I worked for a software company that was recently acquired by a much larger one. My role was to ensure a dozen specific client companies were satisfied and, ultimately, to renew their contracts. After the acquisition, the new leadership gave us a “vague mandate”: keep them happy, keep them renewing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few months after the acquisition, I flew down to Orlando for this (bigger) company\u2019s annual sales conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were parties and special events at a big Orlando resort. It was everything you\u2019d expect: lavish parties at a big resort and public recognition for top sales performers. Hundreds of people stood to applaud the winners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sat off to the side. I didn\u2019t even have a sales goal to aim for. I had no connection to these people or this company. The events felt rote, and I would rather have been home than at a resort with strangers. They weren’t motivating me; they were ignoring me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My engagement level was zero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I soon left the company. No one much cared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lesson for the Lead:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you celebrate the winners to the exclusion of everyone else, you’re signalling that outcomes are the sole focus. And that shapes the culture more clearly than any poster – if you don’t hit your goals, you don’t matter to us. If you haven’t defined what ‘winning’ looks like for a critical support role, you are essentially telling those employees they are invisible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lesson for the Contributor:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t accept a vague mandate. When you feel like an outsider, it\u2019s often because the organization lacks a clear mental model for your role. Instead of letting your engagement drop to zero, take ownership of Accountability and Alignment. Schedule a meeting. Insist<\/strong> that your responsibility is properly defined\u2014including the Objective, Constraints, and Key Results. If you are unsure how to proceed, discuss potential strategies. If you can’t get a seat at the table, at least make sure your contribution is on the map.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" But it\u2019s usually structural.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insights","tag-responsibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4111"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5736,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions\/5736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}