Anyone who has anything to do with corporates know that we invariably exist among mean deadlines. One such instance happened last Friday evening when one of our key client requested to pre-pone a meeting. The assignment, prima facie, was declared as requiring a time line of at least a week for its delivery, but of course, that was only just a general voicing of opinion. In reality, it was immediately assigned to one of my colleague, who took the challenge forthrightly stating; “If everyone says no to work, how does a support system function?”.
Her determination to not refrain from work assigned on a Friday afternoon and working on the weekends in itself was a commendable attempt. The challenge did not just lie in working with a tight deadline. The difficulty was building on an entire campaign from only just an idea! Without any direction on the execution or manpower required for the task, she convinced three team members, one who did not even have the required forte but was ready to give his cent percent, even while learning on the go through tutorials, to work along with her on the weekends. The outcome was delivery of exceptional quality of work by Monday morning which left all of us feeling amazed and proud at their dedication and team spirit. The quality was par excellence, which I admit, I would have struggled to meet myself. The client was extremely satisfied with the trust they showed in us which was our greatest reward.
I appreciated my colleague for exceptional work which she rightfully deserved. I was motivated by her attitude myself. As part of an appreciative gesture, I went ahead acknowledging a few more colleagues for the good work they delivered. I shared the appreciation on internal social network as a token of gratitude to encourage equally good performance in future.
I was then approached by another colleague with an absolutely genuine feedback which sometimes human brain tends to over look solely due to their obvious existence .
She said, I forgot to mention the team who has been doing exceptional work at the back end ensuring that everything gets rolled out on time every time. I was instantly apologetic for taking, the very support structure on which the foundation of a team is built, for granted.
Our CEO recently quoted “Champion Leader learns from others and integrate learning to improve their leadership”. This blog therefore is my way to thank each one of my colleagues for delivering their best to the company’s progress. It is also an apology to those, I accidentally missed.
I specifically wish to let you all know that you are leaders in your position and I am glad to get to work with each one of you.
My Takeaways:-
- Never take anything for granted
- When Acknowledging – do that for the entire team
- Motivation is a two way process
- Listening to team members improve leadership and people skills