Utilising the power of your business-building talents

If you plan to develop a highly successful business then you’ll need to factor in your business-building talents, and put those talents to work effectively, writes Builder Talent Coach Jenny Grace.

Do you want an amazing, highly-profitable business or one that’s always struggling?

No business owner aims for the latter, yet it can be a reality. And sometimes worse. Business failure can occur for many reasons, including a lack of profit and an inability to grow and survive. Statistics New Zealand data shows approximately 50 percent of businesses close within five years of starting.

Many business owners focus on the process aspects of building their business without giving enough consideration to themselves and their talent. A business owner is critical to the success of a business.

If you want to build an amazing business, you need to consider your business-building talents. Talent is potentially a business’s most under-utilized resource, simply because it’s not identified, developed and applied to best effect.

Just as talent is needed to excel in sport, talent is needed to build and grow a business.

Talent is different from skills that you acquire, or knowledge that you learn. To build a profitable and sustainable business, business-building talents are essential. That’s the finding of international research by the renowned Gallup organization.

Gallup studied thousands of entrepreneurs, non-entrepreneurs and the best business builders, and built upon their decades of performance- and success-focused research, to determine exactly what successful business builders do and how they do it. Gallup found the most successful business builders share 10 talents.

Gallup found that these 10 essential business-building talents drive the actions and behaviours that result in the key business outcomes required to create profitable and sustainable businesses.

Here’s an everyday example to show how talents drive behaviours that create outcomes. Let’s say someone is talented at connecting with new people. The action that their natural talent drives might be easily initiating conversations with strangers, which, in turn, creates an outcome. Possible outcomes might include being an outstanding tour guide, or a top-performing salesperson. These areas of excellence become possible because the person is talented at connecting with new people.

And it’s the same in business. The 10 builder talents drive behaviours that lead to successful business outcomes. For example, high Determination™ talents drive behaviours such as resilience, tenacity and persistence, which, in turn, leads to obstacles being overcome and goals being achieved.

Research by Gallup shows that highly-talented business builders generate business outcomes significantly above those of their peers. They are three times more likely to build large businesses and grow them significantly, four times more likely to create jobs and exceed profit goals, and five times more likely to exceed sales goals.

Just as only an extremely small percentage of the population is sufficiently talented to be selected for our national sports teams, only an extremely small percentage of the population is highly talented in all of the 10 essential business-building talents. This explains why most business builders need help and why even successful business builders can create even better outcomes.

Developing and applying your business-building talents is central to your ability to be the best business builder that you can be. The starting point is self-knowledge so that you can utilize your talents and those of your team effectively.

If you want an amazing business, you’ll need to account for all of the 10 essential talents that have been scientifically proven to be necessary to build a profitable and sustainable business. These are the talents you need in the role of a business builder.

I help business owners to discover and understand their unique combination of the 10 builder talents, how they are doing in the 10 critical areas and how they compare to the best business builders. As everyone has a unique mix of the talents and a different intensity of each talent, knowing the best way to intentionally apply, develop and leverage your talents is key to increasing your effectiveness.

Self-awareness of your talents can also enlighten your understanding of what to watch out for as you grow your business.

For example, someone with high Profitability™ talent may dismiss a customer complaint as insignificant. Their lack of customer focus may be due to their natural focus towards profit, not people. Awareness of this potential blindspot can help this business owner manage their interaction with customers differently and thus create better results. Unsatisfied customers are seldom repeat customers.

I show business builders how to make the most of their business-building talents — the same talents proven to be used by the most successful business builders — and how to move their business forward when they lack talent intensity in one or more of the essential areas.

To build an amazing business, it’s imperative you know your unique mix of builder talents so that you can enhance your ability to do the best with the talent you have and increase your ability to create a more successful business.

Put the power of business-building talents to work in your business.

Jenny Grace (pictured) is a Builder Talent Coach who helps business owners create better business outcomes. www.10tobuild.com