Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to assist you in reviewing your Plum Talent Guide with another person. That person may be a manager, a mentor, a trusted colleague, a team member, or maybe even a friend. You may find it helpful to review your Talent Guide with numerous people!
How should this information be used?
- To help others understand what type of activities drive or drain you, including those in your current role.
- To identify where you may need additional support from this person.
- To bring insight into how you may work best with this person.
- To help craft your current job and goals in a way that leverages your driving Talents.
- To collect additional feedback to support your development and career growth.
Helpful Tips When Exploring your Talent Guide with Others
Receiving feedback and outside opinions can be an interesting experience. Perhaps when exploring your Profile with that person, you thought to yourself, “Yes, this totally describes me!” Or, maybe you thought, “There are parts of this that are right, but I don’t agree with X or Y.” All reactions are welcome.
You may receive feedback from the other person that contradicts what you think. This is okay. It provides an excellent opportunity to discuss why they may think that and where you two may be misaligned.
It is helpful at this time to:
- Assume the best of people. Assume the feedback is coming from a good place. They are trying to help you identify potential blind spots to help you grow because they want you to be successful.
- Be open to new perspectives. The other person will be basing their observations strictly from the behaviors they see you exhibit. This can sometimes be different than what your preferences are and what was captured in the Plum Discovery Survey. This then provides a valuable and unique viewpoint that you may not be aware of on your own.
- Asks questions. Whenever you hear something you disagree with, start by asking questions to better understand why they may think that. This provides you with more information and can help you resist the desire to automatically defend your point of view before you fully understand theirs.
- Have both of you provide behavioral examples to illustrate points. It is easier to understand a point when we can show an example of it in action.
Sometimes misalignment in perspectives can be due to differences in what your preferences are and how you behave. People only see behaviors and so their information will be based on this, it is up to you to share with them what you enjoy, what drains you, and how you can be best supported moving forward.
Remember, the purpose of reviewing the Talent Guide is to have all parties gain more insight into you as a person and to grow. This is not a performance review. Growth is not always easy. Giving feedback is also not always easy. So, trying to be honest and respectful as both the receiver and giver of feedback is important during this exercise.
A Step-by-Step Guide
- Find someone you feel comfortable with and who knows you well.
- This may be someone you have worked closely with for a minimum of 6 months, and who knows your capabilities well. Choose people who will provide you with honest, useful feedback. It may be a manager, a peer, a mentor, or maybe even a friend.
- ALTERNATIVELY find someone you want to get to know you better.
- Ask them if they have some time (30 minutes or an hour) to dive deeper into your Talent Guide with you. You may say this will help you to explore your results, get additional outside perspectives, and help the person get to understand you better. See the ‘Example Invite’ below for assistance.
- Share your Talent Guide with them through the Plum platform by navigating to the ‘share’ button at the top of the page in your Talent Guide and copying and sharing the Talent Guide link with them. If they also have a Talent Guide, ask them if they would be comfortable sharing it with you.
- Review your/their Talent Guide ahead of time.
- Start the conversation off by reviewing how to interpret the results (located in ‘Exploring your Talent Guide’). Remember, the order of the Talents is based off of how you prioritized in the Discovery Survey. Your drainers are not necessarily things you cannot do but likely prefer them less to your drivers.
- Ask each other questions. You can create your own or use the ones provided below.
- Follow up with the person after a set amount of time has passed to see if it would be helpful for you two to meet again.
Example Invite
Hello,
I recently took the Plum Discovery Survey and received my Plum Talent Guide. My Talent Guide provides insights into what drives and drains me at work. I would enjoy the opportunity to share this information with you and talk about it. I believe this could be used to help you understand me better and facilitate stronger working relationships. This may also help me think more deeply about my development goals and career aspirations.
Would you have 30 minutes to discuss my Talent Guide with you?
If you are interested, you can learn more about what the Plum Talent Guide is here.
General Example Questions
- “What in my Talent Guide is aligned with what you know about me?”
- Follow this by sharing with them what you felt was really accurate.
- Try to provide behavioral examples that both confirm and disconfirm the information.
For example, “I was not surprised to see Communication as a Top Talent. I have always had an easy time conversing with others and enjoy internal meetings where I can present new information to my coworkers. That being said, I still get nervous when presenting to external stakeholders. I think stress plays a role in that”.
- “Was there anything in my Talent Guide that surprised you?” “If it surprised you, why?”
- Follow this by sharing with them what, if anything, surprised you.
- Try to provide behavioral examples that both confirm and disconfirm the information.
For example, “I was surprised to see Adaptation was a drainer for me. I like to travel, try new experiences, and have had to adapt a lot in the past at work. However, when I think about it, I like to travel but need to schedule some quiet time in my room every day or I can sometimes find it a bit overwhelming. When I’ve had to adapt in the past at work, I was able to do it but admittedly, I didn’t enjoy the process. I felt more drained at the end of the day”.
- If something surprised the other person consider this; Do you perform the behaviors well in comparison to the others? Do you really enjoy the behaviors/ competencies within that Talent compared to the other Talents?
- Share with the other person what you like most about your current role. Discuss if you get to exhibit the Talents that drive you regularly?
- Discuss with this person how this information may help them understand how to work best with you.
For example, “I am drained by Persuasion. I find this sometimes means I will stop pushing my idea forward if someone pushes back but then can get frustrated because I feel like I am not being heard. It would be helpful when in one on ones to have you ask questions about my idea so I can explain more about it, as sometimes, I have a hard time making convincing arguments when someone makes a blanket statement such as, ‘I just don’t think that will work’.
Manager or Mentor Example Questions
- Which Talent(s) do you think are most important for my current role?
- Follow up by sharing what Talents, you think are most important for your role.
- Which of my top Talents do you think I can continue to leverage or perhaps use more?
- Follow up by sharing what Talents, you think you can leverage more.
- Where do you see opportunity for my development and growth to ensure I am are set up for success?
- Follow up by sharing what opportunities for development and growth you think will help set you up for success.
- What actions can I take to fill any gaps to ensure I continue to be successful?
- Follow up by sharing what actions you think you can take to fill gaps.
- Share with them what type of support you need from them to be successful.
Coworker or Team Member Example Questions
- Were there similarities in our Talents?
- Do we have any similar drivers or drainers?
- How does this impact how we work together?
- Were there differences in our Talents?
- Do we have any drivers or drainers that are different from the other person?
- How can we leverage these different strengths during projects?
- Are there ways this may cause problems when we work together? (E.g., Think about how you approach projects or execute on them).
- How can we help one another?
Additional Helpful Resources
- Exploring your Talent Guide – A guide to help you explore your Talent Guide on your own.
- Talent Guide Worksheet – Designed to support you in using your Talent Guide in your development planning.
