For leaders, the value of the Pareto Principle is that it is a reminder to focus on 20 percent of the activities your team does during the day, those which are the most consequential. That 20 percent likely produces 80 percent of total results… In many cases, the 80/20 rule is a fairly simple way to identify where to target your team’s efforts. Now imagine how powerful that 20 percent is when combined with a teammate’s passion in the work place.

Case in point, my experience with a dynamic, young person named Kristen. Through a referral, she ended up at the door of the sales consulting company I was working for at the time. Kristen was bright, articulate and had very high self-awareness.

Kristen had been in the business world for about a year. In her brief experience she didn’t know what she wanted to do – but knew exactly what she didn’t want to do. During the 45 minute interview, she tried convincing me (but really herself) that she was not a fit for this “sales” focused organization.  In the end, I told her point blank, that she was a perfect candidate. I promised her that no matter what position she was assigned to, she was going to have the opportunity to use her talents to find the right fit. With that in mind, she agreed to start as the receptionist.

A few weeks into her new position, Kristen took hold of the perfect opportunity to leverage her passion. She had seen our proposals going out of the office and approached me for the chance to rework them. Holding true to my word, I let her take the next few to develop. What she brought back to me, were masterpieces. I quickly realized her talent – no, I should say her gift! It was writing.  She had ingeniously crafted a stodgy mass of small print and tedious terminology into a beautiful B2B relationship management story. Needless to say, a few months later when the company wanted to explore the advantages of the web and having a blog; Kristen was our go to girl. The project thrived with her talent at work.  So much so, that we strategically created a new position within the firm for her and Kristen became our DOC. or Director of Creativity.

Kristen is a perfect example of how you should harness 20 percent of your time to better yourself as an organization (Her personal, innovation story is reflective of the re-circulating NYT article I twittered about last week too). So today, take a moment to identify and focus on those activities that are significant to your organization’s performance. Then assess all your teammates. Remember, you might be pleasantly surprised by where you discover the unique resources that will take your business to the next level. In addition, you may even encourage someone to employ their passion and discover their dream job.