My friend, Jabe Bloom, a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon School of Design, believes that to be happy and effective, employees need to “see themselves as heroes in the narrative.” That is to say,  they need to see where they fit in and how they benefit the whole. From a personal standpoint, I totally agree. When I’ve felt like a valued part of the team, I’ve excelled; whereas, when I did not feel valued, I have contributed less value.

One stark example: a few years back I was running a small company, building custom programs for financial customers. This was a feast or famine business where we always seemed to either have too much or too little work. We were in a ‘feast’ period in which we had two demanding clients who needed a lot of work done. We were looking to hire more people, but in the meantime I had to work a double shift. Although this was well before the work at home era, all of this work was done from my living room. I would get up at 7am, work on one customer until 3pm and then work on the other customer from 3pm until after 10pm.

As luck would have it, we were doing largely the same thing for each customer, building a new loan system with enhanced functionality for them. They were in different code bases, so code couldn’t be shared between them, but it was largely the same work.

In one, the manager really did not like my company. He had not hired us and seemed resentful that we were brought in by a previous manager. He was quick to react negatively if any bugs were found in testing and would often talk about how he wished he had more time so he could do all of the work himself.

The other client felt like we were a blessing sent in to save them and make their systems better. She was always happy to see us, wanting our opinions and grateful for the work we were doing.

The same work, but I hated one job and loved the other. And with the one I loved, I completed the system in under a month, when we had estimated two, and also had time to add in a number of enhancements for them. Meanwhile, the job I hated ran months behind schedule. I was reluctant to bring forward issues and face the negativity. Heck, I was reluctant to show him anything.

Jabe, in our conversations, went beyond just the power of treating people well and talked about how people need to know why their jobs are important to be truly effective. His point was that by knowing how they are contributing; they are able to visualize their role in the larger story of the company’s success. This insight struck a chord with me, particularly given my contrasting experiences with the two clients. It wasn’t just about feeling valued; it was also about understanding the significance of my work within the grand scheme of things.

I have found Jabe’s insight about employees needing to see themselves as heroes in their own narrative to be a powerful approach for keeping teams motivated and working together. As leaders, it’s our job to not only recognize the value of each individual and the role that person plays in the company, but also to help them see it for themselves. Making people happier and feeling more wanted is worthwhile for its own sake, but here we’re also creating an environment where people feel more connected to their work and to each other. This, in turn, leads to not just happier employees, but more effective, innovative, and successful companies.