One employee can make a world of difference
This is my favourite Ted Talk:
the 3 minutes that he has, Derek Sivers artfully uses a video of a shirtless guy dancing in a field to make a point about the power of followership. He says that leadership is over glorified and that the real gains are made through people who follow what leaders do and become leaders themselves. It’s an incredibly well crafted and thought out talk that everyone should watch.
Yet, there’s also a bigger point to make about this video that I always draw attention to in my workshops and it’s this — just one employee can make a world of difference.
When we enter a workplace for the first time — regardless of whether you’re a footballer breaking into the first team, a sales person taking a call or a manager leading people for the first time — it’s with a mix of fear and excitement.
There’s a short period, typically 2–4 weeks, where we just try to get the job done, observe what’s going on around us, contribute to team dynamics and seek to understand the intricacies of our new role. What conversations are people having? How do we get things done? Will I get paid the right amount, on time? What’s my boss like? What team norms exist?
Once this period is over, most people — if the culture feels safe to do so — have a choice. Contribute or concede.
The latter is the easier path to take. Just do what everyone else does. Go with the flow. Do as you’re told. Don’t rock the boat and so on. And yet, you have so much more to offer than that.
For some, a job is just a job and I get that. In which case, show up on time, keep your promises to others, be a good human being and never stop learning.
But for everyone else, the chance to positively influence the status quo is an opportunity not to be missed. After all, research shows that if just 10% of people have an unshakeable belief in something and understand how to communicate this message, they can influence the majority. Just 10%.
Ironically, most organisations seem to ‘reward’ those that don’t rock the boat. I had breakfast with a former boss of mine recently. My key task when I joined the organisation was to change the culture of my team. As you’d expect, I made it a priority and collectively we achieved that goal in 7 months!
When we talked about this — and the fact that I departed not long after — my ex-boss said to me ‘If only you hadn’t been so keen to improve things, you could have been there years and ended up with a great role and salary!’
I never made it to the c-suite in my career or earned hundreds of thousands of dollars. But I like to think that for the 25 years or so when I was an employee — regardless of my role/seniority — I tried to make a world of difference. I worked hard to find the 10% who believed passionately in the changes that were possible to make our working lives more fulfilling. And you can do that too.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s challenging the way people interact, a process change, a report that can be simplified, technology that better supports how work gets done. It can be as simple as saying ‘hello’, generating laughter or returning a call.
Don’t concede that you have nothing to offer. Choose contribution instead. Find the thing you’re passionate about and make it public. Become easy to follow and never stop looking for ways to make it easier for others to follow too.
