At a strategy offsite for a top insurance company, Mr Strategy asked the CEO a simple question: “Who keeps this company moving when you are not in the building?” The CEO paused, looked at his executive team, and realized he did not know. Everyone pointed upward, to the board, to leadership, but not sideways or downward, where the real motion happens.
Every organization has two kinds of people: those who make noise and those who move. The tragedy is that most boards and executives celebrate the former.
The illusion of the “visible performer”
Corporate systems are biased toward visibility. We promote presenters, not performers. The loud, articulate, and politically fluent often rise faster than the disciplined, reliable, and humble executors who actually keep the system alive.
In telecoms, it is the engineer who stays late to restore service after a network collapse. In banking, it is the internal control officer who quietly flags suspicious transactions before they escalate. In hospitals, it is the records clerk who catches a billing mismatch that prevents fraud.
These are not heroes of the PowerPoint slides, but of the organization’s bloodstream. Without them, strategy dies at implementation.
What really keeps organizations moving
Movement in an organization is not driven by title; it is powered by three hidden currencies: ownership, consistency, and clarity.
- Ownership: These are people who say “we” when the rest say “they.” They act without waiting for permission.
- Consistency: They do the right thing repeatedly, even when no one is watching.
- Clarity: They simplify complexity so others can act.
They are easy to miss because they do not seek attention. But remove them, and everything slows. Mr Strategy calls them organizational arteries; you never notice them until they clog.
The tragedy of invisible excellence
In most companies, recognition systems reward visibility, not value. Boards applaud the CEO’s press interviews but forget the anonymous operations team that delivers the promises. This imbalance breeds cynicism. The people who carry the load watch the decorated ones get bonuses, and eventually, they disengage or leave.
The cost is silent but massive. Research by Gallup shows disengaged employees cost global economies $8.8 trillion annually. But the number one predictor of engagement is recognition: not salary, not title. Recognition.
Recognition is not applause. It is an acknowledgment of contribution. It signals that someone’s effort is seen and valued.
How to recognize the real movers
Recognition is the art of attention. It requires leaders to see the quiet rhythms of performance, not just the loud results. Here is how top-performing boards and CEOs identify the real engines:
- Trace outcomes backward. When a project succeeds, ask: who made it possible? Who removed the obstacles, connected the dots, or caught the errors? Recognition must follow the chain of contribution, not hierarchy.
- Track consistency, not drama. Reward those who deliver small wins predictably, not those who produce miracles irregularly. Stability is a greater performance signal than spurts of heroism.
- Listen to the edges. Spend time where value is created; operations floors, call centers, or client service desks. The most impactful people rarely sit in executive suites.
- Celebrate process, not just outcomes. Results may belong to the team, but good processes belong to the keepers; the ones who maintain systems that sustain results over time.
- Institutionalize recognition. Build it into the board and EXCO dashboards. For every financial KPI, have a “culture KPI”; measuring how recognition, collaboration, and innovation are lived daily.
A case from the telecom frontline
During a fibre cut crisis in a major East African telecom, executives rushed to issue public apologies. Meanwhile, an unassuming field technician rerouted traffic manually using a contingency path he had built months earlier “just in case.”
His quick action restored connectivity within two hours. The company avoided a regulatory fine and a social media storm.
The CEO only heard about it days later, by accident. The organization’s biggest risk was not the fiber cut. It was leadership blindness. They did not know who their real movers were.
During strategy retreats, we spend some time building what I call the “Movement Map,” a tool that identifies individuals and teams who drive core value flows. Within months, retention of top contributors rose, downtime dropped, and morale surged. The movement map is like a business impact analysis of sorts, only it is about people.
The paradox of recognition
Recognition works only when it is genuine, specific, and proportional. Token appreciation backfires.
Here is the paradox:
- Too little recognition breeds resentment.
- Too much recognition breeds entitlement.
- Right recognition breeds ownership.
Boards must model balanced appreciation. A director who thanks the internal audit team for exposing control weaknesses signals psychological safety. A CEO who publicly credits back-office staff for client satisfaction reinforces shared purpose.
Recognition should not flatter egos; it should reinforce culture. Most reward systems are bureaucratic. Winning leaders design recognition that is fast, frequent, and fair. They are:
- Fast: Feedback loses value when delayed. Recognize contribution in real time, not at year-end ceremonies.
- Frequent: Make it cultural. Start every EXCO meeting by naming one person or team who exemplified the organization’s values that week.
- Fair: Use data, not favoritism. Peer recognition programs and 360° feedback loops expose hidden contributors.
The best companies decentralize recognition. Managers, peers, and even customers can nominate unsung heroes. Technology can amplify visibility: digital “thank-you boards,” micro-bonuses, and storytelling dashboards.
But the essence remains human: see people deeply, not just their deliverables. The Board’s role? recognize the recognizers
Boards influence culture through what they question, not what they command. Instead of asking only “What are the profits?”, start asking “Who made this possible?” Directors should insist that recognition metrics appear in quarterly reports. When evaluating CEOs, they must consider not just financial outcomes but cultural stewardship; how leaders sustain the people who sustain the company.
A board that ignores culture management is like a pilot ignoring fuel levels because the plane is still flying.
The danger of invisible cultural decay
When real movers leave or disengage, decay is silent but swift. Processes start failing. Quality slips. Customer complaints rise. Everyone blames external factors: competition, inflation, politics; never realizing the organization lost its pulse.
You do not lose culture when bad people join. You lose it when good people stop caring.
That is why recognition is not HR work; it is leadership work. Great leaders must put in place strategies to spot the real movers early. Real movers do not seek credit; they seek progress. They speak truth without fear. They resist shortcuts. They are the ones who remind everyone what “good” looks like when standards slip.
In meetings, they ask precise, uncomfortable questions. They may not always be likable, but they are always reliable.
When Mr Strategy works with boards during cultural audits, he asks one diagnostic question:
“If this person resigned today, would your operations shake?” If yes, you have found a mover.
What do executives have to do?
Executives must protect and empower these people. Too often, top performers are overworked and under-defended. They carry broken systems on their backs while others claim the credit.
To keep them, leaders must:
- Give them autonomy, not more bureaucracy.
- Provide mentorship, not micromanagement.
- Shield them from politics, not throw them into it.
These individuals are not replaceable; they serve as institutional memory, ethical anchors, and operational stabilizers.
The Movement Matrix leadership tool.
A simple diagnostic to identify who keeps your organization moving.
| # | Quadrant | Description | Leadership Action |
| 1 | A, Movers | High contribution, low visibility | Spotlight and empower |
| 2 | B, Influencers | High contribution, high visibility | Sustain and deploy as mentors |
| 3 | C, Spectators | Low contribution, high visibility | Reassign or retrain |
| 4 | D, Drainers | Low contribution, low visibility | Manage out compassionately |
Review this matrix quarterly. Every leader should be aware of who sits where. The aim is not to punish but to rebalance energy flow across the organization.
Great organizations are not built by great speeches; they are built by consistent effort from unseen people. Boards and executives must develop the discipline to look beyond the spotlight, to the quiet competence that keeps systems alive. Recognition is not charity. It is a strategy. It is cheaper than turnover and more powerful than slogans.
Because when people feel seen, they stay. And when they stay, the organization moves.
I remain, Mr Strategy
