Saturday, May 18, 2013

Living Without Recognition

Happen to read an inspiring quote today on FB " Living Without Recognition is a Skill" , truly it made me think, it really is tough and not being as easy as said to live up to it.  Is it not? , The human nature to comparison when it comes to who is better and deserving, why him/her why not me, why not others and all other combinations makes it toughh to really stay away from the very thought of living without being recognized. Well say, it is very important to be recognized for your skills, it is certainly one of the influential factors in a person's day to day job, it does not matter if you run a company or you work for someone, being recognized makes you come back each day with a thought of doing something good, something better than yesterday. In my journey of work so far, i have personally come across situations where i could relate myself to the above quote. I recall one of my mentors and a good friend advising me " It's always important to a good a good/great job, but its equally important for people to know that you are doing a good job, in our corporate world, we may call it " Time to Market " , they key here with my experience and something which i have always believed in 'Do not run behind recognition" , the very thought of doing things with the sole purpose of being appreciated and recognized may lead to a negative influence on the person. Eegoism, i know it all, I am the one, could potentially damage the person's value over time and affect work relationships. 

If asked, i would say an individual in his area of work should focus on building a "Brand Value". Today, we buy services and products from companies with whom we have had a good trust, experience and relationship. It is same trust, relationship, confidence that an individual needs to build over a period of time to create a brand value. This is no easy as said, and it takes years of consistent and uncompromised efforts to build one and i would say equally tough to continue managing it once you have built it, in our day to day lives, we encounter many a challenges at work, you may not always expect things to work the way you would expect it to. At times like these, it is the character, conduct and patience that is evaluated which is directly linked to a Individuals brand value. It takes a lot of time and effort to be an individual who is free to approach to, grounded, helpful and trustworthy. When i talk about an individual having these qualities, off course these are not the elements which one gets to develop when they start their Carrer, but i feel these are qualities which tend to materialize as time goes on in one's career. Having said this, i would like to stess upon on how important it is for individuals in their jobs to have a mentor, some one like a role model from whom they accumulate qualities and way of doing things and eventually build on it. For me, this has been a critical factor in my work and personal life so far. There is so much of influence which tends to fall on a individual from the outside factors, be it family, friends, society or colleagues. Your thought process, opinions and conduct can be influenced in one or the other way from these elements.

Recognition takes time. This makes me recall a day in my first job, when i had to attend a Leadership Training Program. I had to attend the training in the afternoon and as i left home and travelled for a distance on my bike to reach office, it started rainy heavily. Not sure, what i thought at that very moment, ( been 4 years now)  i was telling myself that i had to reach office on time for the training. Having got completely drenched, i was in for a surprise when i reached office. I was the only one excluding the trainer to be present in the training room, around 8-10 people were expected to be part of the training. She noticed me being fully drenched and asked why did i not make a stop over and wait for the rain to calm down, the training was cancelled for the day and i continued with my regular work. For a moment i thought, man, i could have stopped over and waited, i do not see all any else part of the training here. Upon successfully completing the training program, it was a day to get the Certificate of Completion from the operations head, we all got our certifications, however the trainer happen to go that extra mile and give a certificate of appreciation for people who had complete attendance during the training program and to my surprise i was only one to have complete attendance. I had never imagined in the wildest of my dreams that i would be appreciated for that, so there you go, something which i never though shall be recognized was in fact did. I always wanted to ensure that i am present through out the entire program, never thought of this certificate which i would receive. So ' Recognition ' may takes its time, but certainly cannot be deprived from one, cause there is someone above us watching and keeping an eye.

I would say keep doing your best in what ever you do, it might be emotional to see some one taking the credit or some one else being recognized when you or others know that you deserved it, don't worry it can be there waiting as a surprise, just keep doing your best.

See ya :)