I was talking to a friend the other day and she told me that
she felt underappreciated at work. “I do
exactly what is expected and yet I don’t think that I am perceived as a ‘rising
star’ in the company.” Although my
friend works for a larger firm, I wondered just how common this might be in
smaller enterprises.
Some people are good at their jobs. To use ‘familial language’ they are the
sensible sons and the dutiful daughters.
They are always on time. They are
low maintenance. They always show up for work and put in extra time. Often we overlook these individuals for
praise or promotion.
There are many career books and seminars coaching people on
how to get the recognition they deserve in the work place. I can understand this in a large corporation
or organization. In a smaller
enterprise, this should never happen. In
large companies, the individual plans and executes his or her own career path. In smaller enterprises, there is no excuse
for this. There should be no need. As an owner or a manager in a smaller
enterprise, the skills, abilities, potential and performance of each individual
is apparent. There simply is no place to
hide.
The problem is management.
Just as we are acutely aware of the individuals, we should also be
careful to manage well. We must not quit managing just because we do not need a
change in behaviour. These sensible sons
and dutiful daughters are keeping our companies in business. Consistency and reliability count. Sometimes, as leaders (as someone once said,
you manage tasks you lead people), we fail to do the obvious…lead those already
going in the right direction.
Many entrepreneurs manage by exception. They only lead when something is wrong. They fail to lead or manage when things are
going well. Now think of people. If we only take action when the extraordinary
occurs, such as a huge success or a major failure, we send the message that we
are only interested outlier behaviours, and not in the 95% of behaviours and
actions happening within the ‘normal’ range of activity.
This is just plain dumb…yet it happens all of the time. I know two things about all companies. Firstly, they have people they should fire
and have not done it yet. Secondly, they
have the steady performers whose contribution is invaluable yet who are not
recognised and underappreciated. This is
a management failure…a leadership failure and a commercial failure.
Many superstars are working for smaller firms, for less
money than they could make for large corporations for life style and personal
reasons. As smaller enterprises, you
probably cannot compete on wages, so we must work twice as hard by competing on
environment. Recognition is one of the most important management roles in any
organisation. It is the most important
thing in a smaller enterprise.
By the way, if one of these ‘Steady Eddies’ begins to falter
this is a warning sign. Address the
issue immediately. You may be the source
of the problem.
