If you want to go anywhere in your career people need to know who you are. For some people this comes naturally because they are born networkers or they have a next level talent that sets them apart. For everyone else, this means putting some concerted effort into building your profile and your brand in the workplace.
There is a myth that the world is a meritocracy and the person who works the hardest wins. This is wrong for many reasons. First of all, it isn’t the person who works the hardest who wins, it’s the person who delivers the best results. You can put in 12 hours days and achieve nothing because you’re working hard at the wrong things. Companies don’t pay you to work hard, they pay you to achieve outcomes. This is what people mean when they talk about working smarter, not harder. Often there is a strong correlation between hard work and achieving objectives but not always. Make sure that your effort is actually moving the right needle.
Second, it’s not always the person who is “technically best” that gets the opportunities, it is the person who is “best connected”. Like it or not, this is what it is. There is no point getting upset about it and refusing to play the game because you think the game is silly. If you insist on sticking to the merit game, not the relationship game, then you’re going to miss out. No-one is going to wait for you to get the memo. Merit is only part of it and the importance of technical competence is going to vary with the opportunity. Even the most technically brilliant person is going to find themselves hitting a career ceiling if they don’t develop relationships.
A key tip that I give people with great aspirations is to make sure that your boss’s boss knows who you are. Your immediate line manager directs your day-to-day work, but it’s the levels above him/her that have a better strategic view and know about the upcoming opportunities before your boss does. What you want is to be front of mind at least two levels up so that when an opportunity comes along your boss’s boss says “We need to do something about X. What about Alex? What is she doing?”
Building a relationship with your boss’s boss doesn’t mean undermining your line manager. It doesn’t mean that when you are unhappy with what your boss has said or done that you run off and dob them in or bypass them. All it means is that your boss’s boss knows you by name, knows what your role in the company is and knows what you’re working on.
How do you do that? You need to take the initiative to strike up a conversation. In the lift, at the coffee machine, walking down the hall. Some senior leaders are excellent and try to know as many people as they can and they will take the initiative with the small talk, but most don’t. It’s easy for everyone to know the senior leaders but it’s difficult for them to know everyone else because in some companies there are just so many people.
Discover some common ground or something that your boss’s boss finds interesting. How do you do that? You get over your dislike of small talk and ask questions. Start with “How was your weekend?”, or if it’s a Friday, “Do you have any plans for the weekend?” Then you can file away the answers. A two minute conversation might reveal that your boss’s boss has three kids who play soccer, loves Latin jazz and just got a new dog. These are all things that can be used to continue the small talk at a later date.
I used to have a boss that would say “what interests my boss fascinates me”. This is tremendous advice. It doesn’t mean that you turn into a try-hard brown-noser who is trying to be best buddies with your boss’s boss. All it means is that if you know your boss likes to watch the Tour de France, for example, and it’s July (when the Tour de France is held), it’s not going to hurt to make sure you’re up to speed with the latest Tour de France activity. It doesn’t mean dropping $10k on a carbon frame bicycle and showing up to working in full lycra cycling gear. It just means that when you see your boss’s boss in the break room you can ask if they’ve been watching the Tour and you’ll have a nugget or two to contribute to the conversation.
Once you’ve established the small talk connection (this might take a few interactions), ask your boss’s boss what they’re working on. This is a double winner question. First, if you know what your boss’s boss’s priorities are then you might be able to help which will look good for you. Second, your boss’s boss might ask you the same question in return so you have an opportunity to tell them what you are working on. This means you always need be prepared to explain what you’re working on in 25 words or less. If your answer includes activities that align with what your boss’s boss is working on then that is excellent. This is what will give you the edge.
The easy measure for early success is when you pass your boss’s boss in the hallway and they acknowledge you by name. If you then get an opportunity that appears to come out of left field, you can be pretty sure how it happened.
That’s the Career Advantage. Good luck!
