Day 18: Tanya Domier

October 18, 2009 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“I know that it’s going to take a little time and a new cycle of inspiration is going to come, so I don’t get too concerned about it.  I don’t seek to spend a lot of time on how it’s going to happen, I just know that it will happen.”

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Toni Reece: Tanya, I want to thank you so very much for agreeing to be part of this project, and before we jump into the questions, could you please introduce yourself?

Tanya Domier: Absolutely, I am Tanya Domier, and I work for Advantage Sales and Marketing.  I’ve been with the company for 20 years now, although that seems unbelievable for me to even say, and I’m President of Advantage Sales and Marketing, and I run the marketing side of our business.

Toni: Well, thank you so much for doing this.  The first question that we’re going to be asking is, when you think about all of the people that I would imagine that you promote and work with in what you do, even relationship-wise, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Tanya: Well, it’s hard to know who I really do inspire, but I can share with you who I try to inspire as I go throughout the days.  I hope that I inspire … I sort of look at my life in two different ways … I hope I inspire my family.  I have three boys and a husband and brothers and sisters and parents, and certainly I hope that I inspire them at least in some way — though it might be harder with your children than your associates at work — and certainly hope that I inspire my team I work with — a very talented team that I have a ton of respect for — and I hope that in some way I’m able to inspire and motivate them.

Toni: And when you do that, and you think about inspiring personal relationships and work relationships, how would you go about that, if you had to give that some conscious thought on how you might want to inspire others?  What does that look like?

Tanya: Well, I think to me, inspiring others is really bringing out the best in other people; that’s what inspiring really means to me.  I mean, everybody has potential to do great things with their life and everybody has different gifts, so to me it would be inspiring people to bring out those gifts and just to be the best that they can be using whatever gifts they have.

Toni: And how would you know?  How would you work with someone in order to either make those gifts present within themselves, so that they know that those gifts are there, so that you can draw those out?  How would you go about that?

Tanya: I think first of all, just talking to people honestly and being vocal about where you see people’s gifts are the first steps, because you’re right, some people don’t recognize their own gifts.  Others might think that they have different gifts than they really have, but I think that just really calling out things when you see them as a gift and talking about the fact that you’re really great at this and really figuring out how you nurture that, how do you encourage them to go in that path.  If it’s personally, and somebody is really good at something, talking about it, vocalizing it, giving them reinforcement.  And the same way, it’s not that different at work.  It’s just whether the gifts are personal or professional.

Toni: And I think that leads very nicely into the second question, which is, when you think about consciously inspiring others to recognize those gifts and to use them, that feeds into how you might explore other people’s potential.  So when you explore other people’s potential at work or personal relationships, what do you do to do that?

Tanya: Well, I try to watch, I try to listen, and I just look for people’s natural inclinations.  One of the things that I’ve learned from my mentor is to never try to put a square peg in a round hole.  Everybody’s great at something, so if in somebody’s work life you can minimize what they’re not naturally inclined to be good at and maximize the time they spend on things that they’re really good at by redefining jobs and making sure that you just have people’s strengths at work for you; so I would just look to encourage those gifts, watch — and I think I have a pretty good sense for what people are really good at — and then just try to steer them in that direction.

Toni: Does that happen consciously?  So, for example, if I’m around you, is that just something that you do, that you would be watching and listening for my maybe hidden potential, or possibly misplaced potential?

Tanya: I think absolutely.  I don’t know that I’m great at looking for hidden potential.  I think that what I would watch for is where the gifts are.  So probably by nature of my job, I don’t have a chance to get that deep, but I’m always looking.  The first thing that I look for are people’s gifts.  What are they really great at and then, on behalf of the business, how do we deploy them for our greatest success.  So yes, always watching for them.

Toni: And how would you … in your children and your personal relationships, how would you define personal gifts that you might see?

Tanya: Oh, I would say personal gifts; one child — and it might relate more to skill than to gift — but I have a 14-year-old son who is just a great orator.  He is just wonderful when he gets up in front of people.  So just from an early age talking about that gift, and that’s really a gift to connect with people and how do you use that gift for the good?  I mean, just really looking at all the different ways that in his life he might be able to apply that gift, and as he’s choosing activities and he’s becoming who he wants to be, how do all of the things that he did … how do those things roll up and support that gift?

Toni: That’s a great example.  What do you need, Tanya, to be inspired?  What do you look for?

Tanya: That’s a great question.  What do I need to be inspired?  I need to win to be inspired; I get my fuel and passion for winning.  And winning means a variety of different things, whether it’s winning a piece of business or whether it’s winning by seeing our business grow by people growing.  I’m very goal-oriented, so I’m inspired by making our visions become reality.  That is how I’m inspired.  I get my energy from winning, and that helps me to inspire others.

Toni: And how do you seek that?  How do you know that “Okay, here I am.  I’m maybe a little bit low and not very inspired today, and I’m going to be seeking inspiration.”  So how would you go about that?

Tanya: Besides coffee, I’m one to really wait it out.   I think certainly time to myself, which doesn’t happen when you have three boys and a very busy job; it sounds great, but that really doesn’t happen.  I’ve come to accept the fact that I just have cycles when I’m more inspired than others, and I don’t try to consciously get myself inspired.  I know that it’s going to take a little time and a new cycle of inspiration is going to come, so I don’t get too concerned about it.  I don’t seek to spend a lot of time on how it’s going to happen, I just know that it will happen.

Toni: Do you ever reach for certain tools or techniques to kind of keep yourself inspired and motivated?  What do you reach for?

Tanya: You know, I would say that not consciously, but I really reach for people.  I have amazing people in my life who are tools for that, whether they are friends on a personal level, whether it’s my family, whether it’s the people that I surround myself at work with; those are really my tools.  Those are feeding off of other people’s inspiration and gifts … inspires me when I’m not feeling particularly inspired.

Toni: And when you are exploring your own potential and, you know, always re-motivating or learning and growing, how do you do that?  How do you continuously explore your own potential?

Tanya: I think it just evolves.  I mean, for me it’s never being satisfied with not learning something, always doing something new.  I’m always learning.  The job that I’ve had … even though I’ve been here for 20 years, I’ve always had a different job and always focused on something new and something exciting.  So for me, finding growth is how I grow and how I stay inspired.  Once I’ve got something mastered, I look for something new in the company to develop or to do, and that’s how I really get my own personal growth and inspiration.  I’m a big believer that you don’t wait for it to come to you; you come up with how am I going to grow and then you put forth that plan.  And for me, I’ve been able to do it at the same place through a variety of different businesses, and that’s how I’ve been able to grow.

Toni: When you look at the personal perspective of this, of inspiration and exploration in the workplace, it seems like it’s been phenomenal in that you don’t wait, that you do seek.  And you’ve been there 20 year,s so I would imagine that that has worked very well for you.  But in your personal life, what do you seek for that growth, and what tools might you reach for?  What do you do to continuously explore your own personal development?

Tanya: Well, I wish that I could tell you that I have a lot of time for that.  I would say that’s probably been on the back burner for me, but I certainly … for me, it’s rewarding enough to watch my family; I mean, that’s my personal growth.  I’ve chosen to work and have a demanding and a busy job so for me, the way that I get personal growth is by helping other people in my family grow.  And I’m sure when they’re out of the house and in college, it will take on a new life; but for now, because I don’t have much time, personal growth, aside from work, is just making my family thrive and happy and helping them to become the best that they can be.  That’s really it.

Toni: Listening to you, I am wondering how would you define the difference between someone’s potential and their gifts?

Tanya: I think there is a direct correlation between somebody’s gift and somebody’s potential, and I think that depending what your gifts are determines how much potential you have in business.  In the personal setting, I would say it’s completely different, but in business, depending what gifts somebody has to me is directly correlated to how far they can go, at least in our business and in our world.  And I think people can become better at things that they are not naturally inclined to do, but I’ve not seen people lacking those great business gifts and still make it tremendously far.

Toni: And how are they different in the personal side of things?

Tanya: Well, I think that it’s much more important on the personal side of things to be a well-rounded human, to be a good person, to focus on the things that really matter in life.  However, I think that when you get into the work side, you just have to have skills.  And to me skills and gifts … some of your gifts help your skills; but in life, your gifts just help you become a great person and help you serve others, and I think it’s different.

Toni: It’s interesting, isn’t it, because this interview with you has been very much from a business perspective and almost making it sound like, from your own personal development, that’s taken a backseat so that you can help your family to grow.  However, you speak about gifts and potential and having them be very different from personal and business.  Yet, in this interview, they’ve been very much the same because I’ve written a note here that says that people’s gifts will help them to be better and help them to be good, and you are using your gifts at work to help other people develop and explore their own potential and their own gifts as you watch and listen.  And you’re doing also the same, very much the same thing, on your personal side as you watch and listen to those around you personally to help them with their gifts become good and help explore their potential and hidden talents.

Tanya: Yeah, that is interesting.

Toni: It’s a direct correlation in this interview, and it’s really been fascinating to hear you unravel that.

Tanya: That’s interesting.  That’s insightful for me as well.

Toni: Well, I have to tell you, we really appreciate tremendously your input — being as busy of a woman as you are — into this project, and I know that there are many, many people who will read and hear this interview who will resonate with your position and your thoughts and learn from not only what you said, but also the insight and benefit from it as well; and for that I thank you so much for your time in this interview.

Tanya: Well thank you, Toni, I appreciate it as well, and your project sounds very, very interesting, and I’m sure it will inspire a lot of people, so thank you.

Toni: You’re quite welcome.

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