What Do You Do Better Than 10,000 Other People?

This is a question I ask often when working with groups around their strengths. The fact is that we all have innate abilities and unique talents that allow us to perform in ways that are vastly superior to others around us.

Think about your friends and colleagues:

  • there’s probably someone to whom relationship building comes very naturally; they’ve never met a stranger that they could not find a connection with and make into a friend,
  • there’s another whose vision or strategic capacity is limitless,
  • how about the one who can read people, whose intuitive and perceiving ability allow them to understand what others are feeling and use the information for good,
  • and thank goodness for the person whose enthusiasm and optimism for life is contagious. They encourage people and draw others to them.

 I used the exercise recently in a client staff meeting. I asked the 30 or so employees in the room to break into pairs or small groups and share what they did better than 10,000 other people. At first, I got looks like “Are you kidding me, Laurie? I have nothing that special to offer.” But, with a little encouragement (and a little insistence that I had, indeed, not lost it) they got out of the gate. It was like popcorn being popped. Everyone was chatting. The room came alive with conversation. I had to calm down this formerly mum group — just to get them to stop talking long enough so they could share what they were talking about with the whole team.

Something beautiful happened. Instead of sharing their personal strengths, the team began heaping praise on each other.

Some of the things I heard:

“Donna is such a deep well of knowledge. Every time I have a complex patient case, I always ask her.”

“Patti is so detail-oriented. The messages she takes always have exactly the information that I need, and it makes my job so much easier.”

“Mary is such a positive person. She lifts the mood of the entire office and her smile makes my day.”

“Robin is so beloved by our patients. The first question out of their mouth is, ‘Where’s Robin?’”

“Erika is so good at solving problems. When the network server crashes or the software is not responding, Erika can troubleshoot and get us right back on track.”

Unfortunately, a lot of us (or members of our team) don’t know how unique and valuable our talents really are … or how much better we are in these areas than thousands of other people BECAUSE no one ever really takes the time to point these rare qualities out.

Often, we only hear the negative – complaints when things go wrong. Or an exhortation to work on our weak areas – not the places where we shine.

Is it any wonder, then, that people don’t think they out-perform TWO other people, let alone 10,000?!

The more we focus on what we do right, the better positioned we are to harness those strengths for good. Plus, it’s amazing to know our contributions are valued by our teammates and our organization.

Go ahead! Try it out on your team. I think you’ll like the outcome!