This piece goes out to all the problem preventers.

This piece goes out to all the problem preventers.

Who are they, you ask?

Well, they are the people who stopped a problem from ever happening.

They are different from problem solvers. Problem solvers step in once the problem has already occurred. Problem preventers are a different breed. They are the forward thinkers, the prepared ones, the people who notice the warning signs early and quietly take action.

Hats off to them.

In organizations, I have seen three kinds of people:

• Problem preventers — the ones we are celebrating today.
• Problem solvers — the ones who come to the rescue when things go wrong.
• And then there are the people who solve the problems they caused in the first place — and somehow walk away with the accolades, the attention, and the credit. Leaving the rest of us scratching our heads.

I have seen my fair share of all three over the course of my career.

The problem is that problem preventers rarely get the recognition they deserve.

Simply because gratitude requires an object.

When someone solves a crisis, there is something to point to. The system went down. The customer was furious. The deadline was about to be missed. Then someone stepped in and saved the day.

There is a before and an after. A problem and a hero.

But what do you point to when the problem never happened?

We are a species that remembers scars. If there was no wound, we rarely think about the person who prevented it.

So most of the attention, credit, and adulation naturally goes to the problem solvers. They become the heroes, the firefighters, sometimes even the prima donnas.

And sometimes that recognition is absolutely justified. Some problems really are unavoidable, and when those moments arrive, a great problem solver is worth their weight in gold.

But an organization cannot run on heroics alone.

Behind the scenes is the daily toil of the problem preventers.

The mundane but important work.

Checking the boxes. Dotting the i’s. Crossing the t’s.

Asking the annoying question in the meeting.

“Have we thought about what happens if this fails?”

Running the test one more time. Following up before the deadline. Updating the process after a near miss. Fixing the small crack before it becomes a very expensive one.

Nothing dramatic happens.

And that is precisely the point.

The server stays up. The customer never gets angry. The deadline isn’t missed. The crisis meeting never gets scheduled.

Their best work often produces… nothing.

No incident. No escalation. No heroic recovery.

Just another boring, uneventful day.

So today, for a change, let’s recognize the people whose contribution is hardest to see.

The ones who saw it coming. The ones who prepared. The ones who quietly made sure the problem never became our problem.

You may never know everything they prevented.

That might just be the greatest compliment you can give them.

Couldn’t do without them.