Over the years, there has been a misconception about who plays the least or most important role in organizations. The misconception was predicated upon the fact that a senior person in an organization is assumed to have an ‘all-time high’ important role to play while a junior officer has the least role. Come to think of a situation where an organization has no customer service officers to attend to the issues of the customers. Imagine a bank where there are no Account Opening Officers to open accounts for customers. Off course that bank would be seen as not yet ready for business – despite the impact of technology. But the truth of the matter is that the junior or mid officers who contribute their quotas to ensure organizational success are not less (in terms of the value they bring to the table) than the senior officers in that same organization, who hold strategic sessions probably in a cosy resort. For organizations to achieve higher results, every individual role in the entire organization must be seen as unique and highly needed.
Years back, during a program I did for one of the leading hotels in Lagos, I had an experience that corroborated the fact that even the lower officers in an organisation view their roles and responsibilities as less contributing. Doesn’t that sound like self-imposed slavery? They tend to downplay their organisation’s expectation of them thinking that they are nowhere in the scheme of things – meanwhile, they are highly needed. The danger of seeing one’s role as less important is that one can never give his/her best in that situation. You will continually assume that the best should be given by others. So on the day of the training which was titled: “Running the hotel as your own business”, I listed all the departments in the hotel and made each of the participants to name the ‘least’ important department in the hotel. The Maintenance officer humbly raised his hand and named his own unit as the least important unit. I was indeed shocked and taken aback. That sounds like someone voting against himself.
He might have said that because he feels he is not in the marketing department, customer service or the bar section etc where everyone is seeing him, where things are happening. At the end of the day, I was able to get him to realise that his job function is very strategic to the hotel and highly invaluable and so are others. The point I am trying to make is that the person who brings the guest to the hotel is not more important than the maintenance officer who works round the rooms fixing problems. No one has a more respected responsibility than others – they all have equal and different responsibilities entrusted upon them.
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The equality in our individual responsibilities should be viewed from the standpoint of our employers expecting more results from us – no employee has been told to perform less. Then, different responsibilities mean that we have different (but unique) roles to play in the team. A leader has an important role to play in ensuring that every unit, department and the entire workforce hold their roles in high esteem. The leader must not be seen or interpreted to attach more importance to some units or departments or individuals. The new slogans for leaders should be “everyone has something to contribute” especially when given a little nudge. In most of my strategic thinking workshops across organizations, I normally mention how a back-office bank staff (i.e. a non-marketing staff) was able to win a major account that even his CEO was not able to win.
It is high time we stopped looking down on people and their roles in organizations. Regardless of one’s position, everyone has what it takes to pull his or company out of the wood. But your people can never go the extra mile doing that if their contributions are seen to be inferior. Also, for employees, they are to have at the back of their minds that they were employed to add value to their organisations first and foremost. They would have to justify their pay. They should be able to provide the right answer when asked the question: “who pays their salaries”. The old belief that your employers pay your salaries should be debunked. This old belief explains why some people in organisations have not seen the need to be highly productive – they assume that regardless of their performance, salaries are sure to come. It might not always be so – failed organisations, institutions, agencies cannot pay salaries anymore.
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Points to ponder:
• Do you consciously or unconsciously give preference to some units, departments or people in your organization?
•Have you ever assumed or believed that some units or departments are special and more contributing than others?
•As a leader do you know that when you favour some departments more than the others, you are simply stifling the innovative and creative abilities of those that felt less appreciated? In that regards, your role as a leader is to make everyone feel special and to get them to bring something to the table.
Final note:
We need to give our best to our organizations first before we are justified to expect the best in return. Simply expecting the best from anything (be it in our organisation or family) when we have not carried out our roles or responsibilities is synonymous with expecting to pass an exam when you have not even opened your books. It is also important to know that in organisations like in a football team, no team member has a less important role. Everyone has a unique and complementary role to play. In summary, every body’s role is needed to grow the business and no role is inferior or superior to another. Whenever I am doing induction training for new hires (on how to run with their organisation’s vision), I always tell them to do their work as a CEO will do. In order words, everyone in an organization should work as a CEO in his/her desk –that way better results are delivered.
‘Uju Onwuzulike
