The Aptitude Advantage

One of the best competitive advantages for workers in today's dynamic economy is to know your strengths or natural abilities. Did you know that aptitude measurements are designed to predict someone's potential to learn or acquire the skills to perform specific tasks? Do you know why this is important? First, the information helps identify what types of tasks are most readily mastered. Second, the information indicates what types of jobs depend on people who are most "fit" or capable in these roles. Here are three challenges in discussing natural talents:

The first challenge is accepting that we are not all equally talented in every task put before us. If anyone has ever watched a track meet, you can see that a smart coach does not expect each contestant to compete in every event. The individual who is good at long distance running is not usually the best at shot put or even sprinting. The same is true in organizations. Smart managers know how to capitalize on employees' strengths, placing them in roles that maximize their ability to contribute and flourish. For example, the individual who is focused on accuracy and details and likes to work within clear guidelines may not be as successful in ambiguous roles that require them to negotiate and think on their feet. Those differences are neither good nor bad. In fact, they allow organizations and teams to achieve their collective goals. Aptitudes help predict where that natural performance can best be developed. Understanding your strengths can help you make informed choices about how to invest in your education and development.

The second challenge is differentiating the ability to learn from the satisfaction one derives from performing different tasks. In school, we all need to learn or master knowledge and skills. It is important that we develop common understandings and skills to function in an adult world. We need to learn to reason and see different perspectives. But from our own experience, we know that learning some skills comes more easily to some people and others require greater effort and practice. School is a specific performance environment for students, just like a job in a work environment. It is structured to be more dependent on some aptitudes than others. To ensure that we learn, school often requires that we place extra focus on the areas where we are less gifted. Moreover, for many people, the talents we do possess may remain untapped because they are not part of the curriculum or measured by any test. Spatial and creativity aptitudes are a good example of this, and as a result, are often not valued in a traditional school environment.

The third challenge is understanding that in assessing aptitudes there are no shortcuts. To conduct a reliable measure, there need to be sufficient items and time to accomplish the task. The tests are conducted in more controlled settings and within time constraints. The beauty however, is that once identified, the resulting information can be used throughout one's lifetime. By our teens, our talents are more clearly defined and can be used to develop plans for our future - plans that can lead both to success and satisfaction.

Too often we look for shortcuts. Interest, personality and values surveys are great tools. They should be included in a comprehensive assessment to inform good decision-making. However, because they are simple to administer and score, they are relied upon too heavily. Best practice in career guidance strongly suggests that both aptitude and interest measures are essential. Unfortunately because aptitude assessments are more time consuming and complex, they are not often taught in school guidance counseling programs or used in schools.

The Ball Aptitude Battery (BAB) is a well-researched series of unique assessments developed to identify individual talents. For example, the BAB measures different creativities, reasoning styles, spatial abilities and attention to detail. Differences in the combination of these natural abilities could suggest fields such as accountant, critic, author or engineer. A great example can be seen in the Dilbert video called "The Knack."

Many of today's assessments about our skills or abilities rely on self-report. That means you answer questions about how you rate yourself performing in different situations. While these surveys are easy to complete and offer useful information and good talking points, they are no substitute for objective measurements.

Studies comparing self-rating of abilities and actual talents conducted by the Ball Foundation show that people's self-perceptions are frequently inaccurate. This is particularly true of students who base their self-perception on comparing themselves to their peers and their performance in school. This can be deceiving for two reasons. If you never or rarely have an opportunity to use a talent, it is hard to know you have it. Second, it is important to understand the peer group you are comparing yourself to. This is particularly true in very large or highly competitive schools. Again, a parallel example can be seen in school sports. Many talented athletes do not fully develop their athletic and teamwork skills because only a few get a chance to actually play. There are stories of heroic athletes who started as water boys!

The U.S. Department of Labor has conducted well documented studies on how different aptitudes contribute to success in different careers, but this information is underutilized. However, most important is understanding not only if you can do the job, but will you enjoy and will you gain satisfaction doing the types of tasks required by different jobs and fields over time?

Understanding your unique talents and how different strengths support different work tasks or projects can also help one appreciate the value of the many unique and different strengths and talent profiles. It is these differences that contribute to our collective success. Excellent leaders know how to capitalize on their strengths and develop the greatest potential in others, and self-aware individuals make the best choices about their career management over their lifetime.

© Copyright 2007, Career Vision. Article may be reprinted with permission.

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