The concept of glue work isn’t new. Team building, mentoring, running meetings, and many other mundane tasks fall under this category of often uncompensated work. How glue work establishes unofficial communication structures within and across teams is, however, discussed less often.
Not every manager is a great communicator; and that’s okay. This is specially true in large tech companies where the people management ladders are the natural next step for individual contributors who are seeking career growth. When important information that affects people’s careers isn’t communicated in a fair and timely manner, trust collapses taking down the team with it.
Bound by needs for confidentiality and mandatory reporting, managers are often not the best people to confide in or trust. Meanwhile peers with the right set of social skills become speakeasies: people with whom others feel psychologically safe. The level of trust between a speakeasy and other team members can be much higher than with managers.
Consequently, these speakeasies become social hubs where both work and non-work related information flow freely. Some might call it gossip. But when the information is factual and timely, it can help teammates made better decisions, at least for themselves if not for the company. In times of turmoil – like the increasingly frequent “once-in-a-lifetime” recessions that keep happening in the US – the glue people take on a dual role: as a pressure release valve for individuals, and as a vehicle for breaking their sense of isolation.
No surprise that such roles cannot be written down in a normal job description. Also of no surprise that such roles aren’t recognized nor compensated.