talent retention

team building

newsletter

During our team building work with client organizations, we've compiled a collection of barriers that we see creating enormous stress for individuals, blocking performance in teams, and robbing organizations of productivity.  Each issue, one of these barriers will be addressed in our newsletter.  We'll include some suggestions for breakthrough thinking to give you ideas for how you might begin busting through these barriers.

Free Team Building Newsletter

Barrier #7:      This place wants cookie-cutter people doing dull jobs. 

Breakthrough #7:   Organizations are proud to have high achievers on their staff.

“Somebody is always taking the credit for my best ideas.”

“I saved this place $200,000 last year and I didn’t get so much as a thank you.”

“They prefer us sullen and chained to our desks.”

If you’re very good at what you do, you already know it.  Of course, it’s nice to receive an occasional stroke from management, but don’t expect the business world to operate like a schoolroom where you could always count on gold stars for your performance.

When you come up with a breakthrough idea that saves the organization time or money, the credit is yours.  You make sure that the credit is all yours by documenting details about how you discovered the solution to the problem.  Good managers know that when you look good, they look good.

The truth is, organizations love to have widely recognized star performers on their staff.  It tells the rest of the world, and their competitors: “Hey look!  This is a great place to work!  It’s where some of the industry’s best brains have chosen to work.”

No two people have the same needs for recognition.  Some are content to get their work done and dazzle others quietly.  Others, more extroverted types, desire being needed by their organizations -  and openly recognized for their achievements.  Still others don’t care about any recognition … increasing their salaries is sufficient.

Managers are not trained to be mind readers and psychologists.  As you can see, you’ve got to let the organization know how you would like to be recognized for your achievements.  It’s a challenge to find the right way to articulate this, but if you won’t, how can you expect your managers to do it for you? 

   Remember:         Speak Up!  Don't expect anyone to care as much about your career as you do.

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