Lead Your Team through the Profile, Part 4: Value to the Team
This exercise is part of a series to use as you guide your team through understanding their profile reports.
For You To Think About
Image: Bijender Singh
In what way does each member bring value to your team?
Your team members fulfill two different functions: (1) they carry out tasks (2) they each carry out tasks in a unique way.
A task is an action. Members know which tasks they are responsible for simply by reading their job descriptions (“She is responsible for interviewing potential clients.”) A team member carries out tasks in a unique way by using her strengths (“She completed the interview quickly and decisively.”)
Each member of your team brings his unique combination of natural strengths to the group – a one-of-a-kind manner in which he accomplishes tasks. That unique combination of strengths brings value to the team.
When team members know their value, they flourish. When they understand the value others bring to the team, they can better understand how the team fits together to make a unified whole. There are several ways your team can benefit from processing each member’s value to the team.
- Team members can identify the individual strengths they bring to the team – and recognize the strengths other team members bring, too.
- Team members can find ways to maximize their God-given strengths in their work and become even more valuable to the team.
- Team members can develop a deeper appreciation for what others bring to the team, which grows interdependence.
For You To Do
This exercise helps your team discover what specific value they bring to the team. Together, your team will process the “Value to the Team” section of the report.
The material in this section of the profile report is derived from the user’s strengths and their intensity. It lists specific talents and strengths each member brings to the team. By looking at these statements, each member can better identify his role in the group. Understanding their roles equips the team to interact more productively and effectively.
What You Need for This Exercise
- Each participant’s profile report
- Highlighters, pens, and pencils for each participant
What To Do
- Ask the group to sit in a circle.
- Have participants turn to page 8 in their profile reports and read their “Value to the Team” section. Invite them to use a highlighter, pen, or pencil to select 4 statements from the list that they believe describes best their value to the team.
- Process the data together in this way.
A. Ask the person on your left to begin. Invite that team member to share the first statement he selected and explain why he chose it. Ask the team member to clarify terms or words that may have more than one meaning.
B. Ask the group to respond. How do they see this team member using this characteristic in a way that brings value to the team?
- Move on to the next person and repeat Steps A and B. Continue the process until everyone on the team has shared one statement. Repeat the process until each participant has shared all of their selected statements.
- Ask each member to share strengths that they are not using as much as they could. In what ways can they use those strengths to make a positive difference for the team?
- Ask participants these questions and invite them to respond:
A. What surprised you the most during this exercise?
B. What did this exercise confirm to you that you may have already known?
For You To Take Away
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? (1 Corinthians 12:17, NIV)
More Exercises to Help You Use the Profiles
Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 1: Group Devotional
Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 2: Understand Differences
Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 3: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths
Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 5: Checklist for Communicating