Everyone loved Noel, the Operations Manager. Every customer knew him, every colleague relied on him. His team stayed friends long after they’d left the business. He was always there for everyone, picking up the slack.
And he was literally always there: in the office, on Teams, available whenever needed.
While Noel was busy being lovely, his peers were busy being promoted.
Noel quietly kept the show on the road and didn’t have much to do with the Board. They assumed that he was happiest left alone to get on with his work. Noel assumed that if he did a great job, he’d get promoted. Wrong.
Noel was never considered for the top ranks. He was seen as a safe pair of hands, but never as a strategic or influential leader. He was so busy doing the job, he didn’t have time to look around and understand the wider business context he operated in. Noel was frustrated. He liked to be liked, but he wanted challenge and recognition too. He also wanted a lot more fun out of life.
Other managers were more demanding and visible. They actively sought feedback. They prioritised customers and projects that had the most impact and ignored low value distractions. Most of all, they took time to nurture influential networks, getting access to new ideas, people, and opportunities.
Fortunately, this is a Christmas tale, so we have an angel intervention. Albeit a larger than life and not particularly angelic one…. me…
Fast forward. Noel is still the same lovely person, but with firm boundaries. He operates at his ‘highest and best’ use: sticking to the top of his pay grade, where he adds maximum value. Stopping doing everyone else’s work has freed up his time to look around and ahead. He spots problems early. The time this saves allows him to develop and coach his team. They are thriving and not going anywhere. His network was very happy to pay back favours: giving him leads and recommending new hires. Noel’s much happier, he’s on HR’s talent map and he’s still the most popular guy at the Christmas party.
Miracles happen. Get in touch to discuss how I can help you to increase productivity and performance, reduce anxiety and provide career development opportunities for your teams, even in these challenging times.
Thank you
Last month our Priorities, Productivity and Career Strategy masterclass raised over £1,380 for research into children’s blood cancer.
I’m so grateful for all your support, suggestions and encouragement. It was wonderful to be back in person this year. I can’t wait to see you again in 2023.
Wishing you the happiest of holidays,