Why "Can Somebody Attack Me Please.." translates to the Workplace
Yep, I watched the #GOPDebate last night- simply because... it's the best reality show that everyday tax payers.. are paying for. Security, Surveys and Rhetoric... yeah, we're all paying for it. One way or another. (And, it's better than re-runs of Everybody Loves Raymond.)
So, imagine my surprise- like most of those who watched it along with me, when I heard a heated exchange between four candidates, all posturing upon one another, lauding their points of perspective... and then we heard Dr. Ben Carson:
"Can somebody attack me please?"
It cut the tension, immediately. The soft spoken, intelligent and valiant voice of helplessness, cut through the anger, resentment and selfishness. The room went from quiet to a roar of applause. All but one of the Presidential Candidates (Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and John Kasich) turned and smiled, knowing that what just happened- was more than just a little humorous.
I found myself running to Facebook, and stating 'Sound byte of the night.'
Then, it hit me. That soft-spoken, valiant voice that said, "Can somebody attack me please" was just another way of a person saying:
"I'm still here..."
In any company, employees can be set up to feel marginalized. Passion, purpose and pace is something that we hope all employees will have, save the fact that rarely do they all have it at the very same time. As such, some employees work as athletes- always able to run and keep pace with the edicts of the Leadership, and others, always feeling like they are having to work, just to catch up. Unfortunately, most business owners come to this realization- once they've been handed a two-week notice.
So, before you easily excuse the fact that "I never hear from certain people, just because they are quiet.." You may want to reconsider that perhaps, they're quietly screaming... "Can someone notice that I'm here?" just as Dr. Ben Carson did in the GOPDebate on 2/25/2016 in Texas.
Do you know who in your environment, is yearning for attention? Which of your staff, feels so marginalized that their hearts are leading them into a performance depression?
Sun Tzu, wrote in The Art of War, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Which translates into each workplace, if business owners reconsider this adaptation:
"If you know your employees and you know purpose, you need not fear the result of a hundred expectations."
Go forth and conquer your day.