Have you been in a meeting or on a Zoom call and wanted to roll your eyes at someone?
What if you just missed an opportunity to benefit from someone else's Talents?
We've all been there. A team conversation is progressing along and then someone poses something so surprising to you, you roll your eyes in disbelief. They ask a question that seems ill-timed or not relevant. They propose an idea that seems preposterous. They consider adding someone new to the project team. And on it goes, they... they... they...
I'm just as guilty and before I became a Strengths coach I didn't realize what I/we miss in those moments.
Those moments, those questions, those observations, and those invitations are actually opportunities to see your team's problem, issue, or situation through someone else's talents.
Our talents are the lenses we use to experience and engage with the world. They influence how we think, feel, and behave in relation to challenges and opportunities. Since we have and use our dominant talents the most, they most impact our views and reactions to problems, ideas, and solutions.
But, our dominant talents can also limit our view of a situation since we can't readily access every possible talent, or even every talent theme. By relying on our dominant talents, we have a tendency to dismiss views that don't fit our own.
Yet, we need to open ourselves to those different views and ideas if our teams and organizations are to be successful. We will only develop the best solutions by considering the input and ideas of everyone on our team. Instead of giving eye rolls, we should be looking to integrate our viewpoints and our actions.
So, before you momentarily deactivate your next Zoom video feed to roll your eyes...pause.
What are they seeing that you aren't?
Who needs to be involved who you haven't thought to invite yet?
What action is possible while you're still thinking through more details?
What can you still learn from others observations?
By recognizing that our differences are actually advantages and that we all need each other (because we are all different) our teams, organizations, and communities will be far more successful in the long run when we consider everyone's ideas.
What causes you to roll your eyes?
Which of your talents might cause, or have caused, others to roll their eyes at you?