Actions that Get Noticed By Your Boss: Tips for Emerging Leaders
We spend a large portion of our lives at our jobs and, therefore, it is no surprise we have expectations for how we want to spend our workweek. What are some of the most commonly cited desires?
We want:
To contribute to our organization’s success
To be part of a successful team
To be recognized
To do meaningful work
To have work friends
To receive good compensation and benefits.
In addition to all these things, one of my desired expectations when I was early in my career was to get noticed. I wanted to be recognized by my boss as an emerging leader within the organization so that I could receive more complex assignments, new challenges, bigger projects and move into a leadership position within the company. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to run my own firm and now consult to growing organizations and their emerging leaders.
For those wishing to shorten their path to leadership or even become your organization’s next CEO, here are five actions you can take that will definitely get noticed by your boss.
1. Come Early and Stay Late
I know … NOT what you wanted to hear but don’t get too anxious yet. I’m simply proposing you come 30 minutes early and stay 30 minutes late. Do you walk in the office door and start working within 5 minutes of sitting down at your desk? Most people do not. You put your coat away, grab a cup of tea, bring your lunch to the refrigerator, stop to say hello to a few co-workers and before you know it, 20 minutes have passed. The same might happen during your lunch break and yet right at 5:00 p.m., some employees are are up and out the door like a lightening bolt to get to the gym, go home to family or start some other aspect of their lives.
Looking at your actions from your boss’s perspective, do you think she feels like you gave her a full 8-hour day on the days you duck out right at “quitting time?” Why not consider the start of your workday when you are ready to work versus when you walk in the front door? Being consistent about when you typically arrive and leave will help you to be seen as highly dependable. If you sit down to work at 8:30 a.m., use that first 30 minutes to productively plan your workday and the last 30 minutes from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. to tidy up your work space, fill in your time sheet or status reports, and make a list of what needs to be done later this week.
2. Volunteer for Projects No One Else Wants
Did your organization recently win a project with a client known to be challenging? Does the boss want to create a monthly lunch & learn and need someone to spearhead the assignment? You betcha, my advice is be the first one in line to volunteer for the project that no one else is asking for. And your goal should be not just to grin and bear it, but also to complete that assignment with skill as well as to make it fun.
Brainstorm ways to turn that challenging client into your best advocate by spending a little extra time getting to know him, asking what his project hot buttons are, sharing your expectations for how the project will go. Use the assignment to manage a new monthly lunch & learn to select topics you are most interested in and build strong networking relationships with new vendors that can help you and your organization down the road. Your boss will see you as someone who isn’t afraid of tackling new and tough assignments, and as an individual who finds a way to enjoy the challenge and put their personal touch on the assignment.
3. Troubleshoot a Problem That Exists in Your Organization
Solving problems that occur within your organization is a natural place for an emerging leader to distinguish himself. Problems will occur on your projects or assignments. What you want to do is use the problem as an opportunity to solve the issue on your own. You can demonstrate to the customer that this is just a temporary setback and dazzle them with your abilities to troubleshoot a solution moving forward.
Why not spend a little time at the beginning or end of the day brainstorming how that situation could have been handled differently if you had a “do-over”? Maybe even gather a small group of co-workers to lead a lessons-learned session to discuss where the relationship breakdowns occurred and then summarize the issue in a short report to your supervisor, firm CEO and peers detailing the situation, results, suggested alternative approach, and new desired outcome. Is your boss and the client stressed that your project is significantly over budget? Look for creative ways to trim the project costs without sacrificing any quality and then present the idea to your supervisor first for approval before setting up a timely meeting with the client to outline how you plan to get the project back on track.
4. Propose a More Efficient Process for a Common Activity That Improves the Outcome
Are you the type of person who has developed your own efficient form to calculate hours needed to complete a project while others struggle with this task? While you can quietly keep managing your own projects to meet deadlines and receive some recognition from the boss for continually bringing in profitable projects, instead you can really raise the bar by sharing your form and method with your supervisor and peers for their use. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have your form become the organization’s standard for how project time is calculated and have the boss commending you for your ability to bring value to the bottom line?
5. Be a Team Member Who Leads in Every Direction
We all work with individuals who could use a little leading and sometimes those individuals can even be our bosses. An emerging leader understands 360-degree leadership and doesn’t just think about leading those she supervises; she understands the nuances of leading herself as well as leading her peers, and leading up when necessary. Leading effectively always involves communicating with respect and concern for the person you are leading but most particularly when you are giving advice or direction to someone in a lateral position on the org chart or your boss.
I had a wonderful boss who our clients loved. He was not afraid of getting involved in the nitty gritty and handled troubleshooting with ease but he spent a disproportionate amount of his day on “Urgent and Important” Activities and not enough time in the “Quadrant of Leadership” (thank you Franklin Covey author of First Things First) on “Important But Not Urgent” activities. I took the time to set up an employee feedback form that helped facilitate his delivery of annual reviews and proposed the firm’s first-ever strategic planning retreat. I didn’t demand one. I proposed the idea with the pros and cons, and then when I got preliminary buy-in, I offered to champion the activity, and provide periodic check-ins with him as I set up the retreat under his direction.
Having your boss positively notice an action you take during your workweek is something we all relish. Find ways to incorporate these five actions into your workweek and share with me examples and results of how these repeated activities helped you move on to bigger assignments, new opportunities, advancement and increased compensation. Good luck getting noticed!
