The Quiet Win
Some of the best work on a team is easy to miss.
Someone catches a mistake before it reaches the customer. A teammate takes ten minutes to explain something so the new person doesn’t spend three hours guessing. A project manager clears up an ownership issue before two departments both assume the other one has it.
The day goes smoothly. Everyone moves on.
“Nothing went wrong” rarely gets its own slide in the monthly review.
It makes sense that we notice the people who step in when something goes wrong. Their contribution is right there in front of us. It’s harder to see the preparation, patience, and attention that kept a problem from happening at all.
I like the idea of giving those quiet wins a little more credit. There’s usually someone behind them.
This is the first edition of Perspective in Progress, a short weekly reflection on work and leadership.
