The Invisible Employee: Using Carrots to See the Hidden Potential in Everyone, Second Edition

1.1. INVISIBLE EMPLOYEES

1.1.1. Why Employees Feel Invisible

It can happen to anyone . . . anytime . . . anywhere. You're hunched over the speaker during a conference call, straining to hear, or picking up a fax, and wham! Suddenly, you're invisible.

Like most people, Allison never saw it coming. Working in the public relations department of a prominent national bank, one of her assignments was to write the cost-of-living report for the corporate economist. It took a fair amount of time. She met with the economist a couple of times each month to prepare for the press conference and to review the report. Things were going well until one day . . .

"I was walking down the hall and overheard him [the economist] talking to my boss. He said, 'Could you get this over to the girl who does the cost-of-living report?' The girl? It was like someone had punched me in the stomach. We'd worked together for more than a year. I'd improved the quality of the report and the media reach. I'd spent hundreds of hours on his project, met with him at least twice a month. And he didn't even remember my name."

Wham! Inexplicably, unbelievably, Allison suddenly found herself invisible.

"He didn't see me as a person. I was just a cog in the machinery. It was an eye-opening experience for me."

Sadly, Allison isn't the only one feeling invisible these days. Some 88 percent of^[] employees surveyed say their biggest beef with their organization is "not enough acknowledgment of their work," says Adele B. Lynn ...