Fresh firewood every Monday, like clockwork
When we moved to our new space earlier this year, I chose an office with windows.
I knew when I chose this office that I would love the natural light.
I made this choice knowing that my view would look out over a little alley with trash dumpsters, mechanical equipment and backdoor access to the first-floor restaurant and the parking garage.
What I did not know is that I would also grow to love the view.
There is something about being a voyeur into the rhythm of the alley activity that gives me hope.
Countless people do important, yet unseen, work
I like seeing the people who do behind-the-scenes work for the businesses that occupy our building – work that is messy and dirty, like emptying trash dumpsters filled with food remnants and alcohol bottles and cans from two busy restaurants. Work like power washing the soot, grease, and garbage residue off the concrete. Work like delivering and stacking wood for the restaurant on the first floor for their wood oven.
Every Monday morning, the firewood delivery man backs his pickup truck into the alley and unloads logs by hand and stacks them neatly on shelves outside the back door of the restaurant. He has a long red beard, and he wears neon green work gloves and noise cancelling headphones. I appreciate his punctuality and meticulous nature. He closes the decorative metal access doors that conceal the alley from passersby to keep them from clanging about in the wind, and he stacks the logs in an orderly and convenient way for the restaurant staff.
I wanted to take a moment and write about this man because every organization has people who do important, unseen work. Work that would cause our operations to stall and stutter if it were not done, but work that is often overlooked when it is done well.
Watching him reminds me of a simple truth: recognizing a job well done is one of the biggest missed opportunities for leaders and managers.
Recognizing a job well done is one of the biggest missed opportunities for leaders and managers.
The truth is, many employees do not feel seen
In fact, employee surveys routinely reveal that employees do not feel seen and that their efforts are often overlooked and ignored. This is not just a sad commentary on how busy and self-absorbed we have become as professionals, it’s a significant business risk.
Organizations today cannot afford to lose good people because there simply are not enough humans to go around. In addition to demographic shifts, people are no longer willing to toil away in thankless jobs working for managers who fail to build relationships with them and reward their good work.
Conversely, organizations whose managers and leaders create a “people positive” (Aaron Dignan uses this phrase in his book, Brave New Work) work environment are tapping into discretionary effort, creativity, and growth.
Gallup has reported that employees who do not feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to say they will quit in the next year.
Organizations today cannot afford to lose good people because there simply are not enough humans to go around.
How many of these people do you depend on daily?
How might you recognize someone in your organization whose work may go unnoticed? Who needs a thank you or a pat on the back? Who needs time with you to share about the highs and lows of the project they have been working on? Who needs you to use your voice to shine a light on the impact of their work?
We all have a window, if we choose to stop and look.