April 2003 • Table
of Contents
Career Corner
Sell Your Contribution To the Bottom Line
Be proactive without bragging
by Russ Westcott
Your mother probably told you not to go around bragging about what you
did and how great you were. Mine certainly did.
But there is a difference between bragging and stating provable facts.
It's my experience that more often than not, your boss doesn't realize
the value your contribution makes to the bottom line. (Actually, I suspect,
many don't have a clue.)
In coaching job seeking professionals in résumé preparation,
I stress the use of achievement or accomplishment statements. These may
take the format of: "As the (position held at the time), I led a (size
and name of team) in addressing the (situation, deficiency, problem) that
resulted in (achievement attained) at a net annual savings of ($)." The
emphasis is on providing the potential employer with an example of what
the job seeker can do for him or her.
What Mother Told You
For many job seekers this approach is alien and uncomfortable (mother
told me not to brag). Furthermore, they would never think to make such
statements to their present boss. Let me cite an experience I had:
In the early days of the women's movement, I was asked to give a talk
to an all-female class at a local college. The subject was advertised
as a talk about managing human resources (my job title at the time). The
audience was mostly secretaries and administrative people from local corporations.
Partway into my talk I sensed the women were not at all interested.
I stopped and polled the group and learned what they really wanted was
advice to help them break through what has come to be called the "glass
ceiling" of all-male management.
I tore up my notes and switched to their topic, introducing the concept
of valuing their contribution to the bottom line, the one primary measure
by which most bosses are directly or indirectly evaluated. We discussed
how to value the steadily increasing experience they were getting, how
to sell the boss on funding outside workshops and seminars that would
enable them to come back with return-on-investment improvements, how to
learn more about what the bosses do and help them be more effective, and
how to sell opportunities to spread their wings in taking on new responsibilities,
new projects and rotational assignments.
We also talked about how to explore coveted positions above the ceiling
and work toward developing themselves to convince management it's time
for a breakthrough. In short, they learned to abandon approaches, such
as protests, threatening legal action, moaning, sabotaging, slowing down
and crying. Instead, they learned about how to deal in factual, provable
information that demonstrated their contributions to the bottom line.
The lively discussion went two hours past the allotted time until the
janitor asked us to leave the school so he could go home.
The point is the average employee has available a valuable process for
enhancing professional development. The steps I found most useful in transitioning
to bigger and better jobs were:
1. Learn everything you can about your present assignment.
2. Do everything possible to be exemplary in your present assignment.
3. Document how to do your present job (it's amazing how infrequently
procedures or work instructions exist).
4. Document the contributions you have made to the bottom line
and how they contribute to the measures by which your boss is evaluated.
5. Investigate opportunities for additional growth and development.
This may not be a promotional opportunity but an opportunity to learn
another job, especially the requirements of the position.
6 Rethink your achievements, experience and knowledge in terms
of one or more of the potential opportunities you are investigating. Document
your findings.
7. Make it known to your supervisor that you have pretty much aced
the existing job and would like to teach it to a replacement while you
are understudying a new assignment. Based on the facts you have documented,
make a case for why you should be given the opportunity to enhance your
professional development and how doing this will benefit your organization--and
your boss for having sponsored you.
8. Train your replacement and be ready to move onward, perhaps
upward.
9. Do it all over again.
Incidentally, I once used a variation of the above steps in convincing
a takeover organization that my work unit would be essential to the transition
and, ultimately, to the reorganization. My work unit, including me, was
the only unit to survive the takeover intact.
Yes, Mary or Marty, there are steps you can take to better yourself,
perhaps even survive a layoff. You can be proactive without bragging.
Works for me!
RUSSELL T. WESTCOTT is president of the Offerjost-Westcott
Group, a division of R.T. Westcott & Associates, in Old Saybrook,
CT, that specializes in providing work life planning, guidance and coaching.
He co-edited the Certified Quality Manager Handbook, second edition,
the Certified Quality Manager Section Refresher Training Course
and the Quality Improvement Handbook, all published
by ASQ. Westcott is an ASQ Fellow, certified quality auditor, certified
quality manager and conference speaker.
If you would like to comment on this article, please post your remarks
on the Quality Progress Discussion Board on www.asq.org,
or e-mail them to editor@asq.org.
