The Guitar Tuner

A few years ago, I attended a concert at our local arena. I bought our tickets a few weeks ahead of time, and selected seats to stage right, a few rows ahead of the stage. As we sat down, we were able to see both the stage and backstage area.

As we waited for the first of the three bands to come out and start, I watched what was going on in the backstage area, as it bustled with activity. Stagehands and the technical crews were performing final checks on lights and props, staging was being set up and checks on the audio and lighting systems were being finalized.

Behind the scenes was a vast crew of people working toward a common goal; the arrival and debut of the celebrity. As I watched, a man came out from behind the staging area and entered a segmented work pod near us. He gently opened a case and pulled one of six guitars off a rack in front of him, laid it down gently in a stand and began to tune it. He followed the same process will all six guitars, sometimes replacing strings, sometimes aging them with alcohol, always with an almost passionate and considered purpose.

As he worked away, each Guitar was placed gently back into the standing case, until all were complete. Then, in the semi darkness, the Guitar Tuner took the first Guitar up on stage and set it in a tripod stand. That may seem like an insignificant action, however, the weight of responsibility on that Guitar to perform flawlessly was critical. If the Artist took the stage, picked up the Guitar and strummed out a sour note, the first impression would be lost. The Guitar needed to perform in order for the Artist to perform.

Once the Guitar Tuner had completed all his prep, he waited for the show to start. When it did, he sprung into action. During each song, as the lights would go down, the Guitar Tuner would take the next Guitar in line and rush up onto the stage and exchange it with the one the celebrity had just used. Then he'd rush off stage before the lights came back up and crouch down at the top of the stairs. He waited there until the celebrity had played the first few bars of the song, to make sure the Guitar performed as expected and a string didn't break. If it did, he could rush up and give the performer his old Guitar back and continue with minimal disruption. Once the Guitar Tuner was certain the instrument was fine, he made his way back to his station where he would retune and replace the Guitar in the standing rack.

As I watched, I wondered how many of the thousands of people in the coliseum even knew the guitar tuner was there.

It made me consider: How often do we recognize the efforts of our teams, those who support us and work so diligently behind the scenes to do the prep work required before we open our doors?

How often do we see the value in seemingly undervalued tasks. It is often these roles in our companies that are paid the least, that are viewed as ancillary to our operation. Yet, everything we are, everything we try to be is underpinned by these roles. ?

I have often wondered whether anyone else saw the incredible value of the Guitar Tuners’ role. I wonder if his mom told him she was proud of who he was, when he told he would be tuning guitars for a living?

If he did not perform his job well, the entire show would falter. However, he did fulfill his role. He performed his job flawlessly and the screaming, cheering fans came away with the experience they hoped for.

The reminder in this story is that it doesn't matter what your role is, or what it is you are tasked to do. Every role has or adds value to an organization. It is the approach you take with our role that makes everything else shine. No role is too big or too small, it is the attitude of purpose of the Guitar Tuner that creates magic moments.