One of my mantras is that everyone brings something to the table. As a manager, you need to know what that is for everyone in your team. Before you can do that you need to know what you bring first.
You need to know your secret sauce so you can focus on making your contribution to the success of the team as great as you possibly can. Many people try and get great at lots of things which dissipates their energy and does not leave enough time for the skills that count. Your secret sauce is the most valuable thing about you. Work on it first.
So what is your secret sauce?
Your secret sauce is your unique contribution. No one has exactly the same combination of experience and skills as you do. No one will approach problems in the same way. What you contribute and the way you contribute it is your secret sauce.
To be clear about your secret sauce you need to answer the following two questions:
- What do you bring to the table? It is easier to see this by making it negative. Ask yourself: what wouldn't happen if you weren't there?
- What is unique or special about the way you deliver your answer to number one? Don't be different just for the sake of it but understand what makes you unique. Stress your uniqueness.
When you have the answer to these questions, you can then shape it into a simple sentence that everyone who works with you can agree with. They should say: yes, that is your contribution.
I find that in my work I have to wear different hats: sometimes change manager, sometimes a consultant, sometimes a coach. I have different but complementary secret sauces for each of these roles. You should do the same.
When you know your secret sauce, you can then identify the secret sauce of your team members. It is quite fun to try and do this by yourself rather than getting the team memebr to do it. Remember everyone brings something to the table. You will have team members that you value more than others. Trying to identify the secret sauce for a team member that frustrates you or that you clash with can completely reposition your appreciation of that member of the team.
Your small improvement for today is to identify your secret sauce then the secret sauce of every member of your team.