Easy Rewards for Good Behavior
I worked on a project a few months ago that sucked the life out of everyone involved. I'm sure you know the kind. It was one of those with a severely condensed timeline because it was horrendously underestimated prior to any work beginning. There were lots of moving parts and separate teams working on things simultaneously, all of which needed to go in correctly otherwise everything was in vain. My team busted our asses for months and got the project knocked out, on time, and without any production issues. The other team dropped the ball and my team had to pick up the slack. In the end though, we all got it done and we got it done right.
That was wonderful! We were all very excited and all glad that we actually accomplished this seemingly insurmountable feat. Once all was said and done, however, we didn't hear a peep from management. Not even a, "Great job!" Nothing. But that's fine. I like to be busy and had a great time on the project, although you may not have known it if you spoke to me at the time. When I am under an abnormally gigantic amount of stress, like most people, I am not always chipper.
Anyway, our PMP thought we did such a fantastic job that she ran it up the flagpole and tried to get the team a reward for going above and beyond. It almost made it through, but was crushed by the CFO. Again though, that's fine. I really don't expect to get any extra rewards for doing my job. I mean, I am just doing job after all. For some reason though, this project came back to haunt me tonight. I was thinking about everything we went through and how passionate the PMP was about getting us a reward for the work we did. I got to thinking that there is a really simple and meaningful way to reward professionals for doing great work and it doesn't cost a thing.
All you have to do is go onto LinkedIn and write a recommendation. It only takes a few minutes and is actually a meaningful thing to have. It is something personal that another professional wrote about you and that you can carry with you for your entire career. It is something that shouldn't be copy-and-pasted from the letter provided with the Corporate Bullshit Award, or whatever nonsense your company gives out to people, but something specific about that person and what they accomplished. Maybe some people wouldn't care, but I think that knowing that someone took a few minutes out of their day and wrote an unsolicited open and public letter about you would mean a lot.
I don't blame that PMP or anyone else for not writing a recommendation in that instance. I mean, I just now thought of it and this all happened months ago. What I do take away from this is that the next time I see someone else going above and beyond the call of duty in a meaningful way, I need to write one for them without having been asked. It is nice to share a little love once and a while. Pass some along and maybe you'll get some back.
