This week's thank you: The Giver

Life Preserver by Petteri Sulonenen Flickr CC BY

There are some people who will help everyone. With anything. Your garbage disposal went out? He buys them in bulk for his rental properties and can get you one cheaper than you can buy one. Need someone to fill in with a presentation for someone who dropped out? He says he can put something together quickly, no problem.

Everyone likes having givers around. They are typically kind people, looking out for others. They are the first to lend a hand or an ear when a co-worker has an issue. While givers tend to be positive people, it can also be easy for givers to absorb other emotions from people who aren't so positive.

It's been a busy couple months around the office. In the fall, we talk with every one of our partner schools. We have about two weeks of downtime while schools are on holiday break while we do follow-up from the partnership reviews, and then we start right back into January term starts.

One account manager has a couple schools that require extra hand-holding, such as explaining basic functions of Excel so we can get information in a way we can work with it. While trying to provide the service the natural giver in him wants, this account manager has also been the person other account managers vent to about struggles they are having. And when new projects pop up when everyone is asked if they can spare an hour or two, this account manager is the first to put his hand up even when he is swamped.

I had a brief conversation with this account manager, and despite the smile, it was obvious that he was running out of mojo. So this week, I wanted to make sure he knew how much people appreciate him and all the work he did.

Thank you, David, for being a giver and for providing the best service possible to your schools.

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