When I was a child (longer ago than I’d readily admit) my parents buying choices were significantly impacted by retailers who gave trading stamps with each purchase. For a new retailer, S & H Green stamps guaranteed an automatic approval from my mother, faster than the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, and almost as fast as my four brothers, sisters and I could disappear when we heard the buzzer on the clothes dryer go off and knew someone would be conscripted to fold under wear.
For you youngsters, who’ve never experienced the thrill of licking trading stamps until you were nauseous, the customer received a predetermined number of trading stamps based on the amount spent. These stamps, (similar to postage stamps) were then carefully and diligently pasted into books of roughly 30 pages. Once enough books were accumulated they could be traded for an almost endless array of merchandise. (When my grandmother died several years ago, she still had the brushed aluminum salt and pepper shakers with the matching grease can, sitting on her stove, that I traded for when I was 14.) Individually, the stamps had virtually no value. Collectively, they had impact. I mention this because this dynamic happens in multiple ways in every office every day. The accumulation of many small seemingly insignificant things that together become significant.
Recently, one of my associates entered my office, and closed the door. (Closing the door typically seems to indicate something ominous or of great import is afoot.) In this case, she advised she would not accept another engagement with a certain peer. (We do not assign staff – we invite them to join an engagement team. That is discussed in my post titled ‘Choices’.) When I asked her why, she summarized several encounters that led her to believe there was an inherent lack of respect shown over the previous six months, and then a ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’. I asked her how she responded. Her responses had apparently been acquiescent, and therein lays the problem, a total lack of communication. Not uncommon for young associates.
While each unpleasant encounter wasn’t in and of itself significant enough to cause a bigger problem, over time, the accumulation of these Brown Stamps became a problem that could have easily been avoided. The lesson I hope she took away, was when seemingly minor irritations arise in either your personal or professional life, deal with them before they accumulate into something greater.
