Dear Internet,
I am writing to you not so frustrated. In my last entry, Diary of a Frustrated Young Professional: Letting Somebody Go, the situation was dire. I had been on notice to be let go for four months and my fate was to be decided by the vote of my union. Fortunately, the contract passed and I am still employed.
The whole experience of being on edge for such a long time has taught me some valuable lessons, but more importantly it made me appreciate the value of something that most us take for granted. That is the value of having compassionate and caring collegues.
We have a tendency to focus on the ideal qualities of leaders. What gets left behind are the people who work with us on a daily basis. Our collegues are there in good times and bad. They sometimes drive us crazy and other times provide a voice of reason.
During my employment situation, my collegues were one of the main factors that helped keep my anxiety down. Even co-workers who I normally wouldn’t interact with offered thier support. We all have stories of co-workers helping us in our time of need. I think its time we show them that we do not take them for granted.
Do you have a co-worker who goes above and beyond? What are some the ideal qualities of a co-worker? Please share your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Young and Thankful
It is so funny that you bring this up. Our office uses a platform called Brainstorm to make recommendations of any kind to our leadership. One of the recommendations I made was to have some sort of internal employee recognition awards. The awards would address the exact type of employee you mention in your post. The ones who help you get through your day, who support you and the office, who work dilligently behind the scenes to get things done- often with little no recognition. Its usually the big names in the office who get nominated for agency-wide awards- even though they couldnt have succeeded without those special people crunching the data, making the phone calls, sharing information, scheduling meetings, making suggestions, etc. Just being recognized is often as gratifying as a cash award (the cash doesnt hurt, though! 🙂