Getting Ahead means Being Ahead

So. It seem like I have been visiting a lot of 20something blogs lately seeking good writing and thinking. And there is a lot out there.  I guess as the tradeoff is I get asked some questions as they try to understand the work world (because I am certainly not qualified to explain the social and personal world).

Here’s is the big one it seems (and I faced this question a lot from the junior members of any organization u have worked within).

How can I get ahead when I have so much to do I can barely keep my head above water?

With companies getting leaner all employees are getting stretched on the “to do” list but inevitably the less experienced (and hence less senior) people get dumped (delegated) the entire task oriented “to do” things. And, to be clear, this happens typically not because senior people are not capable of doing them and nor, in most cases, are they against doing all the ‘to do’ tasks they could take on, but rather there is more pressure on senior people to “get it right the first” than ever before. Therefore it’s kind of like making sure your best member of your team has the energy and focus to get it done when it needs to get done (ok. some younger people are gonna argue that the senior person in question is “not the best member of the team” and they may be correct but, like a pendulum, if that senior person isn’t as efficient as they can be the remainder of the organization suffers .. so just suck it up and make the c+ senior team member as good as they can be ..)

Anyway. This post isn’t about whether a senior person is good or not this post is about getting ahead.getting ahead being ahead

So. Junior people (or less experienced people looking to move ahead in an organization) have a combination of major challenges to ‘get ahead’ in their career (and they are like dominos to their ‘getting ahead’ goal):

  1. Just getting all the shit done
  2. Managing perceptions of how you are getting the shit done
  3. Finding time to do the things over and above the shit to stand out

First. Getting all the shit done.

Accept the fact you cannot get it all done all the time.

No one can. And, in fact, no one has. It’s all about getting done what can be done great  … great. And then. Getting what can just be done  … done. (and learning the difference between these two things is an art and will take some trial & error to get right). That is about the only way you can get all the shit done and make sure some of the shit gets done great so it doesn’t look like you don’t recognize just done from great.

This may be contrary to some advice you get. Some managers say “I want everything to be A+ output.”

Well. Frankly. That is silly. I say “if you are going to do it make sure you do it right.”

Semantics? Possibly.

Big difference? Absolutely.

Keep in mind.

Details should always be A+ effort (spelling, punctuation, make sure your cut & pastes make sense, crap like that).

Quality of information (or depth) can vary between C+ and A+.

Format delivery can vary between C+ and A+. The simpler you deliver the information the more likely there is no confusion the faster the shit gets through the goose. Kind of a simple rule.

Lastly. Remember. There is a correlation between time and expectations (this is a HUGE thing in the next point but relevant in just getting shit done). The faster you get shit done right the lower the expectations on how the shit gets shared/delivered. For example, if someone asks for something and you deliver it within an hour how it looks is a boatload less important than if you wait two days (and that is also true on the depth of the information).

Oh. One more lastly. This one is truly frustrating to junior people. The reason why it really really helps to turn around things quickly is because sometimes the senior person doesn’t know exactly what they want (hey. you don’t know what you don’t know.) so if you turn something around quickly with brevity you probably have a better than 50% chance that you will get the infamous (and desired) “thanks, just what I needed.”

Second. Managing perceptions (about getting shit done and getting ahead of the shit)

Getting ahead doesn’t mean you have to be ahead of your boss. In fact … if you try … you will find you can’t (particularly if you have good senior people around you) and will just get frustrated. All you will do is lose (because you will have invested so much energy trying to always be ahead of the senior person you wont have gotten all the shit done).

So what do you do to get ahead?

Get ahead in the process. Get ahead of the “so where are we on that project” follow up question.

Every boss has a rhythm. Figure it out. Senior people don’t mind less experienced people being responsive (and doing) to initial ideas. They don’t expect less senior people to have many ideas. What they do find aggravating is always feeling like they have to continuously stimulate progress on an idea/project after the project has been initiated (by the way this could simply be perception or reality  … doesn’t matter). So this is where the rhythm comes in to play. All you have to do is beat the boss to the question. If you do they will at least feel you are ahead. If they feel you are ahead you will be ahead.

Oh. When in doubt recognize that with lack of information (or silence) a senior person will assume nothing is happening. And then asking the follow up question only feeds that perception (regardless of what your answer is). Just keep it in mind.

Lastly. Back to the Time versus Expectations continuum. The longer you wait to deliver a result the higher the expectations in depth and delivery form of the result response. Oh. And this is not a straight line continuum. It is like a ski slope upwards. Expectations gain momentum with time.

Third. Beyond getting the shit done and then choosing your opportunities to be ahead at the right times.

This is a follow up to the “many ideas” thought. As noted earlier senior people don’t expect less experienced people to have many ideas. However, they do expect you to have some initial ideas (not on how to improve process but an actual “idea”) so they can feel like they can take a mental break with you every once in awhile and they have an opportunity to actually respond instead of creating the stimulus. So. You need to find a spot or two to have an idea and be ahead of either your peers (because then at least you are not a parity employee) or be ahead of the senior person with an idea (harder to do but worth trying every once in awhile).

Unless you have a goofball for a boss or senior person this issue is never about quantity at a less experienced level, it is about quality. If you want to move ahead you do have to contribute some new thinking or proof that you can do something more than “doing.” Pick your moments and contribute an idea or two. The more successful you are at it the more likely senior people will figure out how to alleviate some of your doing and give you more thinking type projects. But you have to earn that decision on their part.

There you go.

So getting ahead doesn’t mean being ahead all the time. In fact at some point in your career you are “following” (an idea) but you can “lead the charge” on the implementation or the “doing” of the idea.

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Written by Bruce