How to Discover and Leverage the Value You Bring
Know the value you bring.
Find a situation where others value the value you bring and bring it.
If you want to bring your value, explore the value you currently bring to others.
- What would people miss if you were gone?
- How are people better because you’re on their team?
- What would people say your value to them is?
My story:
You might think you know the value you bring, but assume you don’t.
Since my twenties people have said, “You make me think.” At first it was odd because I wasn’t trying to make people think.
Because it’s easy for you, you may not realize the value of your gift.
Someone said, “Genius is knowing without thinking.” You may not know your genius because you aren’t thinking about it.
Leveraging my gift:
I’ve learned a few things about helping people think.
Create a safe environment where people can talk to each other.
- Share your weaknesses.
- Describe your learnings. Tell people what you’re learning so they feel safe to learn. Say, “I never thought of that,” when someone makes an interesting comment.
- Thank people when they display vulnerability. “Thank you for telling us about yourself.”
- Talk about conversations that changed you. Talking about your own transformative moments creates space for others to learn and grow.
- Share what you’re learning from mistakes. “I used to think I had all the answers. But now I know others are smarter than I thought.”
- Listen to people. Ask follow-up questions. Monologues make teams dumb. The more one person talks, the dumber teams become.
- Divide large teams into small groups and ask the small group to develop three potential next steps for your current initiative.
Anything that makes a team unsafe, makes a team stupid.
I’ve shared how I learned and leverage the value I bring. What value do you bring and what have you learned about bringing it?
Bonus material:
Building a psychologically safe workplace – Amy Edmondson
Amy Edmondson, “The Fearless Organization.”
Patrick Lencioni, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.”
Dan,
I agree. You make us think about things from a new point of view. You change the frame or the question which forces us to gain new insights and identify new possibilities.
I try to bring structure and simplicity to the discussion. I try to simplify the complex–get rid of the clutter.
Thanks Paul. The work of creating simplicity is powerful! Any fool can create complexity.
It’s interesting and a bit humbling when someone says that I add value to something or help them or their business grow through something I’ve said or presented.
I was recently asked to join a cadre of business advisory professionals and I was both flattered and curious as to what value I might add to their clients.
The topic of being a Leader and the subsequent discussion of Leadership are professional and personal areas of excitement for me. However, I am fortunate enough to research and connect with some of the best minds in the field in the immediate and then introduce various elements through both LISTENING and HEARING potential clients challenges.
I don’t know what I have of value to any one potential client but once the spark is ignited, I’m all in with reflective surface responses while knowing there is more depth if they might be interested.
Thanks Dan for opening this important area of personal consciousness up for me and others.
Greg
Thanks Dan! Would love to read a post from your titled, “How to Create Simplicity” or “The Power of Simplicity.” Maybe you could write a post on each!
Blessings!
Randy
https://leadershipfreak.blog/2013/01/15/three-surprising-secrets-to-creating-simplicity/
Dan has done this earlier
Thank you for sharing this post. Many times we imagine and overestimate the knowledge we believe we bring to a team when in fact authentic attributes such as thought-provoking and humility maybe your actual value addition to a group or team. Thank you for making it look so clear and authentic.