Recently I was talking to someone at work, and we started discussing the topic of heroes and soldiers in regards to performance reviews and who gets recognized. I hadn't heard this metaphor before, but it made perfect sense. I wanted to explore the concept a bit more.
The breakdown is that at work, you have heroes, and you have soldiers. Your heroes are the ones who come in to save the day. If your production system is down, they figure out how to bring it back up. If a customer is angry and demands immediate attention and resolution, the hero calms them down and satisfy their expectations. Whenever things are in trouble, the hero enters. The problem is solved, congratulations emails are sent out, and praise showers start. The celebrations begin.
Soldiers, on the other hand, are the ones in the trenches every day. They keep the world going round. They handle hundreds of customers without letting things escalate to the point of needing a hero. They create feature after feature, with constant in-depth analysis, and deliver every time. Frequently, these folks might not enjoy the spotlight of being a hero. They might even crumble when the spotlight finds them. But they don't need the spotlight to become essential members of the team.
Which then gets around to our conversation topic. How to recognize and reward everyone appropriately? Before my work conversation, I would frequently think about people in terms of being top performers, medium performers, and the occasional short-lived bottom performer. Everybody fit comfortably into these three buckets. But over time, I've noticed that some top performers struggle to get proper rewards. Their stats and KPIs would be consistently at the top of the charts. They always worked on essential tasks and were goto people for their areas. They had all of the indicators that should make them easy to reward, but the best rewards always seem to bypass them.
On the other hand, other top performers seemed to walk into their rewards. Their managers would make little effort and bam -- instant-reward. There always seemed like a disparity in contributions and ease of awards.
That's where the heroes versus soldiers metaphor clicked for me. Being a top performer helped to secure a promotion, but it wasn't the primary factor. The more critical trait is to be a visible hero. Even if you were a hero/soldier shining in the spotlight while digging into the daily trenches, the hero aspect of your output is what justifies the promotion.
Then I started thinking back at my previous jobs and evaluating myself. At my first job out of college, I was a complete soldier. I was the guy who sat in my office toiling away, avoiding any visible spotlight while carrying the burden of workload for the team. Everyone who knew the intricacies of the group realized I was a top performer for the team. No one outside of the group knew what contributions I was making. Because of that, I gained a lot of valuable experience, and it launched me as a professional engineer, but my career growth was very stagnant.
In comparison, I've now come to embrace the spotlight. I still bear down and toil away in the trenches when needed, but I'm also known to be the person who steps into the foreground to save the day when a crisis occurs. I've learned how to play both roles. I'm confident that the hero part of my deliverables has made the difference from my first job. My career growth has reflected this difference in approach.
I find it somewhat discouraging. If I would have known at my first job, maybe I could have done things differently. Even now, as a manager, I might be reaping the benefits, but that's not enough. I tend to hold my team to high expectations leading a lot of them to be top performers, but some are heroes, and some are soldiers, but all, in my opinion, are deserving of recognition.
But at least I've made this realization. With realization comes the ability to plan a countermeasure to this anti-pattern. Once I figure out that countermeasure, I'll be able to be an even better leader and make sure I keep all top performers engaged and happy so that everyone can keep us marching forward towards victory.
Project success isn't won by only the heroes performing great feats of strength, but also by the soldiers putting in the grind and showing up strong every day.
(Written 2019.12.06)
The breakdown is that at work, you have heroes, and you have soldiers. Your heroes are the ones who come in to save the day. If your production system is down, they figure out how to bring it back up. If a customer is angry and demands immediate attention and resolution, the hero calms them down and satisfy their expectations. Whenever things are in trouble, the hero enters. The problem is solved, congratulations emails are sent out, and praise showers start. The celebrations begin.
Soldiers, on the other hand, are the ones in the trenches every day. They keep the world going round. They handle hundreds of customers without letting things escalate to the point of needing a hero. They create feature after feature, with constant in-depth analysis, and deliver every time. Frequently, these folks might not enjoy the spotlight of being a hero. They might even crumble when the spotlight finds them. But they don't need the spotlight to become essential members of the team.
Which then gets around to our conversation topic. How to recognize and reward everyone appropriately? Before my work conversation, I would frequently think about people in terms of being top performers, medium performers, and the occasional short-lived bottom performer. Everybody fit comfortably into these three buckets. But over time, I've noticed that some top performers struggle to get proper rewards. Their stats and KPIs would be consistently at the top of the charts. They always worked on essential tasks and were goto people for their areas. They had all of the indicators that should make them easy to reward, but the best rewards always seem to bypass them.
On the other hand, other top performers seemed to walk into their rewards. Their managers would make little effort and bam -- instant-reward. There always seemed like a disparity in contributions and ease of awards.
That's where the heroes versus soldiers metaphor clicked for me. Being a top performer helped to secure a promotion, but it wasn't the primary factor. The more critical trait is to be a visible hero. Even if you were a hero/soldier shining in the spotlight while digging into the daily trenches, the hero aspect of your output is what justifies the promotion.
Then I started thinking back at my previous jobs and evaluating myself. At my first job out of college, I was a complete soldier. I was the guy who sat in my office toiling away, avoiding any visible spotlight while carrying the burden of workload for the team. Everyone who knew the intricacies of the group realized I was a top performer for the team. No one outside of the group knew what contributions I was making. Because of that, I gained a lot of valuable experience, and it launched me as a professional engineer, but my career growth was very stagnant.
In comparison, I've now come to embrace the spotlight. I still bear down and toil away in the trenches when needed, but I'm also known to be the person who steps into the foreground to save the day when a crisis occurs. I've learned how to play both roles. I'm confident that the hero part of my deliverables has made the difference from my first job. My career growth has reflected this difference in approach.
I find it somewhat discouraging. If I would have known at my first job, maybe I could have done things differently. Even now, as a manager, I might be reaping the benefits, but that's not enough. I tend to hold my team to high expectations leading a lot of them to be top performers, but some are heroes, and some are soldiers, but all, in my opinion, are deserving of recognition.
But at least I've made this realization. With realization comes the ability to plan a countermeasure to this anti-pattern. Once I figure out that countermeasure, I'll be able to be an even better leader and make sure I keep all top performers engaged and happy so that everyone can keep us marching forward towards victory.
Project success isn't won by only the heroes performing great feats of strength, but also by the soldiers putting in the grind and showing up strong every day.
(Written 2019.12.06)
