Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Coworker and Caretaker


This article relates to the Coworkers competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It tells the story of a coworker whose performance consistently facilitated effective cooperation, collaboration, and communication between the employees within one organization. While the Team Dynamics competency focuses on relationships within a single group, this competency targets coworker topics spanning the entire organization over multiple work units. This competency investigates your organization's ability to successfully work in partnership on projects with one another and between groups to reach the common goals of the organization.

This short story, Coworker and Caretaker, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales From the Corporate Frontlines. It illustrates how one coworker's knowledge, compassion, and dedication to the common goals of her company made getting the job done a joy for her entire work team.

Anonymous Submission

Every workplace has one. The employee who keeps the operation moving, the "go to" person who can always be depended upon to know the answer to any question. The person who always has time to hear your thoughts, and everyone in the office feels comfortable talking to. In short, the exceptional coworker.

Mary Ann retired from our office last week after 40 years of faithful service. She knew every client, sales rep, contact and associate of the company and in particular, her manager. She knew her own job duties completely, and was acquainted with the responsibilities of every other employee in the office.

Mary Ann was not management material, it was said around the office. I don't believe that statement was true. I think she could have done anything she wished, and quite successfully. But she didn't want to lead. She seemed quite content to do her part to keep things running smoothly - behind the scenes. She was the office "mom" - the birthday celebration organizer, the office supplies coordinator, the interior decorator. Her work was always finished, flawlessly, and she made herself available to train new employees and help them fit into the office family. Mary Ann put together lunches when coworkers retired or moved on, and always did a major part of the holiday party planning.

Always even-tempered, even under stress, she consistently had a good word for everyone who stopped at her desk. She could be depended on for a dose of common sense and practical wisdom. Whenever a crisis came up, and there was mass panic or chaos in the office, Mary Ann would enter and bring calm to the situation with her mere presence. She'd assess the facts, make a few suggestions, and everyone would begin to get back to reality and set about making things right again. "The Voice of Reason" we called her, and rightly so.

She will be missed. It will be interesting to see how our office gets along without her, and if anyone will move into her position. Any volunteers?

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Josh Greenberg is President of AlphaMeasure, Inc.

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