Brown-Nosing 101

Are you a Brown-Nosing Cynic?

I've received some interesting emails from readers of this blog who seem to think that these Brown-Nosing skills are not needed for you to get a promotion.  In fact, some of you continue to believe that being good at your job is all that should be required and you are even whining about the fact that your organization is full of brownnosers and you can't get anywhere and I'm doing nothing but promoting the behavior.  No, I am not promoting being a brownnoser.  I am promoting the use of the skills that brownnosers use which is a BIG difference.  

If you think that building relationships and alliances, creating visibility for yourself and your work, positioning yourself and your ideas in ways that make people see their value and being able to make fundamental human connections with others is all a bunch of bunk, allow me to enlighten you by sharing a lesson - one I like to call Organizations and Careers 101.

As you continue to take on increasing levels of responsibility in your organization the skills required to be successful at those levels changes.  There are three types of skills that people need at work; technical skills, human relations skills, and conceptual or strategic skills.

Another Brown-Nosing tactic for your PR campaign -- SPIN

Assuming you’ve created a (positive) impression with important people in your organization, you’ll need to be sure that each idea you share is positioned in such a way that it serves your ultimate purpose – to get you noticed and to move you ahead in your career, whatever that looks like for you. This means that you’ll need to put some SPIN on your idea that reflects your position.

Let’s say I have a glass of water in front of me – one that has not been filled to the top. If I were to tell you that the glass is half empty – it is the truth. If I were to tell you that the glass is half full – it is the truth. Either way, there is no lie.

SPIN’ing should be used in the same way. If I tell you the glass is half empty, I can incite a riot. “Oh my God, we’re running out of water. The glass is half empty! Quick, fill your glasses!” However, the same situation presented in a different way, the glass is half full, can invoke an entirely different response. “Oh, gosh, there’s plenty of water. Look, that glass is still half full. There’s no need to rush or panic.”

Did I lie? No. But if my objective was to be sure everyone had a full glass of water, by positioning the glass as half empty, I created a sense of urgency. If my objective was to be sure that no one had a full glass of water, by positioning the glass as half full, I created a sort of complacency. You can create excitement or complacency for your ideas in the same way. Watch a Brown-Noser in action – they are SPIN masters.  

Brown-nosing and Politics

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).

My Dog Kayla Doesn't Brown-Nose

I've already shared stories about two of my dogs - Loosha, the biggest brown-noser I know, and Strider, the little guy that uses the size and power of his big canine sisters to get noticed.  And then there's Kayla.

Kayla was a shelter puppy.  While searching for a companion for my Rottweiler I spotted her in our local animal control.  (A very sad place that can make your heart break if you are not careful).  Over the course of an hour I took a couple of puppies into the 'bonding' area but none of them seemed the right match for me or the personality of the Rotty.  Then, as I was about to leave.  I spotted her. 

"You're a pretty little thing," I heard myself saying.  An obvious German Shepherd and Greyhound mix she had the coloring and size of a shepherd with floppy ears and the enlongated, narrow nose and face of a greyhound with the most beautiful eyes, lined in black I'd ever seen.  Once in the bonding area, she rolled over on her back and licked my face.  I was smitten.

Kayla has been with us for 4 years now and it is very apparent that she is NOT a brown-noser.  She is friendly, but aloof.  She'll say hello, then quickly go back to her 'job' chasing squirrels and hunting for lizards and moles in the yard.  She's good at it. She's caught all kinds of critters ---- but while she's out doing her job, her brown-nosing 'sister' Loosha is inside getting all kinds of attention and treats.

Career Tip #11 - Natural Born Brown-Nosers

I used to think that Brown-Nosing was a learned skill developed in response to some magical yet sad combination of extroversion, incompetence, and psychological torment by authority figures when one was young.  Then I learned about David.

Just the other night, over dinner with a friend of mine, I learned that her son, David, was meeting with his high school advisor in preparation for his freshman year in high school. David has always been a bright kid who gets good grades but who always seems to find his way into a bit of trouble.  Not terrible, send him off to reform school trouble, but the kind of senseless and silly stuff that kids will do from time to time --- making excuses about not doing his homework, telling stories so convincingly that he sends his classmates on wild goose chases that get them in trouble, showing up late to class. 

"Why is he always getting to class late," I asked as we began to talk about his escapades.  My friend replied, "Because he's always stopping to say hello to all the teachers.  If he sees an authority figure he has to have a chat with them.  EVERYONE in school knows David."

At 14 years old David is already a natural born Brown-Noser!  He knows how to schmooze with people in high places and create visibility for himself.  He knows how to spin a tale in such a convincing manner that his peers have been bamboozled by him repeatedly.  Hence, he's created a reputation as a storyteller amongst his peers --- "Oh, here comes David. Let's see what story he's telling (or selling) today." And he's created a reputation as the friendly, likeable kid that all the teachers seem to enjoy.  It's this last point that made me take an even closer look at what was going on here.

Career Tip #10 - Know Your Business

To take your career to the highest level possible you must first know your business. After all, how can you expect to add value to the organization if you don’t know the business? You add the greatest value to your organization when you understand your business and your industry. Your competence and intelligence will be evident when you can discuss the business in the same terms and on the same level that people several levels above you do.

If you consistently do this, you have a good chance of developing a reputation as someone who can actually help the business grow-- someone who sees the company as more than a place to collect a paycheck. Over time, this lends to your credibility which helps you create a reputation as someone who can be counted on to understand the issues—and builds confidence in your ability to move up to the next level.

True game players are competent. They understand the company’s industry, keep up with industry trends, know what the competition is doing, know what the stock price traded for the previous day, understand the organization’s mission, vision, values, objectives and strategy. They understand what the customers need and they understand the company’s products and services.

They take the time to expand their capabilities in this area because it is from this foundation that they are able to recognize how best to solve the problems that they are faced with each and every day. Taking the time to learn about and understand the company’s business also sends a message that you are dedicated, loyal and above all, interested and interesting.

If you are early in your career (or even if you are not) and spend much of your time doing rather uncomplicated, somewhat boring work, use your time, wisely, to learn more.

Do you know what your colleagues do and how their work interacts with yours? Do you know what your boss does and how his/her work helps the company to achieve its objectives? What are your company’s plans for the future? Do you read the company’s annual report? Do you take the time to read the company newsletter? Industry trade magazines and journals? For that matter, do you read the business section of the paper each day?

Career Tip #6 - Don't bury your talents

Let’s assume for a moment that the work you do is good. So what? I’ll bet that if I look around the place I’ll find a number of people who do good work, too. I hate to be the one who tells you this but doing a good job is only one small part of getting noticed and promoted. Doing a good job is what is expected of you in exchange for your paycheck. If you want to get noticed for the work that you do – or the potential you have - the first thing you must understand and accept is that good work alone will only get you so far.

Come on -- look around! You know as well as I do that in most organizations it is not those people who are the best and brightest at what they do who get promoted. Sure, they typically have some minimum level of competence, but the important thing to recognize is that they are perceived as having other skills, abilities and attributes that the culture values.  These are their true talents.

Too many people muddle through their careers not quite understanding why all the great jobs go to someone else. They can see that something is going on that puts people in the limelight but unless they are lucky enough to have someone help them understand the process, or unless they are one of those gifted observers who can understand what is happening there is only a slim chance they will meet with the success they’ve dared to imagine.  What do you dare to imagine?

Career Tip #1 - Why we hate Brown-nosers

Why do we dislike brown-nosers so?  Think about this very carefully before you respond. 

We usually dislike brown-nosers because they get what we want - what we deserve (or what we THINK we deserve), don't we? 

I'm not talking about those people who suck up trying to cover up their obvious incompetence. That's just pathetic.  When I refer to Brown-Nosers I'm talking about those people who do a good job at work but who also seem to go out of their way to get recognized, meet people, offer a compliment or support to the boss.  The rest of us see what we believe to be obvious fawning in an attempt to gain attention and curry favor and we rub our noses, snicker behind our colleagues' backs and march off to our cubicles with some righteous attitude about how we're too proud and our work is too good to stoop to such behavior; all the while hoping that the promotion fairy will smile, favorably, upon us.