I was talking to a group of professionals who were unhappy because they felt under-appreciated from their colleagues and bosses. I asked them what they would like to change in the situation. Their main objective was to be noticed and to be appreciated as valuable members of the organization.

They were not thinking clearly beyond the fact that coworkers did not notice their work. So I asked them what they could do to get noticed, to highlight their efforts. This got them thinking in terms of taking ownership of the outcome. They came up with the idea to create a website, where they could share their work. They started engaging people from other departments to come and join them in their work.

They also arranged for a room designated to their team, and put up a board to highlight their activities. When people from other departments walked by, they noticed changes and started acknowledging and appreciating the group’s efforts.

Since the group took ownership of their situation, they started taking steps to get what they expected and created a change for themselves. They got what they wanted, not because other’s decided to give it to them, but because they took the ownership, stepped up and made decisions that could turn their situation around.

Most of the times, we are so focused on other people’s actions or non-actions, that we refuse to see anything beyond feeling helpless. We expect others to change, instead of being proactive about the situation. We overlook our actions and thus lose sight of the bigger picture. If we stop being upset about what others are not doing for us, we can take actions to turn the odds in our favor. We can change ourselves or change what is in our control instead of placing the burden of change on others. 

This article first appeared at https://bit.ly/2TdoFAK