I can’t stay away from New Orleans for very long. It’s a city that gets under your skin — it drips with creativity. It’s a city where music and art is everywhere. There are music venues on almost every block; there are art galleries, and art fairs everywhere. The food is creative in New Orleans, the graffiti is uniquely good. Even the sidewalks break creatively from the power of the hundreds year old oak roots.

It’s hard not to feel inspired by all the creation and talent around you.

One of my favorite things to enjoy is the live jazz performances. When I come here I try to stay close to Frenchmen Street. Up and down the block are live performances all afternoon, and well into the following morning.

What strikes me watching the bands, when the performance is particularly jiving, is how well the members collaborate.

A single nod, often not even that, and the Bass goes into their solo plucking deep resonating beats while the other members play around their lead. They are shining. Then it’s the drummer’s turn. The other players don’t stop, but the drummer takes the beat and tears the room apart.

Each person in the band gets their time to play to their strengths. Not in every song, but throughout the set, they each have an opportunity to soar.

A strong team knows the strengths and weaknesses of each person they’re working with. A strong manager can play to everyone’s strengths and let each person shine.

When you do this, not only are you giving opportunities to your team to shine, but everyone in the club (the company) is lifted up by the music your team creates together.

I used to approach team management as I would an RPG game. Everyone needs to grind through tasks to develop all the skills, so that anyone can jump into any task.

Yet the more teams I’ve been with that have thrived, the more I saw that everyone should have their own strengths. Some people will want to be generalists and learn how to do everything. I am one of those people.

But some people thrive on going deep into one skill, and there are times when only they can solve the issue at hand because of their particular expertise.

Most importantly, people thrive when their abilities are well matched with the tasks at hand. Good engineers are always growing. I found that people grow best when they can explore what interests them. Sometimes things do need to get done regardless of whether anyone on the team is a subject matter expert. But when I have a choice, I’d rather have the person excited to do something, do it.

When skills and problems are well aligned, there is a joy in solving those problems.

A good team has generalists and people who dive deep. What makes an excellent team is when each person has opportunities to show off their strengths.

A good manager finds a way to give each person their solo, their opportunity to shine in front of the rest of the company. Part of this is playing to each person’s strengths. Part of this is understanding where their strengths are crucial for the company’s success.

A final, crucial aspect is making sure everyone is aware of the part each person played in that excellent feature that was just shipped.