*This month’s post is written by Diana Hutchinson*

Why This Question Matters Now

Even seasoned leaders ask themselves: Am I doing a good job for my team? Not just in terms of performance or KPIs—but in helping people feel seen, connected, and confident in their contributions.

And it’s a wise question to ask. Recent research shows that nearly 30% of workers have felt invisible at work, and 27% have felt ignored (Workhuman, 2025).

When people feel unseen, they disengage. And that’s not just a morale issue—it’s a performance one.

Three Questions to Gauge Your Impact

In The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Patrick Lencioni identifies three core conditions that make work feel pointless: anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurement. Use these as a lens to examine your own leadership:

1. How much do your team members feel known?

Do you know what matters to them beyond tasks and deliverables?
Have you talked about their long-term goals and how this job supports them?
Do they feel seen by you—and by others in the organization?

2. How much do they understand the impact of their work?

Can they see how their efforts connect to customers, colleagues, or the mission?
Have you talked with them about what’s meaningful—and what’s missing?

3. How do they know they’re doing a good job—without needing to ask?

Are expectations clear?
Do they have ways to track their own progress and success?
Can they focus their energy where it matters most?

Actions That Strengthen People Leadership

You don’t need a massive overhaul to make a real difference—small, intentional steps can create big shifts. You might try some of these ideas from Zach Mercurio’s book, The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance:

Hold “Mattering Check-ins”: Ask about what team members enjoy, what they find challenging, and how they see their work contributing to the mission.
Use Recognition Rounds in team meetings to acknowledge wins and effort.
Create Personal Success Maps: Let team members help define what doing a great job looks like—and how they’ll know they’re on track.

Helping people feel seen, purposeful, and confident in their performance might be one of the most important things you do as a leader. It’s not always visible—yet it’s always felt.

And that’s the real result of doing a good job as a leader.

If you’d like support working through the answers to any of these questions, let’s have a conversation.