Do you feel like one in a million at work and not in a good way? When you run into your boss in the hallway, do you get the impression she isnt sure who you are? Are the juicy projects always going to someone else? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to raise your work profile. Here are some tips to get you started. 1. Listen more than you talk. If you offer an opinion, suggestion, comment or question at every opportunity, soon people will run away when they see you coming. Remember when you were in college and there was always one smart-aleck who, when the class was asked, Are there any more questions? would shoot his hand in the air and hold the class up? Dont be that student in the boardroom. If you listen carefully and confine yourself to intelligent and to the-point remarks, youll end up looking smarter than most of the people in the room. And when you do have something to say, everyone will listen. 2. Meetings arent for airing dirty laundry. If you have a problem or gripe with someone, bring it to his or her attention privately. When you point fingers or air departmental problems in a group setting, you (a) blindside the person youre complaining about, and (b) have just about ruined your chances for a peaceful resolution. Besides, the next time you make a mistake, that person will fall all over himself to make sure to bring it up in a large meeting just to watch you squirm. 3. Try to catch people doing something right. Whether boss, co-worker or subordinate, people love to be told theyre doing a good job. You dont have to turn into Eddie Haskell to be aware of opportunities to compliment someone. Keep it short, low-key and honest. Its even better if you can pass the compliment to someone else. Hey, boss, Jim was a huge help to us on the Acme project he made some suggestions that should save us $20,000. What are the chances that the boss is going to mention it to Jim the next time he sees him? Pretty good. 4. Know when to hold em and know when to fold em. Pick your battles. If youve made the best case you can for doing something a certain way and the boss decides to do it Sallys way, smile and go along (unless doing it Sallys way is going to send you to jail). If your way really is better, people will remember that when Sally folds like a cheap card table. When you do decide to keep fighting to do it your way, make sure its something worth fighting for and not just because you cant stand to lose. If you only start a war when the stakes are high you have a better chance of coming out on top than if you try to fight every low-level skirmish like Sherman going through Atlanta. 5. Dont hide your mistakes. As soon as it becomes apparent that something has gone wrong, take it to your boss and be upfront about what happened. Have a plan laid out to correct the problem and limit the fallout. You should be able to tell the boss that youve already put the recovery in motion and exactly what the final outcome will be. The key here is to accept the blame without hand wringing or whining and pointing fingers at your subordinates or other departments. You take the responsibility, and then you take the lead in fixing it. |
