Photo by dskciado

Third in a series about recession-proofing your job.

Cultivate work relationships.

A lot of business that goes on, doesn’t go on at work. You need to be tuned in to this “informal” work environment if you want to stay competitive.

If you’re the kind of person who thinks company picnics, golf outings, birthday pot-lucks and after work get-togethers are a waste of time, you’re missing out on a huge potential career booster.

These events are crucial to positioning yourself as a team player and a valuable asset to the company. Effective work relationships form the basis for promotions, job assignments, pay raises and who gets picked to stay when layoffs happen.

No matter what your education, experience level or job title, if you don’t learn to play well with others you’ll be packing up your desk when good ol’ mediocre Jim in the next cubicle is comparing golf scores with the boss.

But I HATE organized, mandatory fun

I’m with you. The good news is, you don’t need to become a compulsive joiner if that isn’t your style. Just make sure you get some face time at events and that your participation is noted.

You don’t have to participate in a weekly bar crawl to be one of the group. Drop by for Happy Hour once a month, nurse a soda-and-lime for 45 minutes, laugh at some jokes, ask Sam in accounting how his new baby is, and hit the road.

If you cringe at the thought of making small talk with dozens (or hundreds) of your fellow employees, volunteer to work at the next company event. Ladling out punch, or helping to clear tables, will take your mind off the need to schmooze people while still getting you the face time you need.

The point is, perception is everything. If people perceive you as being part of the “team”, then you’re part of the team—even if your participation begins and ends with moving furniture.

When I first joined the Navy, I attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. We were graded every few weeks by a process called “peer evals”, which told us what the other members of our company (read: team) thought about us.

For the first peer eval, I got very low grades in teamwork and getting along with my fellow Officer Candidates. So, I started going down to the wardroom every morning, making myself a cup of tea and sitting there. I didn’t really chat anyone up, or make a lot of conversation, and I didn’t change anything else about my behavior. At the next set of peer evals, my scores on teamwork were significantly higher.

Nothing changed, except the perception of the other people who saw me daily in a communal setting, smiling and being “available”. I learned a valuable lesson during those weeks. Many people place a very high priority on comaraderie and esprit de corps, often ranking it higher than actual competance or skill.

People want to be around other people who make them feel comfortable. If it’s a close call on who to keep and who to let go, you want to make sure the perception others have about you is a positive, team-oriented one.

We’ll talk more about work relationships in my next post.

In the meantime, tell me about a time when perception differed from reality for you, or someone you worked with, and how it all played out.

You’re NOT Fired!—Recession-Proof Your Job, part 1

You’re NOT Fired!—Recession-Proof Your Job, part 2

Photo by Mister-E

Second in a series about recession-proofing your job.

Now that you’ve got your resume in order, let’s look at what you’re actually doing to make yourself a valuable employee.

Stay Current in Your Field

Keep up on what’s going on in the news relating to your company—and, to your company’s competitors. Read the business section in the paper. Look at trade journals. Set up a google alert to keep abreast of breaking news about your industry or company. Read your company’s annual report. Pay particular attention to news items that might indicate that the market for widgets (or whatever your company does) is going south.

This stay-informed strategy benefits you twofold.

First, if you start to get a sense that layoffs might be looming, or that your company or industry is in trouble, you can get a jump on finding a new job before your hand is forced.

Second, use the information you glean from different sources to make yourself more valuable at your job. Expand your area of influence. Make yourself as indespensible as possible. Work hard to excel and set yourself off from the rest of the pack.

Continue To Learn

Valuable employees never stop learning and accumulating knowledge. It’s important to both be well-rounded and flexible, and to have one really stand-out skill that you can do better than almost anyone.

Here’s where some of your reading might come in handy. Suppose you learn that your company is expanding into a foreign market, and it happens to be in a country where you know a little of the language. Brushing up quickly on your language skills, and making sure your boss is aware of your proficiency, can catapult you ahead of other people at your company and may turn into a reason to keep you around if lay-offs happen.

Next time we’ll talk about internal customer service and how your best customers might be found inside your own company.

You’re NOT Fired!—Recession-Proof Your Job, part 1

Last week, Fortune published its latest list of the 100 best companies to work for. There’s a lot of diversity on this list, as well as some surprises.

Realistically, though, most of us don’t work for one of these “100 best” companies. In fact, judging from the mail I get, a huge number of us think our company would rank pretty high on the “100 worst” list.

So what makes the difference? Phil Gerbyshank offers some insight on the three things that helped land his company on the Fortune list 5 years in a row.

I think Phil hit it pretty well on the head. The best companies reward innovation, have respect for the employees, encourage people to contribute in many different ways, recognize that employees are customers also, have a low tolerance for stupidity and bad management, and are transparant in all of their dealings.

Read Phil’s analysis here, and then come back and let me know what you think. What makes your company one of the best—or worst?