folio

A few years ago, I had two good allies at work: the Director of IM&T and the Director of Communications. They both valued my work and were always at pains to endorse my efforts and ensure I was properly credited, cognisant that I was not one to blow my own trumpet. I was just a doer then, who could be relied upon to deliver without making a fuss.

But that was then. Both directors moved on to new opportunities a while back, and the void has been filled by a different kind of people. The kind of people who make you retreat back into yourself, completely demotivated. The kind who progress their own careers by taking credit for the work of others, causing those of us who were once passionate to fall silent, demotivated.

Now we just have strong personalities, who insist that their way of approaching a task is the correct way, even if that flies in the face of convention or good practice. And the quiet ones just retreat back into themselves, working away unseen to little acclaim, bored and ignored, feeling undervalued and unappreciated.

Great managers motivate their team to produce their best work. They celebrate work done well and offer encouragement and support along the way. I miss those old allies of mine. I enjoyed my work then, when we had a positive feedback loop. Good work results in good feedback; good feedback results in good work. Nowadays work just feels like drudge. It’s hard to stay motivated.

It’s difficult when an organisation changes all around you, when individuals and teams you once built positive relationships with are displaced by others, often transferring in en masse from elsewhere, friends making space for their friends, the longterm employee considered dead wood, to be pruned back hard. Gone the enjoyment work once brought. Now it’s little more than a pay cheque.

Oh how I miss that positive feedback loop.