Creating an Inspired Workforce: Little Moments That Matter

“Head up, shoulders back, chest forward – now, get after it!”

The words could have been written by my mother, who used to encourage me to stand up straight since I was prone to slouching—by fourth grade I was as tall as I am now.

But this note was not written by my mother. It was a message scribbled on a sticky note and stuck to a mirror in the women’s restroom at our Boston office. And it wasn’t the only one like it. There were other encouraging messages on vibrantly colored sticky notes, each one anonymous and yet powerfully personal. “You can do it! You will do it,” one message read. “Have you encouraged another woman today?” was written on another note. A third said: “You are smart and brave and rocking it!”

Somebody was definitely rocking it—the person who had kicked off this grassroots self-empowerment campaign. But who? It turned out that a group of women in the Fidelity Center of Applied Technology, an innovation group, had started writing and posting these notes as a way of offering inspiration and support to one another. The effort quickly went viral, spreading to other ladies’ restrooms in our Boston office and then made its way to other Fidelity locations in New Jersey and Westlake, Texas.

Seeing these notes made my day—and not just because I appreciate a little motivation as much as the next person. More importantly, I loved the empowerment that was implicit in this small but powerful effort. It was exciting to see these women take the initiative to do something a bit out of the box and to have it quickly be embraced by women at Fidelity across the country. When someone, perhaps a more traditional thinker or someone in a fit of cleaning, removed all the notes in the Boston restrooms one day, “We just went back the next day and put out more notes and pens, and people wrote even more notes,” one plucky colleague, Anita, told me. I asked her to let me know if it happened again and I would personally intercede.

Interestingly, the sticky notes were taken down again in the next location, so Anita called me. Was there something I could do? There sure was. I made it my personal mission to get these inspiring notes back up. Yes, I wanted to support these women who took a risk. And I also wanted to make a symbolically broader point. We need to support people who think differently, who show their passion, who are willing to push the envelope and who are not conventional thinkers. That is how we get a lot of our best ideas.  

To be sure, our little sticky note movement was probably inspired by a national trend involving uplifting notes and signs on walls, streets, subway stations and mirrors—little moments of kindness and reinforcement. But I couldn’t help but read between the lines: Our women employees wanted to provide and enjoy the support of their colleagues, and they were determined to do it in their own creative way. Initiatives like this take gumption.

This kind of ongoing inspiration, however small and informal, is exactly what workplaces need. If nothing else, these notes provide support and encouragement in our otherwise busy days. I picture someone spotting one of these notes before a big meeting. “Be proud. You’ve got this!” one of the other notes says. Or: “Your voice matters!”

Seeing these notes also reminded me of a bumper sticker someone gave me that proudly hangs in my office: “Well behaved women rarely make history.” And I suppose that’s the real point. If we want workplace environments that are more inclusive, vital and affirming, we need people who dare to think differently, who challenge conventional wisdom and support their views with passion. And we need an environment that supports and promotes this behavior!

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Views expressed are as of August 14, 2017. Unless otherwise noted, the opinions provided are those of the author and not necessarily those of Fidelity Investments.

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