Okay, maybe not shameless, but definitely a self promoter. Unless you work side-by-side with your boss on a daily basis, there’s a good chance he or she doesn’t know exactly what you’re doing. And if what you’re doing includes uploading pictures on Facebook or talking about the surprise ending to TVs The Bachelor, that’s probably a good thing. But if you’re taking initiative, volunteering in the community like Ryan Paugh who offered to speak to his neighbor about using social media to reach a church congregation, or making improvements that will have a positive impact your department or the organization as whole, that’s something you’d want your boss to know about.
Don’t assume. You don’t know what is said or not said about you when you’re not there. You want to speak up and share your opinions but you want to stop short of being seen as an abrasive know-it-all. As a result, personal branding is huge.
And then there’s your boss. Great bosses promote your contributions and overall value to the team. But many bosses don’t. Some might actually throw you under the proverbial bus (sometimes daily) just to make themselves look better. If your boss doesn’t promote you, who will?
Whether it’s for your next quarterly review, preparing a proposal to ask for a promotion, or to make updating your resume a little easier the next time you’re looking for a job, keep track of accomplishments as they happen. The last thing you want is to be forced to rack your brain to come up with accomplishments from the past six months for a review that’s scheduled for 9:00am tomorrow when it’s 5:30pm today.
Once you’ve identified your key contributions, work on being able to articulate them in quick and concise sound bites. Then, look for opportunities to mention them periodically when you meet with your boss. How frequently should your updates be? That usually depends on what you’re working on and the preferences of your manager (and if you don’t know his or her preferences, ask!)
Your ability (or inability) to promote yourself to your boss and other influencers within your organization will either accelerate or derail your career progression. Don’t expect your boss to know everything you’ve done to help the organization–even great bosses are bound to miss things. And those things could mean the difference between a promotion or being passed over for somebody else.
After speaking with one of the co-founders of ChubbyBrain.com for about 15 seconds, I was pretty sure the company was a lot more than a clever name and a cool logo. And I was right. Their site profiles VC and angel-backed startups…a sector that’s difficult, if not impossible, to find information on. So when they asked me if I’d be interested in writing a guest post for the ChubbyBlog and I had the chance to pull something together duet style with my buddy Ryan Paugh, one of the co-founders of BrazenCareerist.com, I was all in.
Recent Comments