What do you add to the Room?

I recently heard some-one ask the very poignant question, 'what do you add to the room? That is, 'what value do you bring? It's a question we hear all the time in different ways: "What do you bring to to the table?" True, it's an old question... one that we are probably more prepared to answer in a career kind of environment. The fact is, we are mostly pretty clear on what we can add in a work-place. We rehearse it for every job interview...now whether we are actually able to add the value we claim we can....that's another story altogether.But have you given thought to the value you add outside of the work-world?

The point is we need to be crystal clear about what we bring to the various areas/elements of our lives. What do I bring to my relationships? How do I enhance my partner? How do I enrich my children's lives? What lessons do I impart? What character traits am I reinforcing or influencing? What is my distinctive contribution to their sense of worth, their sense of usefulness and effectiveness? And if you are not big on relationships....( though I'm not sure why you wouldn't be), you would do well to answer your employer's implicit questions about your value proposition. In the same way that the world around us changes, employers' needs frequently change and they want to be assured of the dynamism of employees' value proposition. How might you be able to clearly answer these questions if you are not at least aware of them yourself? What do I know? What do I impart? What is my competitive advantage? Are you able to answer these questions right here, right now?


The truth is these are not questions that we answer once and for all. Remaining relevant and contributing in meaningfully to the lives of others, to strong causes requires constant recalibration, renewal of our offerings. In Jamaican parlance 'yuh haffi know how fi wheel an' come again." That's a fact. But long before we get there, and with every life change or new involvement, we have to be fully aware, fully in the know as to what we have to offer. We have to know ourselves so well as to understand our worth in any given situation. We need to be sure, confident of the difference we can make and further to be able to convincingly articulate that value to whomever the potential buyer is.

But it takes deliberate effort, intentionality. Nope, it's not gonna happen by osmosis. It may mean making a list of all our 'customers', stakeholders', or other interest groups and outlining all  the qualities we have that can potentially enhance these relationships/interactions. And even before we get there, we may have to work to acquire these skills, behaviours, competencies. And more than anything, we need to understand the importance of adding value. It must strike a chord in our being. 

And when you are there....when you get to the place where you understand your value at any given moment, in any given situation.....savour it. Drink it in. Let it touch you in ways as to build your confidence, win you worthwhile associates, take you out of oblivion and prepare you to pour that value out on the world....There's nothing quite like it!