“Will it really make a difference?”
“Will anyone care whether I do it or not?”
“Who would notice if I didn’t show up?”
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These are questions that aren’t unfamiliar in the hallways and break rooms of our businesses. They are being whispered (or screamed in frustration) by employees who are questioning the impact they have on the results of the company.
Everyone wants to be relevant. Everyone wants to make a difference. Everyone wants to know they matter. And since most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work, we want to be relevant at work. We want to make a difference at work. We want to know we matter at work.
As a leader, it’s your job to make sure your people understand their relevance. It’s critical that you convey to your people how they make a difference each and every day at work. It’s up to you to make sure they know they matter.
Sometimes what people do at work becomes so routine that it loses its significance to them. It’s your job to give it that significance—to remind them why their job is important.
Let’s consider the receptionist at a company. Ask him what he does, and he may downplay the significance of his job. “Well, I just answer the phone and greet people as they enter the building. Nothing very important.”
The receptionist is focused on the tasks he does every day, and they might seem pretty routine. He picks up the phone when it rings, big deal. But what he does is much more important than that. A leader recognizes the importance of every job and makes sure the person doing it does as well.
In this case, the receptionist is the gateway to the organization. As the saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. The receptionist is his company’s first impression for many people. Whether it’s his voice they hear when they call the company or his face they see when they walk in the door, he “is” the company in those few crucial seconds.
If he understands the significance of his role and how it can affect the business, it will likely change how he approaches his job. If he is allowed to believe that his work is insignificant, then it’s likely he’ll act that way and won’t be effective in what he does. Imagine being greeted by a receptionist who believes what he does makes no difference, that it really doesn’t matter.
Historian Howard Zinn once said, “If people could see that change comes about as a result of millions of tiny acts that seem totally insignificant, well then they wouldn’t hesitate to take those tiny acts.” It’s your job as a leader to make sure that people see how important those tiny acts are to the success of your business.
I’ve had people ask me what is the one thing that leads to success in business. I always struggle with the question. Maybe if I knew the answer I’d be more successful! But in the end, I don’t believe there’s one thing that leads to success in business. I believe success comes from doing millions of little things that seem insignificant and doing them consistently well. Those seemingly unimportant acts add up to critical contributions that make the difference between success and failure.
But if we overlook the little things, if we fail to see their significance, then we will not succeed. So I encourage you to make sure everyone on your team knows the importance of the work they do each and every day. Don’t let them lose sight of how they contribute to the overall success of the business, and it’s likely you’ll experience much more of it!