I was standing and talking with a newly-minted Department Manager in his office one day, discussing ways to help increase employee morale. He was thinking over the company’s Team of the Month program. Fortunately, there was one. Unfortunately, the teams were each nominated by a co-worker or 1st-line supervisor, who then passed along the nominations to Senior mangement, who eventually read through the nominations and handed back down to the middle managers the name of the winning team. Usually, there was also a chance to take a photo with the Executives, and the photo would be displayed in a place of honor within the department for a month.
The Department Manager I was speaking with felt this could be improved upon. Ideally, in his view, the team that had won last month’s prize should make a formal presentation to the next month’s winner. It should be fun, but significant, and symbolize a passing of the torch, so to speak.
Did you see the effort that guy made?
Listening to his ideas, I asked him to step outside his office door for a mnute. He obliged, and looked out over the rows of 6 foot-high cubicles. I asked him: Tell me what team is really working hard this month. Point to where all the work is happening right now. He looked at me sheepishly and turned back inside to his office. He had instantly understood my point.
The elaborate recognition programs were required because, in the basic layout of the office, simple and easy recognition could not take place. The rows of gray cubicles on a dark gray carpet with light gray walls and pale gray ceiling tiles not only suffocated a lot of creativity, it also made observing anyone’s work impossible. The closed-off nature of the office layout, with banks of cubicles and floor-to-ceiling offices, made it impossible for anyone to tell where the work was happening. Everyone was quiet, heads down in their cubicles, mostly hoping no one would notice the work they weren’t doing. If a team was busy slaying dragons, taming tigers, tackling issues or, heaven forbid, actually having fun – no one would know. They’d be closed off and isolated from the rest of the office, unable to show their work ethic and determination, and utterly incapable of receiving any sort of casual recognition from people walking by who’d be able to see and appreciate the effort.
Instead, a large, burdensome series of formal nominations would need to take place, be evaluated, edited, submittied, reviewed, voted upon, returned and awarded. There was no opportunity for instantaneous feedback, recognition or support simply because no one could see it as it happened. No observer would ever be in a position to offer assistance, nor would anyone simply remark, “Nice job!” as they passed by.
How long would it take to see who needs help with a big project here?
In the belief that the the only way for each person to demonstrate his or her own worth was though working on assigned tasks individually, the office had been set up with each person in their own private workspace, within a department that was physically separated from every other department. Instead of high degrees of individual productivity, however, the office had become less effective as employees became segregated. Departments that were literally walled off from each other stopped cooperating and, over time, had started competing with each other for floor space. People walled off from each other in a series of high-walled cubicles ignored the efforts and troubles of everyone around them, lest their own tasks not be complete, and stopped learning how to work collaboratively. Interdepartmental, and interpersonal, communication suffered, turning employee recognition into something formal and predictable rather than genuine and spontaneous.
Recognition of great employee efforts needs to be visible to all levels within the organization. When managers and executives are walking around and seeing the work people are doing, it should be like visiting a museum. The great works are on display, open and visible for all to appreciate, admire and study. If the workplace is divided, isolated and designed to lessen visibility, how can peers or managers possibly gain an appreciation for these great works as they are created?
© 2010 David M. Kasprzak
About the author David M. Kasprzak
I am a seasoned project and management analyst with over 14 years of experience as a trusted advisor to all levels on planning, measuring and analyzing activities. From small-scale internal projects to multi-year development efforts supporting enterprise-wide initiatives at the C-level, I “get geeky” seeing great management practices yield great outcomes. I am a fierce & vocal advocate for learning, collaborative approaches to work and pursuing Operational Excellence through challenging the status quo and fostering management innovation
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