Gift wrap your work

How to make good work shine

Whenever I write a newsletter or blog post, I simply want to hit publish. I’m more of a word person than a visual person, and I would dearly love it if a giant block of text would be welcomed out in the world. Sometimes, I’ll admit, I just post the giant block of text. Left to my own devices I might not even use paragraph breaks.

However, I’ve also learned that a few subheads and photos tend to help work be well-received. Just like with a present, you want to gift wrap your work. Is it inefficient? Sure. But considering the experience of the person receiving the work can go a long way toward ensuring that the quality of the work is recognized.

In someone else’s shoes

I was thinking of this the other day when I was staying in a hotel room. When I went to turn on the shower, the nozzle was turned in such a way that it immediately sprayed me in the face. I am sure that it was simply left that way after the shower was cleaned. And while I’m happy that the shower was cleaned — and the bathroom did look nice! — the overall experience of receiving that clean bathroom was less than thrilling.

Contrast this with the garage where I often park my car downtown. I know a lot of garage guys switch the headlights off auto when they’re parking. But at the garage the headlights are almost always back on auto when I get my car back, which helps ensure I don’t drive out at night with them off. The parking work is gift wrapped.

Perhaps you can think of ways to put yourself in the shoes of whoever will receive your work. There’s a common story of teams that stay up into the wee hours creating a long and dense deck that then gets to the client so late they don’t have time to absorb it before the meeting — nor does anyone have time to get through all of it during the meeting. That’s an example of work that hasn’t been gift-wrapped. Nobody thought of the presentation from the client’s perspective.

Simple and elegant

But imagine that you’ve asked a team member to send you ideas for where to host an off-site. She sends you an email specifically with that information with her recommendation up top (and a short explanation of why) and then below that three venues with pricing and any pros/cons clearly listed so you can follow her recommendation or make your own decision. Moreover, even though you asked for this information to come in Thursday, she knows that you would probably like to mention it to your team during your weekly Thursday meeting, so she sends it Wednesday so you have time to think about it. That is gift-wrapped work.

Regardless of the specifics, putting some thought into how you present your work allows your good work to shine. Even excellent work doesn’t feel excellent if people have to hunt for information, or don’t get the work at a time they can use it, or if it looks unappealing. You’d feel a little sheepish going to a fancy birthday party and presenting a gift with Christmas wrapping paper that’s half falling off. Yes, it’s the thought that counts, but part of thinking of another person is thinking about how they might be delighted. Gift-wrapping work is about having that same mindset.