Surviving or Thriving

Dear you,

Something really cool happened at work yesterday so I thought I’d capture my reaction whilst it’s still relatively fresh.

To catch you up, I’ve been at this job for the past 15 months and earlier this week a company-wide email got sent out with my face and name on it alongside other colleagues that got nominated for an inaugural Q1 award.

For context, there’s this thing called an “Inspire” award at my company which falls under two sets of categories. The lower category has 6 levels which equate to an increasing number of points (that can be later converted to cash) whilst the higher category has 3 levels which equate to an increasing amount of cash. This award was the first rung on the ladder in the cash category.

My boss gave me the heads up that I was nominated the day before the email came out on Wednesday. It wasn’t necessarily something I shared with my family at that point because I figured I could wait until the winner got announced. Nonetheless, it was nice to see the wide-range of business stakeholders that reached out to me saying congratulations both in-person and online. It was a testament to who I had good relationships with and a couple people surprised me with their flattering comments.

Fast-forward to Friday, I was working from home (as most people do) when an email with a video message from the MD got sent around at 11:30am. I clicked on the link which announced the Q1 award winner and before even clicking play, I impatiently scrolled through the transcript where I read my full name. My heart sunk. I whispered “oh sh*t” before proceeding to watch the MD speak about me to the whole company. By 11:33am, my boss and another co-worker starting sending screenshots in our Teams group chat (fighting over who was first by 0.1 of a second) with the slide announcing me as the winner. The chat was blowing up with my team rallying around me. Messages and emails started to roll in again from co-workers that I partner with. I was pretty chuffed.

I went to Jummah prayer in a moment of gratitude and honestly struggled to focus on work for the rest of the afternoon. Before logging off, I sent a note to the MD who quickly replied with the warmest message.

What did I get this award for?

My boss nominated me for a project that I led but I don’t think I won because of the project alone. Over the last few months, I’ve had a handful of interactions with the MD who landed the top role just 6 months ago after 17 years with the company. Beyond business meetings both in her office and online, the highlight for me was her walking over to my desk the day after Eid with a box of sweets wishing me Eid Mubarak. I wish I could share the internal video that she sent but you can probably tell from the tone of her email reply just the kind of leader she is…someone you’re willing to follow.

So where would you spend an unexpected cash bonus?

Till next time,

Azam