You Don’t Know Everything About Your Team
Have you ever had the experience of asking someone you know well a question and discovering how little you knew about them?
This was my experience when I sat down to interview my husband Jim about negotiations.
After using all the other strategies to optimize your time, you still may be left with an unreasonable work burden. You may need to negotiate to resolve this. I happen to be married to an expert in negotiation, so it was natural to turn to him and ask him to share his expertise. I interviewed him this weekend.
Well, as the comedian Tom Papa might put it, “Did you ever ask your life partner to tell you about their superpower, thinking you knew them and (basically) what they would say, and then get gobsmacked as they systematically described the heart of their work, which you’ve seen glimpses of but never understood THIS is what they were doing? And then did you wonder, ‘Did he use these superpowers on me? Am I here living in this house with this person because he secretly deployed this prowess and I didn’t even know it?’ But then did you feel grateful because it all worked out and did admire his knowledge and skills? And did you feel excited about how much he could help people?”
“I did.”
Jim and I sat down with my Fathom recorder this weekend. I also took notes because I still don’t trust the bot to capture what matters to me. It did pretty well, but my notes were still valuable.
I asked Jim the first question and a funny thing happened. He switched into his “professional” mode. It was adorable. And familiar to me. Turn on a recording device, or declare something an interview, and we all sit up a little straighter, try to be our most thoughtful selves, and string grammatically correct and complete sentences together.
I just let him be, in part because I was fascinated seeing something in him I’d not seen before. And in part because he was on a roll, speeding along; I didn’t want to throw out a spike strip on the super highway of his thinking to slow him down. I’d catch up later as I amble up the road and sort through my notes, and yes the bots notes, to write an email on negotiations and love.
And that is going to take me some time. So I’m not going to write this today. I need more time to do it justice. Watch for this later in the week instead.
In the meantime, here’s my nudge for you today, Loving Leader.
You know that person you think you know pretty well? Maybe you've worked together for awhile? Go talk to them. Open up space with a couple of questions about their superpower, practice generous listening, and discover the depth of their knowledge and experience, the vast worlds they hold inside! Let them know how awesome they are and how grateful you are to have them sharing their abilities as part of your team. ❤
I'm glad we are connected here, grateful to share about Loving Leadership with you. Do you know someone else who needs encouragement as a compassionate leader? I wrote this free document, 7 Ways to Lead with Love, Even If Your Organization Isn't Ready to Yet.
Why not pass this along to your friend today?
