Your firm hasn’t been doing too well. There is a global problem in the industry and things are unlikely to improve. As a marketing man you want to move to another sector that is booming in relative terms. In one pocket is an offer that gives you a 25 per cent pay hike. In another is a resignation letter.

It’s been nice working in the current company. Your immediate boss is a good sort. The CEO is even better, though you don’t know him as well. But you can’t sacrifice your career simply because you are happy at work. Hadn’t they taught you at business school that it was the recipe for complacency and stagnation? (B-schools are often wrong. Today, more and more people are realising that a happy workplace may not take you very high on the corporate ladder but it doesn’t lead to an early deathbed or hospitalisation either.)

Sitting and planning how you will break the news of your departure to your boss, you get a letter. That’s curious: who’s into this dead-tree stuff in this era of email? You open it and find it is from the head of the personnel department. Have they given you the boot to save on costs? Thank God you were ready for it. No matter how good you are, it is always difficult to get a job when you are unemployed and you really can’t keep things like that a secret.

“V..U.,” reads the letter. “A raise, a promotion and so many other things.” It goes on to explain the circumstances (which you already know) and assures you that you are valued (which had never been stated so explicitly before). “Don’t go,” ends the letter, signed by five of your closest colleagues.

There is a strange clash of approaches here. The first thing that strikes is that someone has been keeping an eye on you. By itself that could cause irritation; big brother is watching. Second, this is a personal and emotional appeal which has come from the personnel department. In that sense it is both official and unofficial. What happened to the popular image of the soulless corporation?

It’s a small thing,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant Shashi Rao. “But these are the initiatives that work. They cause employee delight. They prove to you that work is not all about robots and reason.”

In an earlier generation, business was not bothered. Theory X ruled the workplace along with assembly line mass production and dehumanisation. The customer was the first to get a better deal though, if truth be told, that is happening only now. Today, several people in the book trade — the professors and consultants who write management tomes — have climbed on the bandwagon. The WOW factor has become part of management jargon.

Wowing the employee comes next. Unfortunately, company managements and HR departments are very shortsighted. When attrition levels are high, WOW rules the world. When you have to tighten belts, WOW goes out of the window. Pink slips resurface.

What has now started to come into the world of WOW is the boss. eHow has a section on how to wow the bosses. Several articles on the Internet tell you how important it is and how it can help your career. “Eventually success is all about going the extra mile,” says Rao. “It doesn’t matter who you are doing it for.”

“Tu-whit; Tu-whoo,” wrote Shakespeare. And perchance to wow.

The small things in life

Little touches to make your team feel good

Learn and use the names of all the people in your team even if that means hundreds of names

When the team succeeds, send an email to your boss outlining that success and cc every team member

During all hands meetings, recognise those whose efforts deserve mention

Reward teams that go above and beyond to meet deadlines with something that includes their significant others. The goodwill you gain by including them will lubricate that next big push

Keep a white board with major projects and needs listed. Check them off as they are completed

Draw attention to that board when you bring your boss or visiting dignitaries through the office.

Create an ideas box. Nothing stirs the imagination more than knowing contributors will be heard. Make an event out of reviewing and discussing the ideas to give contributors acknowledgment that makes them feel valued. You may be pleasantly surprised with the quality of those suggestions if you take them seriously

When you see a picture on someone’s desk, ask about the people or event. Don’t be shy about interacting with individual contributors two or three levels down. It is those very people who make the company run.