Lightbulb moments make us think twice about things we'd previously been processing because we've got new light on the subject. Who isn't glad when those moments occur and have the potential to bring a breakthrough? Recently there was a team member struggling to feel a part of the bigger team and regularly communicated their disappointment. They would use a phrase to express what they hoped for: they wanted to "have a seat at the table." While I understood the colloquialism, I could not understand why they felt that seat wasn't already being filled by them. There were meetings and processes they were invited to participate in, as well as the ongoing acknowledgment of their wisdom and insight. Yet their frustration remained and even grew over time. Mounting pressure to figure this out left me without many ideas aside from inviting them to more meetings... but how would that be any different than the current experience? Additionally, I felt like all of the appropriate meetings for their management and input level had been exhausted and I could think of no additional events to extend the invitation.
With no confident next steps and a 1 on 1 meeting planned to continue our discussion, I only hoped I might hear some small nuance or missing ingredient indicated during the conversation. I said very little as things got underway and familiar phrases mixed with general discouragement echoed sounds from meetings previously. Before we began, I genuinely prayed for insight into the breakdown. Thankfully, something was entering my view that I'd not perceived before as I opened my notes on their Working Genius. (See an overview here) It had been several months since we'd reviewed this together, but my suspicion was quickly confirmed when I saw that one of their two "geniuses" included Wonder. As part of the ideation element of workflow, "wonderers" love to sit and ponder the possibilities, while adding their curiosity-laced questions which help lay foundations for invention. Suddenly the breakdown and frustration became obvious.
While the invitation to sit at the table had been extended at various times and with different departments, by the time they sat down, discussions had long since passed the ideation stage of processing. In other words, what they wanted to participate in most had already been accomplished, and what they were asked to contribute to was the antithesis of their passion. To them, it must have felt like I was saying "Welcome to the meeting, now sit there and agree with everything we've already decided." No wonder they didn't feel a part of the team. If they were going to have a place at the table where they could actually use their genius, those moments needed to happen much earlier in our processing and consideration. While I'd only been leading this employee for 2 years, he had been a part of the organization for a decade - perhaps a decade of feeling misunderstood and misplaced. To be fair, the functional role they were employed for would rarely, if ever, would be invited to some of the discussions now being considered. While we haven't restructured the company around this one team member, we certainly reviewed how and when we can create margin and legitimate places for healthy participation within their genius. It's amazing how much has changed in their attitude and engagement level since we connected the dots and bridged their core passion with our mission. How does it impact me? I'm revisiting the Working Genius of all my team members today to see what other lightbulbs might shine on current roles and passions. There just might be other seats at other tables waiting to be correctly filled with geniuses just waiting for the invite to join.
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