What can Year 10s teach us about workplaces?

I offered mock interviews for Year 10s at a local school.

Q: "Think of a team that you belong to. If I asked your team mates to tell me 3 of your positive qualities - what you personally bring to the team - what might they say?"

My favourite answer?

A: "Motivated...Encouraging...Good-looking!"

I wanted them to think beyond their skills, and to think about their character - what they bring because of who they are and what matters to them. Because this is what we need at work. Yes, we need technical knowledge and skills; but we increase their impact when we know ourselves and what matters to us, and show that to others. 

I was heartened that most of the Year 10s could talk quite easily about their qualities; and were aware of what they bring to a team. But I also felt a pang of sadness that their future workplaces might bash this individuality out of them; or, more likely, slowly drain them of what makes them tick in ways so subtle they don't notice until one day they realise they have a "real me" and a "work me" and they are confusingly different.

Can you do anything today to close any gap between the "real you" and the "work you"?

Is it possible to make your organisation a place where these Year 10s could flourish in a few years' time?