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Hard work that is unrecognized loses its potential. That is my belief when I see people get the credit they don’t deserve or don’t get the credit they do deserve. This imbalance happens because some are better at promoting their achievements than others. While there is always room to improve our communication skills, working hard takes no talent.

Those of us that like to work hard do it for multiple reasons. We do it to get rewarded financially or to increase our status. We do it because we truly enjoy the work. (This is the best kind of work). Whatever the reason, I believe that without shining a light on the results, those efforts will be harder to repeat in the future.

This is part of the classic habit feedback loop made popular by Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit. First, there is a Cue that triggers a Routine to start. Something that we have done over and over again. The reason we perform that Routine is because we are seeking the Reward that happens at the end.

I recommend reading more about this in his book but safe to say that we are programmed to execute certain actions because we want something in return. It can financial, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, etc. No matter what it is, we crave it enough to follow this habit loop.

The reason I bring this up is that we can create our habits to work hard and reward our hard work with something we crave. As a leader of a team, I want to empower those team members by helping them create habits around working hard. I have found that recognizing their efforts can be a great way to reinforce the great work they are doing.

A diamond doesn’t shine at the bottom of a cave.

I have a rockstar on my team. This person just started and is making great progress, faster than I thought they would in such a short amount of time. How do I continue to develop his knowledge and satisfy his curiosity? My biggest fear for this individual is that he/she is being pushed down by the cave that is corporate politics instead of letting them shine.

My goal is to shield he/she as much as possible from company politics and corporate nonsense (Redundant? Probably!). Then at the same time, promote their work and show others how awesome a contributor he/she is.

Selfless or Selfish

Is it selfless to help others when it makes you feel good too? I say, “Can it be both?” Helping other people grow makes me feel empowered and gets me up in the morning. Making an impact in people’s lives is what makes me tick.

Those of us that are leaders have a duty to promote the work of those that work for us. They don’t have a seat at the table, so we must let people know how great they are. We must be their voice for them.

This way, we shine the light on all of the diamonds that work for us or with us. Giving credit where credit is due and sharing credit with those that worked with you. None of us got to where we are today without help from others.

When I look to hire other managers, I look for experience in leadership and mentorship. But there was one resume that caught my eye in which it said that they helped to get a promotion for 3 out of 4 of their employees last year.

Are Craving Rewards for Work Selfish?

Now, why would they want to share that on their resume? This is taking up valuable space to talk about other people rather than their self. Or are they showing next-level leadership by saying what they were able to accomplish for their team members?

I believe we all want to work with people that talk about how many of their team members got promoted rather than the number of awards they received. This is truly selfless. My guess these events also provide satisfaction and the candidate was proud to advertise their achievement in helping others. This is truly a selfish act of selflessness.  

For those Friends aficionados, this is like a selfish good deed explained by Joey:

Whether it is self-promotion or someone else promoting you, we all need to get out of the shadows of the cave and (as Rhianna would say) shine like a diamond.