YOU MATTER

my new employee commented after her very first professional headshot session.

I cocked my head to the side, seeing an opportunity in front of me.

“And why is that?” I ask.

She paused thoughtfully for a moment before responding, “I don’t feel like I had earned it.”

“And why is that?” I said again.

“Well, I’ve only been here two weeks. I barely have my feet under me. I don’t feel like I’ve really given anything to you yet. You’re spending all this time training me and then giving me this beautiful experience of being photographed. I just feel like I’m not yet …” She searched for the word “worthy.”

And there she landed on the word that the majority of our clients feel when they walk through the doors of Ivory House Photography…

Our photography niche is corporate headshots. Now before you all have a big yawn and tune out, give me a second.

Our special photography niche is photographing your employees so that they know they matter.

People are often baffled at my choice to go into such a repetitive line of work. On the outside, it’s not a particularly creative practice. I photograph people on black and white, sometimes grey, in the same exact series of postures.

I’m not kidding, the exact same.

But while I’m only photographing on black and white, people who look at these images intuitively understand that while my approach is uniform, which could lead to monotony and a sense that one person is just like the other, my images do the exact opposite.

By striping away all the other information, we are left with you and me, my camera, and whatever story you’ve created in your head around what my camera is going to do to you.

Being photographed is incredibly vulnerable.

It asks of us some pivotal life questions. The biggest question I see people grappling with, whether they say these words or not is, “am I worthy of this experience?”

Am I worthy?

The question pains me, and the suffering of the people who inflict this pain on themselves over an over, cultivating a narrative that convinces them they are too fat, old, unattractive, imperfect, [insert your favorite beratement here], keeps me behind the camera.

My employee happens to be 6 months postpartum, in a brand new body she was now adjusting to, and putting her brand new body in front of her brand new boss’ camera.

Talk about vulnerable.

If she had a bad experience, if I had told her she couldn’t have photos until she’d been with me for six months, if I had confirmed her fears that her body was not what it once was, if I had let the shoot be just about the resulting photo, a quick headshot for a name badge or a linked in profile, if I had approached this session in any of these ways, do you think I would have motivated or demotivated my brand new employees performance?

And yet, how many of you have either been sent, or sent someone to get a quick headshot taken by the internal marketing person with the company camera. How many of you have had to sit in front of person holding an object that will create an image of you that we experience to be “accurate” and felt like you totally got run over?

How many of you have gotten photos back and felt the horrible, terrible confirmation that all your worst nightmares are true, that you really, truly cannot be photographed. Even for a quick photo, you are unworthy.

Now, conversely, how many of you have had bosses or been the boss who decided to invest in the moment?

How many of you have shown up to your headshots knowing that your company had made an investment, not only in your onboarding, but how you feel during your onboarding experience. How many of you have left your headshot experience feeling better about yourself, more confident and perhaps a little overwhelmed, like holy cow! This company just really invested in me! They must think I’m worthy of this kind of investment!

We have many opportunities as leader to tell our employees through our actions that they are either already worthy, or they need to prove their worth.

When we withhold benefits, kindness, or positive experiences for a certain amount of time, we are quietly saying, you need to prove yourself to me before you can have all that I have to offer.

I find that this creates competitive, insecure environments that attract people who are seeking to confirm that their worthiness only comes from obsessive, relentless doing. While doing is essential, I am laser focused on why we do, not the quantity or how we do it.

Which is why, when you enter my companies, there is no withholding.

You come in worthy.

You come in trusted.

You come in to open arms and uplifting experiences because I’m not going to hold back on you.

Having an environment that emphasizes personal ownership, empathy and compassion then makes it really easy to see when people aren’t the right fit. When what we’re doing and how we’re doing it just doesn’t quite land. It makes people leaving the business easier. It’s what makes their departure and opportunity rather than a loss.

And so, my employees are frequently baffled by what they see as my generosity. While I suppose it is generous, I am a calculating person, and I am not in the habit of giving away resources just to please others.

The method?

Believe in the people I’ve chosen.

Trust them.

Invest in them.

Give them a soft landing to make mistakes.

Let them be themselves, and encourage them to be the best version of themselves.

The result?

My employees stay. Through it all. No matter what. Not only do they stay, but they are deeply invested in the growth and success of our mission, which is why 8 years in, I’ve had one team member for 7.5 years, the other for 5, the other for 2 and the other just starting with no plans to leave.

Because when you know you’re worthy, when it’s confirmed both by yourself and the environment in which you are being yourself, when you know that you matter beyond the role you were assigned to fill, why would you go?