The Highlands Program

So, What is The Highlands Program?

Not so long ago, if you were planning a car trip, you would call "triple A" and secure a trip tic. The trip tic was an invaluable tool that helped you along your journey. It told you which routes you could take if you wanted a leisurely ride through the scenic routes or it could provide you with the most expeditious route to your destination. In addition, it showed you where the construction sites might occur and gave you options for avoiding obstacles. They even provided you with warnings regarding speed traps, and it broke the journey down into digestible pieces, telling you how long each segment would take. It wasn't that you couldn't get where you were going without the trip tic, but the trip tic sure made the navigation a lot more predictable and efficient. In today's age, we have access to other tools such as Mapquest and even Onstar where you can get immediate feedback that helps direct you to your course and keeps you on track!

The Highlands Abilities Battery is the equivalent to your trip tic when it comes to decisions about your life's work and how to guide yourself through career making decisions. No, it does not tell you whether you should be a doctor, lawyer or candle stick maker, however, it does provide some general guidelines that makes the overwhelming prospect of guiding yourself to your life's work a little less foreboding.

If we accept the fact that everyone is unique and that abilities are innate, when we measure these abilities, as best they can be measured, we have a much greater sense of trying to match our abilities to environments that value those talents.  Clearly, this is not an easy process, and simply taking an assessment will not answer all the questions, however, it generates a lot of thinking and creates a blueprint, not unlike our trip tic for a more successful selection of a trajectory that will work for one's unique being!

Through an understanding of our abilities, here is what we do learn:

• Am I a Generalist or Specialist or a Combination of the two?
• Am I an Introvert or an Extrovert or a Combination of the two?
• What careers lend themselves to Generalists who are Introverts, Generalists who are Extraverts, Specialists who are Introverts, Specialists who are Extraverts?
• What is my general sense of looking at Time Frame as I look into the future? Am I more focused on the present or long term strategy?
• What are my Driving Abilities? Those abilities that I possess that if not enacted upon will create frustration in my work?
• What are my most prevalent learning styles? How do I most easily access information?
• What are my most prevalent styles of communication? What kinds of audiences do I need or choose to avoid?
• What are the abilities that I most readily use to solve problems and what work environments most readily lend themselves to my problem solving style?
• Are there work environment that would be more conducive to my prospering? Are there work environments in which I will fail to thrive? Is it important for me to know where I need to place myself?

By going through the The Highlands Abilities Battery, the gold standard for measuring abilities and aptitude, one begins to be able to answer these questions. We look at abilities as the core element in the evaluation of self understanding, then, we add seven more dimensions as part of The Whole Person Technology™ which characterizes The Highlands Program in its entirety:

• Skills - how are they developed on the foundation of abilities? How do they develop in compensatory ways when abilities may not be present?
• Interests - what are the things that really get you juiced, fluff your socks and are intriguing to you?
• Personal Style - what are the elements of personality that contribute to how I filter my perceptions and view my world?
• Family of Origin - what is the impact of the models that my family provides for me and how does that impact my perception of career choices?
• Values - how do I prioritize the things that are of importance to me?   How do I look at the purpose of my life?
• Goals - what is my tendency to establish visions and develop steps to get to where I want to go?
• Career Development Cycle - am I a student who isn't sure of a college major; a young person who is not sure of my initial career selection; in mid career wondering what else can I do with my life; getting ready to retire and thinking about what I'd like to do differently with the rest of my life? All of these people are at developmental life stages where the Program can help them sort through some of these perplexing issues.

As a site director for The Highlands Program , I am licensed to provide the Battery and the Program to my clients. I am also a certified graduate of the Career Coach Institute and Coach U. Together we can use the information from the assessment and employ a coaching program that can help you define, explore and move in the direction which suits you and helps define ways for you to express you life purpose. This may be the most important journey of your life, considering the tools that can augment the trip seems to be essential to getting where you want to go. There's an old adage, "if you don't know where you're going, any road will do." These tools are not a panacea, however, they are a means for defining the road that may be most appropriate for you.

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