Primary Focus Area(S)
Motivation & Drive
Supporting Focus Area(s)
Value & Appreciation, Learning & Development, Owning Your Impact
Objective
This activity encourages participants to step outside their formal job descriptions and reframe their roles in terms of the actual value they create. By defining themselves in terms of their daily impact rather than their tactical tasks, individuals uncover overlooked strengths and reconnect with their personal purpose. This moves far beyond clever wordplay, serving instead as an exercise in honest self-expression that sparks a much deeper appreciation for each individual contribution.
Logistics
- Time: 30–45 Minutes.
- Materials: Notepads or index cards for in-person settings, or a shared digital document for virtual spaces.
The Steps
1. Individual Brainstorming (5 Minutes) Ask each person to create one or two new job titles that reflect the value they believe (or hope) they bring to the team.
- Instruction: “Forget your corporate HR title for a moment. Think instead about the behavioral outcomes you produce or the positive impact you want to be known for across this organization. Be bold.”
- Examples
- “Account Representative” → “Trusted Partner in Progress.”
- “Payroll Specialist” → “The Hero Who Ensures Peace of Mind (and Happy Fridays).”
- “Project Manager” → “The Chaos Tamer”
2. The Reveal (15 Minutes) Go around the room. Each person shares:
- Their actual job title.
- Their newly crafted impact job title.
- The Rationale: What core values, intrinsic motivations, or personal strengths does this new title highlight?
- Optional Enhancement: After each share, allow a brief moment for teammates to validate the title (e.g., “That title is entirely accurate, you constantly save our client relationships from absolute chaos”).
3. Refinement (Optional) If time allows, ask if anyone wants to refine their title based on the group's feedback or inspiration from others. For instance, The Chaos Tamer might evolve further into The Chaos Tamer and Continuous Information Anchor
Retrospective & Action Planning
Individual Insights (Self-Reflection) Before the group discussion, invite participants to jot down:
- How did reframing my title alter my personal perspective on my daily role?
- Is there a visible gap between how I view my true impact and how my day-to-day role is perceived by the business?
- What small action could help bring this new identity to life? (e.g., updating my email signature, or asking for projects that align with this value).
Team Commitments (From Insight to Action) A new title is just words unless the team creates space for that value to exist. Use the ACE Toolkit to pull these hidden talents from your backlog and put them into practice.
- Set a Goal (The What) To successfully clear a path for the internal drivers and hidden talents uncovered today, co-create a developmental commitment that directly matches these personal aspirations with upcoming business opportunities
- Example: “We will integrate the unique mentoring capabilities revealed today into our regular schedule so that we can accelerate our continuous learning and development (thus improving our Learning & Development focus area score) by the end of Q2.”
- Pick a Micro-Practice (The How) To give team members a repeatable, lightweight platform to demonstrate their newly uncovered strengths, establish brief knowledge-sharing windows.
- Example A: Adopt the Two-Minute Teach micro-practice, dedicating space at the conclusion of syncs for members to share a skill directly related to their new impact title
- Example B: Adopt the Peer Shout-Outs (in the book) micro-practice, encouraging the team to explicitly reference these newly uncovered impact titles when delivering regular recognition.