Over the weekend I heard a story on our local public radio station that cracked me up. Apparently there was some guy in the city who was running for office in his precinct but having trouble getting the required number of signatures necessary to eliminate the hefty filing fee. So, because HE is having trouble he decided to sue, claiming that the requirement is unfair and a hardship on some people. Wahhh…..wahhhh.
What a whiner. “It’s too hard. You need to make it easier for me.” One of the commentators made a good point. “Politics is tough. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. And it certainly isn’t fair.”
That’s pretty much what getting ahead in business is all about, too. It takes effort beyond the basics. It’s not always easy and it certainly isn’t always fair. It means getting out of your office and pressing the flesh (visibility and networking) , getting to know others (networking, connecting and visibility) and letting them know what you stand for (connecting, visibility, positioning) and how you can help them achieve their goals (positioning, networking connecting).
If it were easy, everyone would do it. Instead, many of us sit in our cubicles and label others as brownnosers because they have the courage to step up and out and play the game while we would prefer that someone make it easy for us so we won’t have to move out of our comfort zone. Nothing happens in your comfort zone, folks. If you want something to happen you got to make a move.
Watch the brownnosers in your office if you want to learn what it takes to get ahead. After all, we hate them because they are getting what we think we deserve. The fact of the matter is that we don’t deserve anything but our pay check at the end of the week (if we did our job). The limited number of greater opportunities that are available will go to those who understand how these opportunties are doled out.
Become an observer of your organization’s culture as you begin to map your strategy for your brownnosing efforts. Each of these skills is executed differently in different cultures. Your first task should be to understand your culture, the power ‘grid,’ who are the key influencers, thinkers and executors (as opposed to executioners).
It's time to do something different and stop whining about things not being fair. What the heck does that mean anyway? Work is a game -- learn how to play. To help out, give yourself the gift of potential. Poke around this blog for more tips and tricks or visit www.brownnosingonline.com and click on the Buy the Book link to get a copy of Brown-nosing 101. Either way, you owe it to yourself to learn as much as you can so you can play to win.
Think about it -----
Linda
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