My identical twin boys, Matt and Ryan, are now 11 years old.  Most everyone who knows them tells them apart easily.  They look quite similar, of course, but members of my household can accurately identify them a half mile down the road.  To us, they're just that different.  (Amazingly, my father can't tells them apart, and seems to think it's just hysterical that he calls them both "Matt-Ryan."  Each time he says it, my dad laughs uncontrollably and my kids look at me as if to ask if he's completely lost his mid.  But this is probably best left for time with my therapist.)

I was watching the end of their soccer practice the other day, and one of the assistant coaches called out, "Matt, you've been carrying the ball too much.  Look up!"  It turns out, the coach was speaking to Ryan, so Ryan called back, in a relatively sharp tone, "I'm Ryan!"

My first reaction was to grab him off the field by his ear for speaking to his coach like that.  But it suddenly occurred to me that there was a message baked into that angry, frustrated tone.  The message was this:

"Look, I know you think of my brother and me as identical in every way.  The truth is, we're VERY different.   Matt does carry the ball too much.  That's not my problem, it's his!  Peter, our head coach, has been trying to get me to carry the ball more, so I was actually working on a skill I need to develop.  So take a minute (like our good coaches do) and learn what's different about us as individuals!" 

Some managers still think of their foot soldiers as fungible units.  What a missed opportunity at maximizing efficiency and productivity!  The more you know about the specific strengths, weaknesses and inner drivers of each of your direct reports, the better you can tailor your message to get the most out of each one.  Time consuming?  Maybe, but you'll get a much better return on your time spent than if you continue to treat them as if they're identical to their peers.

And you might find that they appreciate it as well!