Brown-Nosing 101

Career Tip #14 - First step in your Brown-nosing Public Relations plan

Everyone needs a promotion PR plan.  Have YOU identified those people in your organization and industry who may have influence over the path your career takes?  Once you have done this, the next step in this process is to identify your objectives.  What do you want?  Do you want new job? A promotion?  A raise?  A move to a different department?  To work on a particular project?  To change companies or industries or fields of endeavor? 

This will require some soul searching on your part because your plan must be calculating and yet authentic.  Why?  We all know when a brownnoser is being deceitful, don't we?  Do you want to be counted among them?  Or do you want to beat them at their own game?  To beat them at their own game and to reap the benefits that are rightfully yours you must be sincere about your effort.  You must truly believe that the promotion, raise, project, job, etc. are in the best interest of EVERYONE involved, not just you. 

Careers, Agendas and Brown-nosers - Hope is not a strategy

I had a very interesting discussion with a student last night who was concerned that brown-nosers have an agenda.  I can understand her point and am happy that she gave me the opportunity to set the record straight about my position on brownnosing.

For those of you who have just discovered this blog, if you only read a few lines or posts you might think I am advocating that you forget about doing a good job and just try sucking up to get ahead.  No - that's not what I'm suggesting at all.  In fact, just the opposite.  I'm suggesting that you do an excellent job, be more knowledgeable about your boss and his objectives, the company and its objectives, the industry and its trends, issues and opportunities than anyone else you work with.

I advocate becoming a problem solver instead of someone who calls himself a 'realist'  (which is simply a way of saying that you think you know more than everyone else and won't support people, concepts or ideas that aren't in alignment with your personal position or perspective).  I am adamant about the fact that you must understand the skills that are required to work effectively in an organization and then you must use  those skills to further your own agenda.

Yes, I said YOUR agenda.

Career Tip #13 - Take Some Initiative (Get Out From Behind Your Desk!)

Think about the Brown-Nosers you’ve known. What’s the first thing they do when they hear the boss or some other VIP (very important person) coming down the hall? They get up, put on their jacket (that hasn’t been worn in days, if at all) and step out to ‘accidentally’ bump into him or her, say "hello", offer a compliment, share a story or ask a question.

The rest of us roll our eyes and snicker behind the Brown-Nosers back, but the next time the VIP comes by, who does he say "hello" to, by name? You guessed it. Your Brown-Nosing colleague. Why? Because he knows the Brown-Noser. Not very many of us walk up to complete strangers and start a conversation. Why do you think this is different at work?

 Wouldn’t it be nice if the VIP said "hello" or asked about your work? He might, if he only knew who you were. How is he to know who you are if you don’t look up, don’t nod, smile or acknowledge him in some way?

Take a lesson from the Brown-Nosers. Take the initiative. Be friendly and approachable. Make it easy for the VIP to know you. Go first. If yours is a small organization, at the very least you should raise your head and make an effort to say "hello." Just smiling at someone and calling him or her by their name is a courteous thing to do. Do this with everyone you see. You just never know who might be in the right place at the right time to mention your name.