Understanding and Investing in Your Input Talent

On this Theme Thursday Season 4 webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Input.

People exceptionally talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information. They are always absorbing for future squeezing. People with Input high have a limitless capacity to gather and collect information. They have a radar for external credibility, not just trusting their gut.

When Input is at its best it's providing additional perspective and informed tools that others can benefit from. This is done either through the availability of tools it didn't already have, or through the discoveries made, internalized, and then taught. Those with Input will stretch the resourcefulness and curiosity. Those with Input are agile in times of change, rarely backed into a corner because they know they can find information that is going to help them keep moving. Input is knowing a little bit about a lot of things.

Do more by finding the best time to elevate the understanding of others. Look for opportunities that people truly want to learn, and offer your insights in these moments. Do more by planting your output in the most fertile ground, don't just squeeze it all over the place. Sign up for challenges like new assignments, different clients, or other locations that you know little about. It'll feed your curiosity and others will benefit from your fresh research perspective.

Ask for environments where you have access to information i.e. people, stories, or subscriptions to materials that feed your understanding. Ask for access to storage of information. This could mean that you are storing information with other people. Ask for feedback and freedom to test out what is meaningful and relevant to your audience. This will help you specialize your searches.

Worry less about being excellent from within your gut or your own mind. You're better when you can reach out and touch the information. External starters will get you somewhere. Worry less about knowing everything about everything. You'll likely have something to offer on a wider variety of subjects than most people but you don't have to go encyclopedic and deep on everything. Offer a little, then see where your own interest and the needs of others take you.

When working with those high in Input, expect curiosity, an open-mind and a filter for credibility. Those with Input are able to identify bogus information. They have a desire to know more.

Recognize those with high Input when they been ready and waiting with the information you needed. Celebrate their credibility in relationship to the audience who they serve. For example, if they like public recognition you can say things like, "Jim is a trusted advisor to every coach because of his information and expertise."

Stretch those with Input by helping them develop a research question. It doesn't have to be official or academic but help them identify how they pose what they're curious about so that they open up their receptors to learn a little bit more. Stretch those with Input by helping them know how they filter the world in more obvious or directed way. This will open up more pathways for discovery. This is a way of committing to what they want to know more about that may educate themselves and others.

When partnering with someone exceptionally talented in the Input theme, cite your own sources so they can help you find more. Create space to learn more and go deeper. Admit there is always more to investigate, and offer them time and resources to find more. Partner with them by tapping into what they know and ask for advice.

If Input is one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this week through the following challenge items:

• Open up one more channel for info on something you could make your specialty.
• Find one more way to share what you know on a certain topic. Sign up to be a speaker, or schedule some 1:1 time with a colleague you're helping to develop.
• Write down all the questions you've thought of in the past week.

If Input is not one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this week through the following challenge items:

• You might learn by doing instead of thinking, so schedule some hands-on learning time. Sign up for a course or raise your hand to take on a new project.
• Try out a routine or checkpoint that forces you to get insights from others. Simple: ask 4 people for what they know/think. Complex: pilot your next idea and get stakeholder feedback before proceeding.