3 Subtle Strategies I Use to Boost My Value at Work (Without Self-Promotion)
How to seek recognition without the discomfort of self-promotion
How you walk, talk, or act subconsciously communicates to everyone how important you are at work.
That’s what I learned from working with an “a-whole” back in 2012.
For the first few months, he gave me a hard time: “Oh, they’re rejected? Why don’t YOU go fix them? Easy for you to tag them as rejects when you’re not the one doing the fixing!”
I’m not sure if he gets it, but I was the Quality Inspector of the shop.
Then, one day, he (along with the other shop guys) and I went out for dinner.
During our conversations, the topic of my salary came up. When I shared the number, his reaction was, “WHAT?! That’s all you’re getting paid?! I thought you were some big shot who does nothing but waltz around the shop judging other people’s work.”
Since that dinner, he was a lot easier to work with. It’s crazy how money redefines how others perceive your value at work — but that’s not the point.
What made him think I was a “big shot” in the first place?
Our body language and non-verbal cues greatly affect how others perceive us.
How I carried myself (from the way I walked around the shop, the way I talked to them, to the way I handled their frustration) gave him an idea of how much I should get paid. He made that assumption based on what he knows or has seen in the past.
We do this unconsciously.
I’m sure you’ve had those times when you were annoyed at someone for no reason.
We tagged them as “annoying” by the way they carried themselves. How they looked, walked or talked. In fact. I have a very good friend today, who I initially wanted to beat up haha. But he was nothing like how I initially assessed him. The point?
How we carry ourselves sends out signals to others how we want to be perceived.
The more we become aware of them, the more we can consciously invite more positive reactions from others.
Here’s how I invite others to think “RJ’s getting paid the big bucks” at work:
- Treat my e-mails with respect.
- Avoid rambling.
- Be a cheerleader.
They sound simple to do — but it took me a while to learn to do them well.
Write e-mails that are worth responding to
As an office employee in a big corporate company, e-mail is viewed as a platform to:
- Force other employees to take action.
- Showcase to others that you are doing something.
- Embarrass that employee that ticked you off in front of everyone.
In other words, e-mail is critical for your brand at work.
However, more often than not, we don’t treat it with respect.
About 70% of the time (as a recipient), I’m almost always puzzled because there is no clear direction on how the sender wants me to respond. Other times, I’m expected to read a long e-mail thread — only to realize that I misunderstood some parts of it. The problem is: there’s only so much time in our workday to clear our inboxes.
This is coming from an employee in a non-leadership role.
Now, imagine how many more e-mails the very important people get.
My e-mails can easily get buried in their inbox. This results in multiple follow-up e-mails. Or worse, it just gets ignored.
As a result, I either miss my deadline or fail to address a critical problem that could get the whole team in trouble.
To avoid that, here’s what I include in my e-mails to increase my chances of getting a response:
- A quick summary of what’s going on.
- State why I’m reaching out.
- Attachments that include information required to help the receiver make a decision.
- A deadline.
Doing this made it less stressful for me to acquire information. Thus, helping me avoid missing deadlines or communicating critical information. More importantly, when I write my e-mails that way, I showcase to the receiver that I’m a good communicator. How?
I don’t spam their inbox with follow-up questions that make me look like I have no idea what I’m talking about.
Reduce the mental load of the VIPs
Everyone is busy — especially the “V-I-Ps” of your department.
I’m not referring to the executives or VPs. I refer to your supervisor, the in-house experts or the ones who are most experienced in a specific problem or task.
Said differently, these are the “key members” of the company who have the answers to your important questions. And because they are “key members”, they are almost always busy providing solutions for other people. If you need help, you need to get in line to get your question answered. But this could result in waiting forever, which, leads to missing your deadlines.
So how do you get cut through the line?
Cut the fluff out when communicating with them (either through phone, chat or email).
Understand that their heads are filled with critical issues that need to be addressed. While they are expected to give you an answer, it’s unfair to make them prioritize your needs over the others. Let’s not forget that they are human too — they have limits.
Acting like a demanding customer (because they are required to give you an answer) does not encourage them to give you an answer. Your move?
Make it easy for them to provide an answer.
Here’s how to structure your conversation to invite a timely answer:
- State the problem.
- Provide a quick background on how the problem came up.
- Share your thoughts or solutions to address the problem.
- Ask, “Are we okay with this solution, or should we approach it differently?”, so all they need to do is say, “Yes” or “No”.
I rarely had to send a follow-up message or leave a message whenever I framed my question that way.
This works because whenever you propose a solution, you are doing two things:
- You’re demonstrating your problem-solving skills.
- You reduce the mental load it requires for them to understand the problem.
The moment you demonstrate how you have a good understanding of the problem, they are more likely to agree with your solution. But even if they don’t fully agree with your solution, you at least gave them a better idea of how to approach the problem without diving into the specifics.
Understand that you were hired to solve problems — not to function like a robot.
Providing possible solutions to problems (and getting validation from the experts) is how you from someone who doesn’t get it to an expert.
Be a source of positive energy for the team
Most employees want to be heard and acknowledged.
However, most leaders are too busy dealing with the team’s headaches that they rarely have time to pat you on the back to say, “Keep up the good work!”. While their words matter more than someone in a non-leadership role, why not be the one to acknowledge your colleague’s achievements and proud moments at work?
This is how I build healthy work relationships with my team without being buddy-buddies with them.
It is much more effective than saying, “How are you?” or “Nice weather” or “You look good today”. I know this sounds a little petty but I find it to be super effective at increasing your likability within the company. You see, when you have a good work relationship with someone, you are more likely to gain instant access to their time (when you need it).
The quality of your work relationships directly ties into your ability to meet your co-worker’s deadlines.
Here’s what I mean…
I’m more likely to give favours to people I like. That’s obvious. Otherwise, I give them the BS answer, “Uhhm sorry I can’t do this because it’s not part of the standard process…” to detach myself from the responsibility of helping them.
It sounds unfair but it’s still “professional” because it follows standard protocols.
Here are 3 of the things I do for others to build a good relationship with them:
- Do as many favours as possible (without expecting anything in return).
- Avoid the gossip. The less you know, the more you pay attention to a person’s best attributes. Remember, body language plays a big role in communication. You may not say it verbally, but your tone of voice, choice of words and all that will reveal your judgy approach.
- If you’re about to say something bad about others, zip it. Zip it tight! The politics in the corporate world has a Game-of-Thrones vibe to it. There’s always that someone who talks crap behind your back or who is itching to throw you under the bus. The less you say something bad about others, the more you reduce the chances of people stabbing you behind your back.
By building good relationships with other employees, you make the job feel less stressful than it is.
The more you avoid conflict, the less damage it will have on your reputation, and the more you preserve your integrity and status.
You’ve heard the saying, “Action speaks louder than words”.
Instead of broadcasting to everyone how you’re so good at what you do, demonstrate it by doing the following:
- Write e-mails that are worth responding to
- Reduce the mental load of the VIPs
- Be a source of positive energy for the team
Understand that your “value” to the company is the combination of how you perceive yourself and everyone else’s perception of you.
