A manager’s job is to ensure their team reaches its full potential and works together effectively. Yet many managers don’t actually know who their employees are. Without understanding your staff’s traits, weaknesses, and strengths, you’re missing the opportunity to get the best work from them and to leverage what they’re genuinely good at.

Often, employees themselves don’t fully understand their own strengths and weaknesses. This is where a good manager steps in. You can discover these through observation, one-on-one meetings, or even offering different training sessions and watching what trainings staff members gravitate toward. Simple observation and mindfulness go a long way. You just have to pay attention amid the everyday clutter of what needs to get done.

Someone might be hired based on experience from a previous role, but as you watch them work, you’ll likely discover hidden skills they’ve never had the chance to develop elsewhere. When you recognize these talents and guide your employees toward work that plays to those strengths, you unlock something powerful. When everyone is doing something they’re not only good at but also genuinely enjoy, and it taps into their hidden talents, you’ll get the absolute best out of your staff.

Managing people, whether directly or just overseeing them, requires being consistently aware of their skills, traits, strengths and weaknesses over time. You won’t uncover all of that overnight. It takes time before these skills come into sight or you get a chance to assess them. But when you do, you’ll get the best out of everyone and build a team that works cohesively together.