On Monday we presented the idea that it takes more than good performance to succeed, and especially in the corporate environment. In fact, it takes more than good performance to succeed in all aspects of your life.
If you were the sole decider of your organizational fate, then these Quick Tips would be of limited value. But you are not the sole decider – others decide whether you succeed and grow, stay stagnant or get fired. And as we said on Monday, these decisions about you do not depend on your performance alone.
Here are four straightforward actions you can take to increase your personal power and influence in your organization and promote your career growth:
1) Get noticed. It is important that you let other people (and especially your boss) in the organization know what you accomplish as it is unlikely they will know without you telling them. The late social psychologist, Robert Zajonc, referred to a concept he called “the mere exposure effect”. This does not mean bragging; it means letting others know what you have and continue to achieve – honestly, regularly and factually.
2) Practice and get very good at time and focus management. Use your time wisely (don’t waste yours or anyone else’s – especially your boss’s), focus on what is most critical to get done and what you do best and excel at it
3) In terms of “what’s most critical to get done, on top of that list should be what’s important to your boss. This needs very little explanation. If you are not doing what’s important to/for your boss (their key expectations of and for you) and if you are ignoring or procrastinating on the tasks he or she assigns to you, you are slowly committing career suicide. If you cannot answer the question of what is most important to your boss and how you directly support/produce that, you are gambling with your performance.
4) Build positive and real relationships: with your boss, with your peers and with others in the organization. And in doing this, do not forget that everyone likes to be recognized for the good they do. As you build real relationship remember to make others feel good about themselves and what they do. No this is not being a “suck-up”. (Those people are disingenuous and use manipulation rather than influence.) It is a practice that recognizes the good and positive aspects of other people. Call it compliments, flattery, or otherwise- just be certain it is sincere. Just like you like to be recognized and told you are doing a good job, so do others – including your boss.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest
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