Interested observers are anxious to hear an announcement about an addition to the British royal family as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge await the birth of their second child. I had a brush with a different European royal family in my last year of university when our campus hosted a visit from the Crown Prince and Princess of Norway. They have since become King and Queen but when they ventured into our city Prince Harald and Princess Sonja were royals-in-waiting for the top job.
         Preparing for the visit began months earlier with an assessment of needs and the implementation of a game plan to determine who would take care of various assignments. Everything had to be done within an established budget and as the work got underway cost overruns and calls for more funding became commonplace. Conversations of where money should be spent were continuous as those in charge of the kitchen, those upgrading exteriors and those looking after PR each had a set of priorities they felt was crucial to a successful royal visit.          Â
         The department I worked in for the summer joined the team about two weeks before the visit. Our job was security. We quickly learned it wasn't going to be as much about protecting people as it was containing them. My job was to be stationed at one of the cordoned off areas and keep visitors behind a rope. I faired better than a friend though. While I was positioned outside where I would see the royal couple walk past, my friend was standing guard at one of the public bathrooms which had to be re-purposed for the day for use only by the prince and princess.
         Once the arrival and walk-about were complete there was a lunch for the royals and certain invited guests followed by a public program which included a highly anticipated speech by the prince. As all eyes were on the stage I thought about one of the two major entrances into the Convocation Auditorium. Much discussion had taken place about how to block off one of the entrances--the one nearest the specially assigned washroom. Since no one was to go near that facility all visitors entered (and would soon have to exit) the auditorium through one side of the room.
         With the hundreds of people who would be passing through that exit I wondered how many would notice the door jams that had been freshly painted or that security people had been planted at various places in the group to keep the crowd moving as freely as possible. Everyone involved with the visit did their job to the best of their ability regardless of how unnoticed their contribution may have been. My assignment was very small but when the entire team was assembled and the university president extended his thanks we felt valued whether we had prepared food for the royals or if we had stood by a rope.
         I recall a joke I read about a couple who were out walking one morning. They ran into friends they hadn't seen for some time and invited them back to their home for lunch. Knowing the house was in a bit of a mess and there was little to serve for lunch, the couple decided that the wife would run to the deli while the husband would head home, tidy up and get the table set. When the wife returned home she discovered magazines strewn around, things on the floor, and nothing yet set on the table. She looked to see what her husband had been doing and there he was…busily dusting the philodendron.
         We focus on the thing that jumps out the most for us, the things that we feel require our attention, even if it doesn't make someone else's priority list. On the job, in an organization or working within a group we may not agree entirely with how everyone else wants to do things but that's where the strength of the effort can be found. Can it be frustrating? To be sure. But the business, organization or group is best served when all viewpoints can be heard and therefore a greater chance that all aspects will be covered. What one person may not think to do, someone else might. The perspective one individual brings may cause others to look at things very differently.
         When all ideas are heard and all contributions are combined, the chances of pulling off something--even a royal visit--in spectacular fashion is much more attainable. So let your voice be heard and look after the details in your corner. Whether you are making coffee, setting up chairs, guarding a door, painting an entrance or dusting a philodendron, your efforts matter. That's my outlook.
