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.

  1. What would people miss if you were gone?
  2. How are people better because you’re on their team?
  3. 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.

  1. Share your weaknesses.
  2. 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.
  3. Thank people when they display vulnerability. “Thank you for telling us about yourself.”
  4. Talk about conversations that changed you. Talking about your own transformative moments creates space for others to learn and grow.
  5. 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.”
  6. Listen to people. Ask follow-up questions. Monologues make teams dumb. The more one person talks, the dumber teams become.
  7. 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.”