Sometimes leaders get so busy that they don’t acknowledge valued employees. You may have the best of intentions, but when hectic schedules and competing priorities overtake your attention, you forget about them.

We’re so busy that meaningful actions – such as providing feedback, giving performance or compensation reviews, or just checking in to see how they’re doing – fall by the wayside because they’re not urgent.

Not urgent to us, that is.

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Changing a habit can be insidious. After months of cultivation, you barely think about your previous behavior, and then, BAM! it reappears at a strange and unexpected time.

This is your test.

Do you give in to the previous pattern or do you stand up for yourself, swat away the old, and resume your new, better actions?

Sometimes you persevere, and other times you slip. The key to moving forward, though, is to reinforce your resolve. Refresh your memory by recalling your “why”: Why did you change this habit? Do those reasons still make sense? Do you feel compelled to continue with your strategy for change?

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Last week I enjoyed dinner at The Smith at Lincoln Center. It wasn’t a special occasion or a holiday. It was simply two friends having dinner before attending a performance at across the street.

And then we met Nick.

I had been observing him as he stopped at each table, engaging the guests. He didn’t ask the perfunctory “How was your dinner?” while halfway to the next table. Instead, he seemed genuinely interested and personally invested in the guest experience.

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