When did you last meet someone who inspired you? This was a question we debated within the Kudos Team at the beginning of the year as we agreed what activities we were all going to undertake this year to ensure we developed new skills?

I asked many friends, clients and colleagues the same question and the answers were interesting, some people really struggled to give an answer while others gave numerous and varied examples that easily came to mind.

Personally I struggled so I set myself on a mission to find some activities that might solve the problem. This year I have now attended two workshops delivered by two very different people, both  did inspire me and also I happened by chance to meet a new client who inspired me greatly….. I looked at the common behavioural traits displayed by all three people.

The qualities I identified were :-

1. Passion about the chosen subject area – these people lit up as they spoke about the subject
2. Extremely knowledgeable and well read on the subject area
3. Could translate the most complex subjects into lay-mans terms for beginners
4. Gave equal time to beginners and experts in the group
5. Spoke from the heart – didn’t use notes at all
6. Had worked hard themselves to achieve their level of proficiency
7. Disciplined
8. Had a genuine interest in the success of others
9. Had an absolute belief in what they did

It was great to a delegate rather than a trainer and have the experience from a different perspective. It also made me look at myself and ask do I display the qualities above.

All high performers ensure they prioritise their  own learning so make sure you schedule some time in for yours before the end of 2014.