As a corporate trainer, I am continuously going into organizations to help managers grow their leadership skills. I usually ask the senior leaders what type of skills they want me to focus on and what are their biggest concerns regarding the leadership gaps. The conversations help me to get a feel for how to design a workshop to address particular blind spots or areas to improve.

Recently I have been rethinking this approach. What if instead of identifying what isn’t working for the leaders, I created a program for building up their talents and strengths? We are so busy trying to cure things, fix things and change things, maybe it is time to look at what is working and grow it. Maybe it is time to stretch your leadership gifts for 2016!

Here are some steps leaders can take to grab onto their gifts and work them:

Step One: Discover your gifts

Before we can even play to our gifts we need to figure out what they are. A few helpful questions that may help in identifying them might be:

• Looking back on this past year, what did I like to do most in my job?
• What projects or ideas did I receive the most positive feedback?
• Where was I called upon to help?
• Are there any strengths that I have not gotten a chance to use?
• In what situations do I really shine?

Do not think about where things went wrong, but rather stay with the areas and skills that elevated your leadership.

[Tweet “Play to your gifts to create goals for the New Year.”]

Step Two: Brainstorm ways to use your strengths

During this phase, let your mind roam and try to strategize how you could best incorporate your gifts into your daily routine. Some of us may have done well on a presentation and now recognize that speaking is something we excel at and want to build on that strength. Some of us may have had successful connections with customers and now realize that we are strong client handlers. Some of us may have used our technological abilities to “wow” our team and now want to add this to our job responsibilities. However we feel we added value and made a difference in an outcome, that is a gift we want to run with.

Step Three: Create 2016 goals with your gifts

The next thing to do is transform these gifts into goals for the coming year. Use a revised SMART goal plan by making sure goals are:

• SMASHING
• MEANINGFUL
• AUTHENTIC
• RIVETING
• TRANSPARENT

Step Four: Put your gifts into action

The final element is matching our gifts and strengths closely with the direction we want to take. Think of three objectives for each of your goals that will incorporate your talents. For example: if one of your gifts is strong verbal communication capabilities, make sure that you include some face to face or phone interactions in the goal setting. Set up meetings or lunches with people in different departments or customers outside of your organization. Build on those verbal talents. Not only should we be playing to our strengths, we might also want to find ways to stretch them.

[Tweet “When leaders include their gifts in their goal setting they will shine.”]

How will you stretch your gifts in your goal setting for next year?