How to Get Your Team the Recognition They Deserve
One thing I’ve written about a lot over the years is that if you’re in a large organization, your team’s good work doesn’t speak for itself; you, as the team leader, have to speak for the work. In the absence of a thoughtful and methodical process for sharing what your team is contributing to achieving results, many senior executives simply have too much on their radar screens to notice and acknowledge the good work that’s being accomplished.
Fortunately, a brilliant friend and colleague of mine has shared with me the process she uses to keep her senior executives informed of what her team is working on and accomplishing. And, even more fortunately, she has graciously and generously agreed for me to share it with you. It’s simple, effective and you can start using it this week.
Norma Piggott is Vice President for Commercial Learning and Development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA. Four or five years ago, she developed an easy and systematic way for her team leaders to leverage the regular cadence of meetings that she has with senior stakeholders in the company.
First, Norma publishes a simple table on the team’s online shared workspace that shows a month in advance which senior execs she’ll be meeting with in the next 30 days. The meeting schedule template is super simple and looks like this:
Once her team leaders take a look at her meeting schedule, they then complete an online worksheet that has some question prompts that tee Norma up with everything she needs to know to effectively speak for her team’s work when she meets with the senior executive. That worksheet looks like this:
Armed with everything she needs to know from her team leads, Norma is equipped to both give and receive valuable information that makes sure her team is recognized for what they’re accomplishing and that she gathers what they need to know to keep achieving. After each senior executive meeting, she sends her leaders an email that summarizes the feedback, requests and comments from the executive. As she told me, the process ends up “being a virtuous circle.”
I love Norma’s process because it’s a perfect example of one of my favorite pieces of advice; follow routines that are relatively easy to do and likely to make a difference. By designing and using a simple system to speak for her team’s work, Norma is regularly accomplishing three important things. She’s…
- sharing important information that senior executives need to know.
- amplifying the voice and the work of her team.
- advocating for her team and getting them the recognition they deserve.
Simply brilliant Norma! Thank you so much for sharing this with my readers and me.
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