This four word question is what I ask every new member... and it really helps build winning teams!

Business is a collaborative enterprise. People with various skills and backgrounds need to come together and make s*** happen! This was not easy during normal times when people sat across one another in a meeting room, to discuss and align. Now large complex teams are coming together virtually, to solve problems that are large and complex. Look around at your own team and ask yourself this: How many of your team members have you met in person? How well do you know them, apart from the canned introduction that was offered the first time they showed up on a conference call?

As the pandemic dragged on and globally distributed teams became more and more distant and disconnected, leaders have been trying desperately to figure out how to bring out the best from their teams. I struggled with putting the right teams together for complex projects just based on job descriptions and a less-than-crystallized evaluation of people's true strengths. So I started asking this question to any team member who I either met (virtually or physically) for the first time, or started a new endeavor with.

"What is your superpower?"

This seems like an innocuous and innocent question, but it can really set people thinking. I have gotten all kinds of responses, and sometimes it is necessary to prompt to get what you are looking for. For example, on being asked this questions one nervous teammate blurted out "teamwork"! So I asked her, "what do you do in your job, that is so effortlessly simple to you that it brings a smile to your face?"

Her face lit up. "I am incredible at web research, and putting briefs together!" And she had joined as a digital marketing analyst, and I would never have found out about her true passion and talent if I hadn't asked her about her superpower!

There is a deep truth hidden in there somewhere, that can really change your perspective on your job, your career and yourself. All of us have superpowers.

Now I am not talking about the Marvel (or DC) variety. This is work-related stuff that you were born to do. Stuff that you can do with one hand while standing on your head! It can be anything. There are people in my team who can make sense of complex projects before anyone else and are able to arrive at schedules and interdependencies before anyone else. I have had the pleasure of working with people who have incredible knowledge about industries, companies, growth rates, annual revenues, GDPs and are walking encyclopedias. I have worked with people who can think up a clever marketing line for any situation, or who can build incredibly complex excel pivot tables in minutes.

Imagine the productivity and motivation in a team (like the Avengers) where everyone played to their superpower. All it takes is a simple question.

"What is your superpower?"

So ask yourself this. "Do you know the superpowers of your team-members?" and "Do you know what your superpowers are, and are you using them enough in your job?" Think hard about it... the answers might change the way you work, and the way you build teams and the way you evaluate your own career!

Please share with me what your superpower is by leaving a comment below!

PS. My greatest superpower is storytelling. But many of you know that already. ;)