Natural Abilities: The Foundation of an Aligned Career
Imagine how it feels to drive along a smooth, freshly paved highway on a beautiful, sunny day.
Are you thinking about the alignment of the tires on your car? Probably not. But what if you notice your car pulling to the right? Driving requires a little more effort. And if you reach an older, bumpier section of roadway — or a storm rolls in — driving becomes even more challenging. A well-aligned car can weather bumps in the road or stormy conditions far better than its poorly aligned counterpart.
The same goes for your career.
When your work aligns with the best and most authentic version of you, it feels pretty smooth. You’re happy. Energized. Fulfilled. Your job might not even feel like “work.” Chance are, you probably don’t think about career “alignment” unless — or until — something feels off. Whether you feel stuck, bored, frustrated, stressed or downright miserable, you might start looking for reasons to justify your discontent. You might blame your workload. Your boss. Or even the company you’re working for. All or none of these could enter the equation.
Maybe it’s simply because your job (or career) isn’t the right fit for you.
Creating Career Alignment: Start with Abilities
Realigning the tires on your car is a lot simpler than recalibrating your career. You can’t take your career into a mechanic who can make a few adjustments for you. Creating career alignment relies on many factors.
One of those factors is natural abilities, which influence:
the work environments that will likely feel most comfortable to you;
the way you learn new information most easily;
how you solve problems and make decisions most efficiently; and
how you communicate with others most effectively.
Natural abilities are crucial in defining which tasks come relatively easy to you versus those that require more time, effort and energy. While you may or may not have a good idea of your natural abilities, the Highlands Ability Battery™ (HAB) is a psychometrically validated tool that can measure them.
Comprised of 19 timed work samples assessing natural style preferences, driving abilities, specialized abilities and vocabulary, the HAB sheds light on how your brain is “hardwired.” With one exception, the work samples are objective. Accordingly, results are based on performance rather than self-perception.
The results of the HAB include data-backed recommendations for careers that align with your unique ability patterns. While you wouldn’t want to choose a career based solely on your abilities, understanding your natural abilities provides a solid foundation for exploring careers that could be a good fit for you.
Abilities in Action
Abilities are different from skills:
Natural abilities, which stabilize around the age of 14, remain available to you forever (barring accident, injury or cognitive decline) no matter how often you use them.
Skills can be learned at any age but decline with disuse. (Use ‘em or lose ‘em!)
Together, your natural abilities and skills show up as “performance.” Understanding the difference can help you find greater ease and fulfillment at work.
Let’s say you’re a person with a steady flow of ideas running through your mind. You’re a natural brainstormer. You can easily come up with multiple approaches to persuade, teach or train others and to come up with innovative approaches to solve challenges. (The HAB calls this “Idea Productivity.”)
What if you’re working for a boss or company that likes doing things a certain way because “that’s how it’s always been done” or discourages employee input? Chances are, you’ll feel frustrated. Often. Add a “bump in the road” (like a customer crisis, a logistics mishap or a failed initiative) to the mix, and you’ll probably feel even greater exasperation every time your ideas are stifled.
On the flip side, working for a boss or company that values your capacity to brainstorm ideas will be far more satisfying and rewarding. It will feel aligned with one of your natural abilities.
Self-Awareness Supports Alignment
The Highlands Whole Person Model creates an umbrella of self-awareness to help you make informed decisions about the best career and work environment for you. In addition to natural abilities, the Highlands Whole Person Model includes seven other factors: skills, interests, personal style, family, values, goals and career stage.
Whether you’re first launching your career or considering a career change, arming yourself with self-awareness will empower you to make proactive — rather than reactive — career decisions. You’ll be less likely to job hop, and more likely to find satisfaction and fulfillment at work.
When your career truly aligns with who you are as an individual — free of “should’s” and others’ expectations — something magical happens … It feels like you’re exactly where you’re meant to be, doing exactly what you’re meant to be doing.
It’s never too early — or too late — to pave the right career path.
Ready to discover a career that’s right for you?