This is from Nine Lies About Work by Ashley Goodall and Marcus Buckingham. While there is lots more to unpack from the book, I think this is the question to start with. 

Take a moment and answer the question for yourself.

I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work.

Notice that the minute you think about it, the very first thoughts are either 'what are my strengths?' or 'I don't do anything like that at work'. Both are very real responses.

Now, imagine you are asking this of your team. Take a moment and think about what they might say? 

Why is it relevant to Hospitality & Service Industries?

Nothing in a service organisation is accomplished by an individual. A simple customer interaction may look like a one-on-one, but to make sure it accomplishes the desired outcome, will require teamwork.

Teams are made up of humans (some automation, bots, AI, but not really sentient for now). Humans have personalities, strengths, weaknesses, fears, desires etc. A workplace may make a spirited effort to take the individual out of the equation (think uniforms, standard operating processes, fines for deviation, etc), but we all know the human inside lives. It's just that, for 9 hours a day, it shrugs it's shoulders a lot.

Let me share a personal story. I was a Duty Manager, and we were trying to solve a BellDesk problem. I happen to lead the meeting, with the team, which went nowhere. I finally barked some orders and they all nodded their heads. The idea failed spectacularly on implementation. As I wondered what happened(I was sure my idea was awesome), I joined a group in conversation in the cafeteria. They were talking about a plan for an upcoming festival and one of my Bellboys was detailing the whole effort. Everyone listened to him with rapt attention. The plan was detailed, it came from experience and also had a lot of creative elements. I caught up with him later and asked him about the event. He was animated and excited in sharing all the details. I could see clearly that he really enjoyed doing this. I could also see his strength in organising and creating solutions. A couple of days later, I went to him with the problem statement and asked his opinion. He was hesitant, but then shared his thoughts. Over a few more conversations, he laid out a detailed plan of action, some inspired ideas and even took it to the rest of the team to get buy-in. We executed it so well.

I share this simply to highlight the following for all service leaders & managers:

• Most of our team members are functioning human beings who in their 'outside' lives in the real world are probably leaders in their community, society, friend circle or family. The person you think is clueless, is probably the one getting calls from her friends to know what she thinks they should do.

• Everyone has a strength. It may not be apparent to you (as leaders we tend to assume the position in hierarchy = competence. The Peter Principle tells us differently).

• Strengths need situations. All superheroes need someone in trouble or something to happen to be able to use and hence demonstrate their strengths. Imagine Spiderman just climbing tall buildings and swinging around.

What to do then?  

Once you accept that everyone is someone in their lives, that everyone has a strength(or many), and that strengths need situations, do the following:

• Storytelling. Humans love stories. Have a regular storytelling time/activity with your team where one team member should share a story about the extraordinary life of another team member. Get Ghazal to talk about how great Aman is, via the story where once Aman organised water tankers for the entire neighbourhood.

• Make a list of your team and start making a note of strengths against each name. Actively look for these strengths. If someone in your team keeps bringing up the future in your team meetings, maybe they are Futuristic. Remember that when you want to do Blue Ocean thinking. A good list is [here].

• Create situations so that your team members can use their strengths. You will need to be creative with this. Don't get locked into a job description. Just because the designation says 'onethingonly', does not mean that is all they can do and that is all that they are.

Let's get back to the question you should ask and track - I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work.

Gallup analysis reveals that people who use their strengths every day are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life, six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive and 15% less likely to quit their jobs.

• It does not need to be all the time and all the tasks that you do.

• It does not need to be all your strengths, all the time.

• Any one strength, used even once a day at work, can make a big difference.

Want to make this WOW? 

Create a 'strength buddy' system. People can make as many pairs as they need. They can either pair up with someone they think has the same strength or a strength they admire/want to inculcate. Let them share this publicly with the entire team. Let anyone call upon the strength of another. Think Avengers.