Month: December 2023

The other night I had a nightmare. I had been asked by a friend to watch over his house and collect the mail while he was out of town, for a year. I agreed, understanding that my tasks would be to water the lawn and take mail into the house. We shook hands and my friend then left.

When I entered the house on the first day, I heard noises on the lower level. Going into that part of the house, I noticed that my friend had a large number of cages and tanks full of pets, many of whom looked hungry. I texted my friend, and he said as if just remembering, “Oh yeah, if you could just feed them, that would be great!” I sighed but just got to work feeding the animals. I then looked out into the backyard and saw kennels, a cattery, and a small aviary full of animals, all in the same spot. I texted my friend again, who promptly said, “All you have to do is just feed a couple of extra animals, that’s it.” Severely annoyed at this point, I hear a noise behind me. Three elderly women in wheelchairs were complaining and threatening to sue me because they hadn’t been given a decent meal in weeks.

I woke with a start. The creep of responsibility that wasn’t communicated and yet left in my hands by my friend had disturbed me. It made me reflect on how to work with teams, and more importantly how to communicate expectations to others.

If you have ever been on a project before you are likely aware of the concept of scope creep. This is when your original planned project gradually grows from new, unforeseen requirements that come up during the project lifecycle. It’s also possible to see responsibilities creep into a job the same way and with the same level of stress. This often happens when a particular job or set of tasks has been assigned that hasn’t been defined or quantified, so the amount of effort required to complete those tasks is unknown. When you add a hard deadline to those tasks, the stress begins to build. Then add a lack of support from peers or leadership, and you have set an employee up to fail. And while failure isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a bad thing, no one likes to fail. Your employee will then become disengaged, and the tasks will suffer.

Of course, the reality of any quickly growing organization or industry is the lack of certainties. Often real effort isn’t known until the tasks have been properly scoped, and the full scope of the job is defined along the way. There are three ways to handle this in the Project world, and each has its pros and cons:

 

  • Increase the number of resources dedicated to the tasks to bring them in on time
  • Reduce the scope of tasks so only critical tasks are completed within the given timeframe
  • Shift the due date and allow for more time to complete the tasks.

 

Increasing the number of resources seems like a great idea on paper, but doesn’t always translate to more efficient work completed. Anyone new coming in will need time to familiarize themselves with the state of the tasks at hand, and that time will have little impact on the overall effort being put in. If done early enough in the process, this solution can work, but generally, when you know you are in trouble you are likely too late to add additional resources and have them be significant contributors to success.

Reducing the scope of work is an excellent solution if the effort in place includes a lot of features that are not critical. Often the problem is determining those critical tasks, and just how critical. To this solution, I would recommend following the advice of Steve Jobs and knowing when to say “no” to features so you have a solid, distilled release that can be completed within the given timeframe. It may not have every bell and whistle you wanted, but you will have a solid accomplishment for which your employees are proud.

Shifting the due date is always the least favorable option for a lot of reasons. Often tasks that have a hard deadline mean they are mission-critical for some other project or initiative to take off, which in turn continues a cascade effect that can throw a lot of business initiatives into uncertainty. That being said, if you need an extension, do not sacrifice the health and welfare of your employees to avoid giving one. You may get this set of tasks out the door on time, but lose some good employees to other firms and all the experience they gained in completing the tasks with them.

Getting back to my analogy, yes, I would have helped my buddy with all the tasks not previously disclosed, but he wouldn’t be my buddy much longer. I also would have avoided that scenario in the future, flat-out refusing to help my buddy again. It’s important to understand the value of the person doing the task is greater than the tasks themselves. The knowledge they gain while completing them is always reusable, and you will want that experience on your team for any new, similar tasks. Value your people and their well-being, and your business will thrive. Sacrifice those people for short-term business goals will ultimately sabotage your business position.

The topic of gratitude and recognition has been a big focus for me of late. I’ve been encouraging my team to share recognition for others’ help, the value they bring, and the unique qualities that build the team experience. In general, the team welcomed the idea but questioned the execution. A question asked was, “What if we don’t mean it?” It was a question that put me off but, to be fair, a valid one. We’ve all been in a situation where participation prizes were given to make sure everyone felt included and recognized, which devalued the recognition process. What makes using recognition as a tool to help others feel better about themselves any different?

Recognition is a very interesting tool. It can be used to foster competition or generate a sense of exasperation when used wrongly. It can build a team, or just an individual while destroying the ecosystem. When used with care and purpose, it can build a culture. When carelessly thrown to the side, it can become yet another failed experiment. It all comes down to the intent and meaning you put behind it.

Sales is an excellent example of a competition-based recognition strategy that succeeds. Generally dominated by highly competitive personalities, a sales team will thrive when they have an exclusive prize in view. Recognition in terms of financial or other perks becomes the prize, driving everyone to perform well or excel. The meaning behind sales recognition is the value brought to the company’s bookings and bottom line. The more a salesperson brings in, the more the company can recognize toward margin and ultimately profits.

Now apply that idea to another scenario. If you set up a competition within your team for “best customer service” or “most hours worked” and you drive very specific behaviors toward spending a lot of time hand-holding a customer for that CSAT score, or decimating work/life blend to get that prize. People will either reduce productivity to get high CSAT every time or they will kill themselves to prove they have what it takes. Neither of these behaviors is likely to be desirable, though they technically meet your criteria of best.

When building a team, recognition can be powerful if used to foster and grow those desired behaviors. A good example would be recognition around collaboration, team support, or outstanding quality of work. The behaviors are varied, all tied to measurable KPIs, and therefore make easy recognition opportunities for multiple people based on their strengths. It’s a common method that most organizations apply to non-competitive departments that look to recognize excellence within established KPIs.

Taken this further, it’s possible to weigh too heavily on those who are regular high-performers, or have more opportunity to excel because they are more senior. Or, to not leave anyone out, management will often find some type of recognition that fits the person instead of the KPI. It can also be tempting to use recognition as the only form of reward, as opposed to bonuses, raises, or promotions, even though excellence in meeting KPIs brings high value to the organization. If not properly followed up, this type of recognition becomes meaningless and will often be treated as a running gag amongst employees. It can even become a point of toxicity amongst employees, leading to derisive comments directed at those who are rewarded just for doing their job.

What does this all have to do with gratitude and meaning, you ask? A fair question. Gratitude is an expression that is given to those who assist when it is most needed by someone who needs that help. Someone who is in a vulnerable spot requires help and expresses that gratitude when help is received. The receiver then knows that the person who helped can be trusted. If the receiver then publicly recognizes the helper, trust is reciprocated. Therefore gratitude, if used and recognized properly, becomes a vehicle to build trust in a team. That trust, in turn, builds respect, and respect will foster inclusion and belonging within a team. Expand this throughout an organization, and you build a strong culture of gratitude.

The meaning comes from the act of helping. Often help comes, not through completing tasks, but the way the tasks had been completed. Every individual has their particular strengths, skills, and knowledge they bring to work every day. And while someone may physically help with tasks, someone else may give guidance. Still, someone else may provide emotional support, and yet another person can provide a good laugh at just the right time. These non-KPI skills and values brought to the job are just as valuable as KPIs because they build, sculpt, and define the climate and culture in which everyone works.

The problem is, that gratitude can only be expressed when someone is feeling vulnerable. If the company culture doesn’t provide a psychologically safe space for vulnerability even someone who is grateful will not recognize that beyond a verbal thank-you. Leadership will never know, and the value of that gratitude is greatly diminished, or often ignored. The company culture then suffers and presents a breeding ground for toxicity within the workplace. Ironically, the simple process of acknowledging gratitude within a company can build that safe space.

I’ve been encouraging gratitude, and leading by example, within my team to help build a stronger culture of inclusion and belonging within the team. I’ve also encouraged other leaders to follow along, breaking down their comfort zones and exposing their vulnerabilities in doing the same. I started by setting some ground rules:

  1. Your recognition needs to be focused on the how, not just the what: How did someone help you, and what did they bring to the table that made this experience so important to you?
  2. Be personal: express your gratitude in a very personal, direct way that connects to what their support has meant
  3. Be real: If you are faking it, you are not grateful. If you aren’t grateful, then why are you posting something?

This last point I’d like to expand on. Too many leaders feel obligated to express recognition for something, and so they will write something out that is, well, not as sincere as it could be. And the person receiving it will know. They always do. Remember, they were there as well. They know how they helped, how you took it, and whether or not your expression is genuine.

Now what if you can’t think of anything at all, yet you want to recognize someone because they did something? Think deep, and ask yourself some searching questions:

  • Why do you feel it necessary to recognize this person?
  • What was it they did you feel was extraordinary?
  • How did they help?
  • What made their help so useful? For this question, don’t think about the “what,” but rather the “why.” Look at the intangibles, the personality the person brought, and their attitude that made the experience unique to them

I’m in the business of Training, so I naturally know that skills can be taught to anyone. Proper training can help anyone do anything given enough time. What can’t be taught is the personality, vitality, humor, and sincerity that someone brings to the workplace. It’s those intangibles that magnify the value of someone’s effort. Those intangibles should be recognized, particularly when they are most valued: when you are vulnerable and in need of them. Express your gratitude at work, and I promise you that your work culture will change for the better. It’s not a silver bullet, but a valuable tool when building a culture of trust, inclusion, and belonging.

This is a particularly personal concept for me, which is why I wanted to share it. Back in my Elementary school days, I watched a movie short that has always stuck with me: Cypher in the Snow. In the movie, a young boy walks off the school bus and just passes away. His teacher, who doesn’t remember him, was asked to give the eulogy at his funeral because he was the boy’s favorite teacher. Perplexed, the teacher then spends the rest of the short trying to find out all he could about the boy. He had no friends, a rough home life, and was one of those students who didn’t do well enough to get praise or poor enough to be reprimanded. He was, well, a cipher. The end of the short has the teacher vowing never to allow another boy to become a cipher if he could help it. As children, we were encouraged to follow that example, and never let a peer feel like a cipher. Some kids laughed, many felt sorry, and we went on our merry way.

Since I started my work experiences, I’ve watched those around me. I’ve seen some folks learn and grow, social groups grow, shift, and personalities grow dominant. I’ve also seen several folks that come in, do the job well, and then go home. They are quiet, sit in the corner at lunch or breaks, and are quick to head home. Maybe they had been invited to join a group once or twice and declined, and shortly after invites were no longer forthcoming. These employees cycle through a lot of jobs, often not staying in one place for too long. Many on their team don’t bother to learn their name. They are, essentially, ciphers.

I’ve been a cipher before in a past organization. I know how it feels. It hurts. It hurts to see others promoted or given opportunities because they have more visibility and popularity. To know that often you are overlooked because your input isn’t seen as important is frustrating. Your morale falls to rock bottom, and you spend a lot of time looking for other, better opportunities. Changing organizations appeals as an easier fix rather than trying to improve your current situation.

There are a lot of reasons why folks isolate or are isolated, and move into the cipher role on a team. Here are a couple that have come up in my personal experiences, though I’m sure there are others:

  • Homelife: Things are rough at home, and a private person doesn’t feel comfortable talking about it at work or feels that they will not be safe discussing their problems. This creates an additional load on someone at work and leads quickly to burnout.
  • Unhappy with circumstances: Particularly during a period of economic distress, often someone is concerned with having a job, rather than having the right job. This means someone may have taken a job they normally wouldn’t want, just so they have some money coming in. They are withdrawn because they intend to leave quickly, even though it may not happen. Eventually, this could lead to a toxic environment.
  • Personal mental health: Mental health is very taboo in many work cultures, no one wants to be thought of as “mentally unfit” for their job. The reality is that neurodiversity is a strength in many organizations, yet those who are perceived as different can be treated horribly.
  • Depression: Technically, this should be covered in personal mental health, but depression is such a common, and commonly hidden, issue in the workplace that I feel it needs to be pulled out separately. Several factors can contribute to depression, far more than I can put in a simple bullet point, but needless to say, depression will sap someone’s enjoyment of everyday events, leading to withdrawal and isolation.
  • Burnout: This is a huge one, particularly in a COVID and post-COVID world. Employees are given more tasks than possible to complete in a reasonable amount of time, measured against unrealistic or uncontrollable metrics, or given unachievable goals. Working toward those goals and trying to succeed takes too much, and eventually, the person shuts down to recover. You go from a high performer to someone thought of as “lazy” within a short amount of time.
  • Contribution Dismissal: Engaged employees will often bring up a lot of ideas, concerns, and effort, some good, some bad, some scary, and new. If those ideas, concerns, or effort is often and consistently dismissed as unimportant or wrong, the employee will stop engaging. “Why should I continue to try and engage?” they think, since when they do they are dismissed. And it’s not just leadership dismissing the idea, but also peers. Soon the employee doesn’t feel any intrinsic value in themselves, and those who once were highly engaged become cyphers.

Working your way out of cipher status is difficult, which is why so many employees prefer to just move to the next company, but it can be done. As a leader, the most effective way I’ve found is to build a culture of gratitude. Recognizing someone’s worth and unique value to the team builds someone’s confidence to engage with others. For those who are struggling, it gives them hope that they can work through their issues and have a supportive environment where they feel safe. For those burning out, they know their efforts have been valued, even if some of their work needs to be reassigned. Those who otherwise feel disconnected know that their efforts are appreciated, their ideas are valued, and their perspectives are considered. Gratitude creates a safe environment for someone to reengage with the rest of the team.

As a person who, for whatever reason, has found themselves in the cipher position, it takes a lot of personal reflection to pull out. I can highly recommend a career coach as an outside party to help evaluate one’s strengths and growth opportunities and place your gut reactions into perspective. I can also highly recommend a 360-degree evaluation to get a baseline from your leaders, peers, and directs to know where they see you in your career, and then compare with your estimations. And lastly, reach out and make the effort to be more visible within the team. Find that “superpower” that you have and make use of it on the team. Find ways to contribute at some level. The more visibility you receive, the more recognition you can earn, and the more your reputation as a contributor grows.

It’s easy to allow people to fall into the shadow of being a cipher. There will always be the high flyers that you celebrate and challenging employees who take up a lot of your time. Those that fall along the wayside are easy to neglect while putting efforts elsewhere. All the while excellent employees are deteriorating into numbers, and eventually just headcount on the team. It takes a concerted effort from the entire team to build a culture that expresses gratitude for those who contribute in the only way they can. And if you can’t think of something, perhaps you need to look closer.

I would like to end this article with a challenge for everyone reading: Get to know everyone on your team (employees, peers, and leaders), look for their intrinsic value to the team and express your gratitude to them for that value in a public forum. LinkedIn gives a great opportunity on your connection anniversary to express someone’s value, if your company doesn’t provide another way to share that value. By building this culture of gratitude, your team is more likely to feel like a team and will be more willing to engage.

 

Early in my career, I worked in several call centers, starting with customer service, then moving to technical support, and eventually customer advocacy (which is a topic for another post, I think). In each case, my dedication to the job came directly from how valued I felt. In my first CS job, I was treated as a replaceable mouth. I was there to tell customers a specific thing, absorb abuse, and deflect issues. If I didn’t like it, there was a line of people behind me willing to take my job. Needless to say, I didn’t stay long. It wasn’t until I worked for eBay that I felt like my contributions were respected and valued. I was an advocate for my customers, often looking out for them when they had issues or fears, and working as hard as I could to make sure they were successful. The difference wasn’t the tasks, because they were very similar. The real difference came from the gratitude my peers, leaders, directs, and customers gave because I was dedicated to their success.

Too often it’s taken for granted that employees are “replaceable” because anyone can do the tasks they are tasked to do. And, on a very utilitarian level, anyone can do any job. I’ve often advocated an internal need to outline and define every job task specifically to make this possible, as it’s the core of excellent training. With the right training and preparation, anyone can do any job. The true differentiator to success is how they do the job. The soft skills, attitude, and enthusiasm someone brings to their role can make all the difference in the success of their efforts. While just about everyone coming into a new position brings a level of enthusiasm to the position, if that is not recognized and they are taken for granted, that enthusiasm will quickly die and will lead to a very toxic workplace.

Gratitude for the individual is a key value to develop within the workplace. Developing gratitude can lead to increased positive attitudes, generate less stress, have a greater desire and belief that goals can be met, have fewer sick days, and have a high level of job satisfaction. Relationships with co-workers are more positive, and the workplace becomes a safe place to bring your authentic self. Showing gratitude is a gateway value to compassion and forgiveness, which are key values that create a healthy, positive culture in the workplace. It is also a very easy value to develop if it’s approached sincerely.

  • Lead by Example: the first step of fostering gratitude is to be the example. As a leader, you should be grateful to your leaders, your peers, and your employees.
  • Focus on the Person, not Performance: Gratitude is a personal recognition of the contributions only that person can make. Recognize, not the work done, but rather the way the work has been done. You are recognizing the contribution of personality that someone is bringing to work. In short, you are encouraging their authentic self to shine out in their efforts. Recognize their uniqueness in execution, their passion for the role, and their willingness to stretch themselves to meet the challenge.
  • Be Sincere: People know when you are not sincere in your praise. To be earnest in your gratitude, you need to take a good look at the contribution others bring.
  • Reciprocate: It’s easy to accept expressions of gratitude because they bolster your self-worth and encourage self-compassion. But to truly develop a culture of gratitude, you need to reciprocate. Express your gratitude for others, and let them know you are grateful for their gratitude.

Building a culture of gratitude is not without difficulties. There’s a worry that awards and recognition go to those who just “do their job” instead of doing something extraordinary. It takes time to change that culture perception from recognizing task completion to acknowledging the attitudes that complete the tasks with high success. This requires phrasing your recognition correctly. For example:

  • “Completing your paperwork on time and turning it in correctly” focuses on the task
  • “You complete your paperwork with a smile on your face, an excitement that is infectious, and with a desire to streamline your efforts so your customers have an excellent experience” focuses on the attitudes and motivation behind the task

Focusing on that aspect of the work, the contribution that only that person can make, and the impact that their attitude makes on the task will make all the difference in the role. While working for eBay, as long as I was appreciated for what I did and how I did it, I was motivated and happy. When my efforts were no longer valued, I began to look elsewhere. I also think of those on my team who, if shown gratitude for their work, could have been retained instead of looking elsewhere. Gratitude can make a huge difference and for that, I am exceedingly grateful.