Don’t Be Noticed
I worked for 6 years as a janitor. In high school it was the only job that was available in my small town and when I was in college my aunt and uncle owned a janitorial business and I happened to have 4 years of experience so I was ready for the job.
There are few things you need to know as a janitor to do a good job but it is a relatively simple, repeatable job. There is really only one key principle.
Don't Get Noticed.
You see when janitorial work is done right nobody notices. They walk through the halls and there is no trash, no dirt, no finger prints on the windows, nothing. So they think about other things. And that is success for you as a janitor. But if people are constantly distracted by the trash, dirt and grimy fingerprints their attention is not free, it is directed at you.
As a manager your goal is to be unnoticed, in a way.
You are keeping processes clean and functioning. Jobs are getting done on time, metrics are being pushed up and team members are working together. However if jobs are way behind and there is a bunch of infighting in your teams you will be constantly front and center on peoples minds as they try to solve your problems for you.
Now, unlike janitorial work, when things are going well you will get noticed. When you boss realizes that he spends hardly any of his time dealing with escalating issues from your teams he will begin to show his appreciation for what you do.
When this happens, hold the line. Don’t get noticed!
It is tempting at this point to accept that your boss finally noticed how awesome you are. That all of the not getting noticed has paid off and you can finally bathe in the limelight.
This is just your ego talking!
Don’t give in to your ego!
Hold the line!
If you give in at this point and start to receive notice you will destroy the system you have created. You will accept that you should be noticed, that you deserve the glory and will lose focus on the goal.
You see it is really not you doing the actual work, its your team. You are just removing the friction to let them work at full capacity. So when the praise comes push all of it off of yourself to your team. After all they are the ones doing the work. And when you push all of the praise to your team they will respect you even more and they will in turn work harder to make the team more successful.