What People Want
by Miki Saxon
Back when I worked for other companies I was considered “difficult.”
When I was young I was fired from one job for not taking my 15 minute breaks twice a day and from another for being too honest with a customer.
I spent 12 years working for a manager who never understood that all I wanted was acknowledgment and/or appreciation—without having to ask for it.
“Good job;” “congratulations, hell of a deal;” “good to see you back, we missed you.”
I was one of the top producers in his office, but the only time he said anything was when I brought whatever to his attention.
As most anyone will tell you, positive feedback or compliments are worthless when you need to prompt the source for them.
Often small efforts yield large results. My boss wanted me to move to the next level, but gave me no reason to put out the effort—the money wasn’t enough, I wanted to matter.
I recently told this story to a manager with high turnover in his department. He responded that he didn’t have time to “babysit” and expected his people to act like adults.
I told him he was a fool.
Stock.xchng image credit: arte_ram
