Falling in Love

Do I have your attention?  Yes?  Well, I hate to disappoint you, but “falling in love” is not the topic of this entry!  I chose the title since “getting attention” is the subject, and I want to share a cautionary tale about what one employee had to do to get it …

The employee, let’s call him Kevin, was a star performer.  His manager, we’ll call her Susan, subscribed to the theory that your best folks just want to be left alone.  At the start of the year, Susan worked with Kevin to set goals and priorities and then let him decide how to reach them, which Kevin appreciated.  Since Kevin was proactive about coming to her if he needed anything, Susan often cancelled their bi-weekly 1:1 meetings.  She thought her time would be better spent with some of his peers who were struggling.  She figured he knew how much she appreciated him (he’d just gotten a promotion) so she kept her positive feedback to a minimum.  Why embarrass him with too much praise?  She certainly didn’t want him to leave his current role so she avoided career development conversations.  

And Kevin kept on producing great work, although the pace had slowed a bit, and he wasn’t as “lively” as usual in meetings.  Susan didn’t want to de-motivate him by bringing it up.  Then one day Kevin showed up with a job offer from a competitor!  This was clearly his way of finally getting Susan’s attention … extreme, perhaps, uncommon, no.

Well, maybe “falling in love” is the topic of this entry after all … because when you fall in love, you praise your partner, you make time for them, you’re curious about what they want and what’s happening in their lives.  And when you don’t do these things, they find a way to get your attention … just like your employees will!    

So, in the New Year, make a resolution to pay attention to the people who work for you – all of them, and especially the ones you “love” the most!

(In my next blog entry, I’ll write about ways to learn how much and what kind of attention your direct reports need.)