Who is at the door?

The sports health facility where my son and I worked out is part of a larger medical health care complex. Usually, the front door was staffed by one of two retirement-aged men. Each had an obviously different view of his job. We knew this through our regular experiences in interacting with one or the other most mornings. One man rarely looked at us and generally wouldn’t leave his post, a small stand with a stool located near the door, when we approach the entrance. But, we often saw him move toward the doors and open them for medical patients, not health care nuts, who approached to enter or leave. He was never seen to greet anyone personally. The other man was always on his feet, standing near the door, opening it for and greeting everyone who came through. Even us. I’m not a great fan of the “have a nice day” salutation but we heard this from our friend regularly when leaving. These behaviors told us that each man had a markedly different understanding of his job. One man, the first, saw his role as assisting clients through the doors of the facility. This is a noble service as far as it goes. But, the other man believed his mission was to leave all clients with a positive impression of the facility they were entering or leaving. Two men, same “job descriptions”, but remarkably different roles. Trained differently? Probably not. Deeper personal understanding of how to make work satisfying? Clearly so. The organization had some power in effecting these two members saw their jobs. But greater power lay in finding and hiring people who create personal reward behaviors out of any post to which they’re assigned.