Promote Yourself (22 page)

 

Quiz: You Know You Fit the Gen Y Stereotype When …

• You're in your manager's office more than in your own cubicle.

• You recently went outside the chain of command to pitch an idea to an executive instead of your own boss.

• At lunch, you daydream of sitting in the CEO's chair.

• You wear headphones and blast music, hoping and praying that no one bothers you.

• You make excuses to work from home and often end up taking the day off.

• You expect managers to sing your praises.

• You're using your work computer to IM your friends about making plans for the evening.

• You think about starting your own company because yours “just doesn't get it.”

• You wonder why you haven't been promoted yet.

 

Understanding Generational Needs in Order to Get Noticed

Building relationships with older generations is critical to getting ahead, and the best way to do that is to understand them. Mastering the art of working and building relationships with people from other generations (and by that I actually mean “people from older generations”) is critical to developing your career and getting ahead at work, at the very least because they decide who gets raises and titles. It all comes down to what I call workplace mentality. That means that regardless of your age or position, you and the people you work with and for can learn from each other. “The younger generations don't have all the answers, and the older generations don't have all the answers either, says Kathy Mandato, Senior Vice President of HR at NBC Entertainment. “We can all learn from each other—and we need to just be really open to that.”

Appreciate the wisdom and experience that older generations bring to the table. But make sure you show them what
you
bring to the table and the value
you
add to your company. That way, you can bond over shared values and interests. Too many young professionals don't take the time to understand how generations differ and they fall into traps, such as choosing the wrong form of communication (phone instead of texting, for example). If you want to get ahead and build a successful career, you need to pay attention to these differences and have them in mind as you confront different generations at work.

At the same time, regardless of generation, everyone's job is to make the company more successful. By understanding how older generations operate in the workplace, you can better cater to their needs and build stronger relationships. It's up to you to find out what the corporation's goals are and to figure out how you're going to add value. It's also up to you to keep your expectations reasonable. For example, no matter what anyone tells you, there's no such thing as a dream job—there will always be aspects of it that you won't enjoy or even like. There will be responsibilities that you'll have to master before you can move on or up. And don't go in expecting a high starting salary. You'll have to earn it. Same goes for promotions. Oh, and if you want respect, you'll have to earn that too—by showing respect to others.

 

8

Build Your Network at Work and Beyond

 

The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.

—KEITH FERRAZZI,

AUTHOR OF
N
EVER
E
AT
A
LONE

 

In real estate, they say that the key to success is “location, location, location.” In business, it's “relationships, relationships, relationships.” Whom you know and how those people perceive you will determine your path to the top. That means that you're going to have to start looking at professional relationships in a whole new way. No matter how good your soft skills are, it's not enough to interact solely with people in your department. You need to strategically seek out relationships that can help you get ahead.

Networking is the easiest form of self-promotion because it involves creating relationships based on shared values, interests, and goals—the kind of relationships that you'll be able to rely on throughout your career. As a result, other people will become aware of your talents in a way that won't come off as self-promotional.

No matter where you are, there are networking opportunities. In many ways, networking is simply meeting new people and exchanging value. In the beginning, it's all about generosity: The more you give, the more people will want to network with you. Help others achieve their goals and they'll (usually) help you achieve yours. Don't worry if the person you're networking with isn't in a position to help you now. People change jobs so much these days that you never know when that help might come. At work, networking usually happens through projects. Working on lots of different projects—especially those that are high-profile and cross-functional—will naturally expand your network. But don't stop there. Network outside work too. The more people you network with, the more visible you'll be and the easier it will be to meet new people. People will introduce you to more people and your network will grow organically, which will open up more doors and allow you to promote yourself faster than you can imagine.

 

The Five Rules of Relationship Building

Building business relationships is, in a way, kind of like dating. Here are five rules you absolutely must follow if you want your relationship to succeed (and yes, you can use these rules in your dating life as well):

 

1. Targeting.
You may have 2,000 Facebook fans, 500 LinkedIn connections, and 300 Twitter followers, but how many of those people can actually help you advance your career? You need to be specific about the people you build relationships with. At the very least, you should have something in common, have some shared interests, or at least look up to and admire your “target” for her professional accomplishments.

Think about the 80/20 rule in business. Businesses derive 80 percent of their revenues from 20 percent of their customers. It's similar with building relationships. Not everyone is in a situation where they can support your career and there will be some you just don't like or you have nothing in common with. You obviously can't invest the same amount of time and energy in every relationship, so try to focus on the ones you click with right away and whose company you enjoy. Otherwise, you'll be spreading yourself too thin.

 

2. Mutualism.
The people you want to get to know have to get at least as much out of the relationship as you do. If they get less, they'll feel cheated and will be much less likely to offer to help in the future. By creating a win-win, there will be a relationship instead of a one-night stand.

 

3. Giving.
The trick with networking is to reach out—sincerely—to help others without asking anything in return. When you do that, people will naturally want to help you. This is a strategy that many of the most successful people online have used to build their following: They give people free content and resources
before
they ask for something. Years ago I contacted a
New York Times
journalist. On the phone she was prepared for me to ask her to quote me in an article. Journalists constantly feel used by people who are looking for free press. But instead of asking for promotional support, I asked her how I could help her with a story I knew she was working on. She was stunned by this gesture. Now we have a relationship and she's more than willing to support me.

 

4. Being authentic.
If you don't mean it, don't say it. You may think you're fooling someone, but eventually they'll find you out.

 

5. Reconnecting.
Building a relationship is one thing. Maintaining it is another. I often get e-mail or LinkedIn invites from people I knew back in high school but haven't heard from in fifteen years. Sometimes it's just to reconnect. Other times it's to ask for a favor. After fifteen years? Come on. Staying in touch means taking advantage of your boss's open-door policy to drop in and say hi, having lunch with colleagues every month or so, and at the very least e-mailing, calling, or texting. Your goal is to stay top of mind or close to it. Another way to keep in touch with people you work with or used to work with is to ask them for LinkedIn recommendations. But do this only
after
you've moved on to a new position. If you ask for a recommendation while you're still employed, they may think it's because you're getting ready to move on. No sense dropping that bit of information until you're 100 percent ready.

 

 

Friends in the Workplace

Typically, you don't think of your friends as mentors. But having friends at work can be incredibly valuable to your career—and more. One reason is that besides being there and supporting each other, you and your friends can be more open (and, in many cases, more honest) with each other than in a mentor-mentee relationship. In addition, a Gallup study found that people who have best friends at work are seven times more likely to feel engaged in their job than those without friends. They also found that those with three friends are 96 percent more likely to be satisfied with life than those who have fewer friends at work.

There's another reason to maintain workplace friendships: The world is becoming smaller by the minute—experts say that with social networking there are now only four degrees of separation between you and just about anyone else on the planet. You could end up managing or being managed by a friend, or a virtual friend could become an in-the-flesh coworker.

 

Tips for Networking

As easy as it sounds—hey, just get out there and meet some people—I've found that networking is actually not all that intuitive. So here are some tips I've put together that should make what can sometimes be a pretty daunting task a little easier:

 

•
Listen.
It may seem painfully obvious, but it's the most important step.

 

•
Be genuinely interested in others.
Questions to ask anytime you're making a good business contact: What projects are you currently working on? Where did you go to college? How long have you been here? Is this your first job after college? What do you like most about the organization? How did you get into the field? Things to commit to memory when meeting someone (take notes if you have to): name (you'd be surprised how many people forget this one), position in the company, location they work at, a project he's been working on, and something personal (but not too personal). Remembering a manager's birthday or the names of his kids sends a very powerful message that you care and that you're paying attention.

 

•
Network everywhere, not just at work.
For most people, the easiest places to network are also the most relaxed and least structured: casual get-togethers, chance meetings, and even informal networking events. For Natalie Nauman, a Production Assistant at ESPN, networking opportunities are everywhere. “From the gym to the café, I try to network daily because you never know who you're going to meet that can one day help you move further in your career. I network by simply saying hello, starting small talk, and eventually, usually, you get to know the person. Then the more you see them, the more you get to know about them and that is how a connection is made.”

 

•
Be proactive.
If you wait around for interesting (and potentially helpful) people to introduce themselves to you, you could be waiting a very long time. So be a little aggressive. “We all know that networking is crucial to career development but, for Gen Y, the most important thing to remember is that though members of senior management might seem intimidating, they're people too,” says Alison Kubinski, then a Senior Assurance Professional at Ernst & Young. “They want to help younger generations grow and succeed—but you have to be willing to ask for what you want.”

 

•
Focus on your current network first.
Most marketing and salespeople will tell you that it costs a lot less to develop new business from current customers than to find new customers. It's the same with networking: It's going to be a lot easier to strengthen and deepen the network you have now than it will be to build a new one from scratch.

 

•
Use your current connections to help you expand your network.
Add new contacts to your social networks. But be conservative. Adding someone to LinkedIn is pretty safe. But think long and hard before you make someone a Facebook friend or follow them on Twitter.

 

•
Use common interests or settings to kick off conversations.
It's a lot easier to bond with people when you have something in common, whether that's working in the same department, having gone to the same college, or even eating in the same restaurant or following the same sports teams.

 

•
Don't be a snob.
Yes, it would be great to hobnob with all the top execs, but that's not always possible. “You never know who knows who. And that admin or analyst you met might have someone's attention much higher up the food chain that can help you,” Dan Guyton, a Corporate Analysis Manager at TJX, told me. “Admins are
key,
especially in big companies. They're the gatekeepers to the people you want to get to.”

 

•
Become a connector.
If you aren't able to help someone but you know a third party who can, make the introduction. If they end up benefiting from each other, you'll look like a hero.

 

How NOT to Network

Over the years I've been consulting on workplace issues, I've heard hundreds of stories of well-meaning attempts to network gone very, very wrong. Here are some of the valuable lessons my clients learned the hard way.