Introduction

As a former CEO of Cable & Wireless, I received a lot of recognition and praise externally but many times the team behind me was overlooked. A leader normally advises the team of the objectives for the organization and the team will run with those objectives seeking to achieve them on behalf of the organization. You will find that the team members are normally doing most of the work but yet we only recognize the leader of that organization.

Perhaps in a small organization, a leader may be involve in almost every aspect of the organization. However, in large organizations, leaders cannot be involve in everything and should not be involve in everything as it will just be too much for that leader to handle. Leaders depend on others to get the job done but yet we only recognize the leaders.

Be very careful how we put our leaders on a pedestal. Sometimes this gets to the heads of leaders and make them very arrogant. If we the people and customers do not recognize the people behind the scenes, the leaders should use every opportunity to recognize their team.

The People behind the scenes

The people behind the scenes make the organization looks great and in so doing make the leader looks great. The people behind the scenes are the ones involve in the day to day operations. While some leaders are at home sleeping, the people behind the scenes are burning the midnight oil to meet the deadlines and to fix the issues.

In the public sector, people behind the scenes are the ones drafting the budgets, ensuring that the projects are done and are done within the budget. They also ensure that the policies of the Government are enforced.

In the hospitality industry, we also overlook the people behind the scenes. The housekeepers are the ones making sure the rooms are well maintained and in order. The maintenance team ensures that all issues are fixed. The front desk ensures that guests’ needs are met while staying at the resort. The staff in the kitchen prepares the meals to the best standard.

In the movie industry, we thank the actors and actresses for their great performances but the people behind the scenes are overlooked especially the writers who prepared the scripts for the actors.

You can think of any industry and realize how important the people behind the scenes are.  In fact the people behind the scenes are the ones you can easily reach and who always respond to your needs. It is difficult reaching the leaders.

The people behind the scenes are the ones who are always confronted and attacked by the customers as they are the ones the customers always see.

The people behind the scenes do not discriminate but our leaders do. For example, the leaders decide what emails and phone calls to return but the people behind the scenes are expected to respond to all emails and phone calls.

Leaders change frequently but most times the people behind the scenes are retained because of continuity and the contribution they make.

Conclusion

I have the greatest respect for everyone but I have a special appreciation to the people behind the scenes. When I was at Cable & Wireless, I was always concerned about the distribution of the bonuses. There was such a significant disparity in the distribution between the leaders and the people behind the scenes. Likewise there is significant disparity in the salaries between the leaders and the people behind the scenes.

We must not forget the people behind the scenes. The people behind the scenes play a significant part of an organization. The leaders especially in a large organization cannot succeed without the people behind the scenes. Therefore when we start thanking the leaders for success, remember to thank the people behind the scenes.

Yes we should thank the leaders too but many times we thank them too much and we thank them basically because of great speeches but behind those great speeches are the people behind the scene we forget to thank most of the time.