They Don't Teach Corporate in College (24 page)

While working for a Fortune 500 software firm, I attended an annual staff meeting. The CEO tossed a beach ball into the audience, and everyone watched for five minutes as the ball was batted back and forth. Finally, the CEO called for quiet and asked for the ball to be returned to him. He held it in front of us for a moment before speaking again. “I'm going to throw this ball again,” he finally said. “And this time I want someone to catch it and hold onto it. I want you to treat this ball as if it were one of our customers. Instead of passing the inquiry to another person, own the issue yourself.”

“Beach ball management”—or bouncing a request over to a colleague because it's not your responsibility to handle it—is all too common in the corporate world. I think e-mail forwarding was invented for this purpose. If someone asks you a question and you don't know the answer, make it your business to find it. I realize it's easier to pass on the request and forget about it, particularly if the person asking is not someone you need to impress or if the request has nothing to do with your area. But if you take that extra step to ensure your department or company is perceived in a positive light, you will add value and stand out as a team player.

Sometimes when you answer the phone, an exasperated coworker or customer will be on the line. Quite possibly, you will be the fourth or fifth person this individual has been transferred to during a single call. Don't underestimate the importance of being the one who actually offers assistance and shepherds the issue through to a satisfying resolution. All it takes is one grateful person to e-mail your boss expressing appreciation for your efforts, and your reputation is made. If that isn't enough of a reason to do a good deed, consider the corporate “karma” factor: go out of your way to help someone today and the universe's system of checks and balances will see to it that you are rewarded later.

It's also imperative that you take ownership as it pertains to your job. Volunteer to take on tougher assignments whenever you can, and if you don't have much on-the-job experience yet, scout out small tasks that you can own. Treat every person you deal with as though he or she is your most important customer, and make sure to finish every project you start. If you encounter roadblocks, marshal your resources to get around them rather than letting a project languish. If a task requires you to follow up at a later date, stay on top of it and keep it on your calendar until it has been completed. You should never hear your manager say, “Whatever happened to that…?” Provide her with frequent updates so that she doesn't have to ask you for a status. You'll advance much more quickly when you can demonstrate the ability to manage projects with minimal supervision.

I wasn't promoted, because I worked too hard, if you can believe that. I was so busy that I stayed in my cube all day, every day. People would come by to talk, but I was so consumed by what I was doing that I usually brushed them off. I didn't tell anyone what I accomplished because I thought it was obvious. One day my boss resigned and the head of the department gave the open position to a girl whose productivity was at least half of mine. When I got up the guts to ask why, I realized that the big boss wasn't aware of half the things I did. All he knew was that I kept to myself and wasn't perceived as a team player.

Claude, 28, Quebec

In
Chapter 1
, I talked about the necessity of showcasing your abilities and achievements in the business world, and suggested that you think of yourself as a publicist with the sole task of promoting you. It was easier to do this while you were interviewing, because all eyes were on you and you had your superiors' undivided attention. However, now that you are ensconced in an actual job, people are not as inclined to listen, and you have to compete with all kinds of noise to be heard. It's no longer enough to keep your nose to the grindstone and turn in a solid day's work. If you want people to take note of you and consider you a serious player, you must make your accomplishments visible.

This is not an easy thing to do, especially given what you were told throughout your 16 years of schooling. In high school and college, achievement was an individual endeavor. You were taught a lesson, you studied, you took a test, you got a score—and no one was the wiser. In fact, you were probably not encouraged to share your grades, particularly if they were good. You were equally successful, whether anyone realized it or not. The corporate world, however, is a whole different ballgame. Your promotability depends not on what you do, but on who knows what you do. Being insular is most damaging at the lower levels of your career, when you are unknown to 99 percent of your company. You could be sitting at your cube churning out work like there's no tomorrow, but unless someone in a position of authority is aware of it, you probably won't get anywhere.

So how do you share your contributions without being perceived as arrogant or boastful? The key is enthusiasm. If you emphasize your passion when describing an achievement, people will think you're just excited about it. An excited person appears earnest, and it's hard to be critical of someone earnest. Practice on your boss. It's okay if you mess up and start bragging uncontrollably, because your boss is supposed to know about everything you're doing and can't fault you for keeping him informed. But when informing everyone else of your successes, be as subtle as possible. Here are a few tactics you can employ without leaving your desk.

E-mail Example #1

Forward e-mails praising your work to your management, disguising them as modest FYIs and making the success seem as though it was a team effort (use “we” instead of “I”).

To:
Your Management

Subject:
Progress With Fab Client

Text:
FYI—looks as though we've made some good headway with Fab Client. Let me know how you'd like me to follow up. (Forwarded e-mail is below.)

E-mail Example #2

Ask people outside your department who appreciated your stellar work to let your higher-ups know about it:

To:
Person Who Complimented You Effusively

Subject:
Thank You

Text:
Thanks so much for your kind words. You really made my day and I'm glad to be able to help. I know my manager, John Smith, would appreciate the input on how our group is doing. Would you mind sharing your feedback with him?

E-mail Example #3

Disguise your own success through a thank-you note to others who worked on a particular project with you.

To:
Those Who Worked on the Project

Subject:
Thank You

Text:
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Stew and Sean for their hard work on our new business proposals this week. Due in large part to their efforts, my team was able to land two new clients—Fab Client A and Fab Client B. Congratulations to all!

You might feel weird the first few times you do something like this. Unless you have a major ego, deliberately trying to make yourself look good is not going to feel natural. But trust me, you'll get used to it. As a mentor of mine once said, step out of your comfort zone often, and watch it get bigger every time.

I'm not a big risk-taker myself, so it probably makes sense that much of this book is about treading carefully through the jungle that is the professional
world. However, there is a time and a place for everything, and I believe that if you learn to take calculated risks, you will be more personally fulfilled, and you will reap greater career rewards in a shorter period of time. Research cited in Gail Sheehy's book
Pathfinders
supports this point, suggesting that most truly contented people have taken substantial risks at some point in their careers.

Career author Harry Chambers defines risk-taking as the willingness to confront problems, recommend appropriate actions or solutions, and take responsibility for the ultimate outcomes. When you're a low man on the totem pole, putting in your two cents about anything may seem like a risk. You also have to be careful not to step on your colleagues' toes. For example, if your boss is around to handle a situation that falls under her jurisdiction rather than yours, chances are it's not appropriate for you to jump in and handle it for her.

When is a good time to take a risk that could jump-start your career? Because you can't plan for most opportunities (for example, your boss comes down with the flu and you must address a high-level executive's complaint in his absence), the best way to prepare is to learn in advance what would be considered an appropriate risk. This way, when you're presented with an opportunity in the midst of a stressful situation, you will be able to easily determine whether or not you should take the leap. Chambers suggests some risk-assessment questions to keep handy:

What is the challenge?

What is the potential upside? Will a positive outcome enhance your promotability?

What is the potential downside? Would the worst-case scenario have a negative impact on your current or future promotability? How much risk are you comfortable with? Would a lack of success be a permanent hindrance or a bump in the road?

How will you know if the risk starts to go bad? Will you be able to identify problems early enough to prevent career-damaging failure?

How will you handle a negative outcome? What is your contingency plan if the risk isn't successful?