
So, how can we be more intentional about our strengths? How can we allow ourselves to flourish and for others to benefit from it?
In the words of Donald Clifton, the ‘father of Strengths-Based Psychology and the grandfather of Positive Psychology’, ‘how would the world be if we all used our strengths every day?’
Look forward to working – Achieve more on a daily basis – Have more positive, creative and innovative moments – Tell your friends you work for a great company or build your own – Experience FLOW & moments of excellence.
Take the talent assessment from StrengthsFinder 2.0,
Amazon’s bestselling nonfiction book of all time.
