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Here's a weird thought experiment I tend to keep in the back of my mind: I call it The Lifeboat.
I suppose the whole idea might sound a bit bleak, but for me it's about appreciation. Here's how it works:
I suppose the whole idea might sound a bit bleak, but for me it's about appreciation. Here's how it works:
If the company you work for were to go belly-up overnight and everyone had to leave, which coworkers would you take in your "lifeboat" to sail away and start something new together?
I don't think about this in terms of favoritism or cliques or anything. It's just about "if I had to start over right now, which of these folks would I trust to help me get a new project off the ground?"
Obviously you wouldn't just pick people from your own team, because then you wouldn't have the diversity of talent and skills you'd need. Chances are, your lifeboat will have a nice mix of talent from across the company.
OK so why do I think about this? Because I'd want to launch a startup and poach my coworkers? God no (and I'm pretty sure my current nonsolicitation agreement prohibits it anyway).
It boils down to a simple question: If you'd put someone in your weird dumb hypothetical lifeboat, are you doing enough to appreciate them now?
When I was just launching my agency's social media practice back around 2007, most coworkers understandably kept their distance because they had more than enough work to keep them busy. But 2 from other departments told me, "Hey I like what you're doing. Can I help?"
(Shout to @sharpton and @Parrotheader for being those two. I'll literally never forget how much both of you did to get all our blogger outreach and first Facebook forays off the ground.)
We're all crazy busy, but if you truly admire and appreciate someone who works on another team, it can 100% be worth reaching out to them and letting them know, even if it's just in the form of "love what you're doing, how can I help?"
Conversely, when someone from another team approaches you about helping with your work or agrees to donate time to a big project you're leading, really take a moment to be thankful for them and realize that they're really going above and beyond.
So spend some time thinking about your "lifeboat" and which colleagues you'd be honored to work with again elsewhere.
And then don't wait. Drop them a note now or early in the year letting them know you'd like to help support them and find more ways to work together.
And then don't wait. Drop them a note now or early in the year letting them know you'd like to help support them and find more ways to work together.
I'm tremendously grateful to have never needed a lifeboat to escape a failing workplace, but this thought experiment has still had a huge impact on how I think about, appreciate and show up for my coworkers.
