Graduate Development Programs

How can I get noticed at work?

We all like to be acknowledged for our efforts and even better still, that they have resulted in something quite exceptional.  Even moreso, as a graduate you are likely to be super keen to make your mark and get some recognition.

To be acknowledged for exceptional work a a graduate, you need to make time to work on “exceptions”.  That is, work which is not operational.  A project or a piece of analysis.  Something that is exceptional by definition should be very different from the expected.

The results of operational work, that is work related to the core function of a department, are measured often and tallied at the end of a quarter, half-year or annually.  Operational work is what you are expected to do.

Operational performance is usually measured relative to your peers and various benchmarks, so differentiation is challenging and highly competitive.  If you beat your targets by 10% and everybody else has exceeded them by 10% too, then you are not going to standout.  The spotlight will shine on the person who topped the group with 30%.

So why not be that person?  It’s too much work and besides, you can work the hardest and smartest yet still be trumped by someone due to circumstance.  Why risk it?

For example, if you are in sales and your colleague picks up a “windfall” client who proves to be exceptionally lucrative, you will be blown out of the water.  Such clients are not available to target in every portfolio and can be down to luck more than effort.

There is always one such event in almost every period that assists someone in getting higher in the order than would otherwise be possible.  This can also work in reverse.

When I first started working as a graduate in a bank,  one of our major customers was bought out by a competitor bank.  Naturally this client moved their business to their new parent company.  There was nothing anybody could do about the impact on our portfolio as customers of this size were almost impossible to replace in the short term.  Despite the remaining portfolio outperforming the previous corresponding period, our account received a poor rating when considered for a bonus.  Not entirely unfair from a business perspective, but it demonstrates the risk in relying entirely on operational results to get noticed.

These things can happen to anyone, so you have got to make sure there are other things to catch the attention of the executive team.  Getting ahead of the pack through operational excellence is a high effort and medium probability event, despite your genius!  It’s the probability of the “unknown” to impact on your efforts that presents the risk to this approach.  Consider your work on “exceptions” as a hedge against this risk.

You need to get involved in work that is exceptional in nature & high profile.   Something that will only be undertaken once or twice a year and doesn’t fit naturally into any particular departmental function.  Typically, this will be a piece of analysis on an industry, a competitor, product sales mix etc and will be mandated by the senior executive ranks.

Not only will the top executive in your department see this, but it will invariably be circulated to the entire executive team or at a minimum, discussed with your exec’s manager.

Furthermore, you are the only person undertaking this piece so your performance is absolute, not relative.  If you produce something of high quality then you will get plenty of credit for it, conversely you don’t want to serve up a dog’s breakfast.

In order to be assigned to an “exception” piece, just ask!  If you are in a sales role, a good piece of analysis on the changing nature of the market would be ideal!  Better yet, you don’t even need to wait for anybody to ask for it.  Just go ahead and do it.

Just be careful that you are not stepping on anybody’s toes.  For example, if you develop a monthly sales report that the finance department is usually responsible for, they may become uncomfortable with your efforts.  So go for something nobody else is working on.  Remember, it should be an exception!

If your manager doesn’t have anything for you of this nature, ask if there are any cross departmental initiatives.  Provided you keep her in the loop and don’t go over her head or behind her back, then most line managers will be supportive.

Remember that you still need to pay attention to your “day job”.  No doubt you will have some operational responsibilities and you must not neglect these.  Going for glory while neglecting your core responsibilities will make you appear flaky and incompetent.

If you think of it in terms of a farm, you need to plough the field (operational) before you can even think about how much might harvest (the spotlight).  There is a natural progression of events that you need to respect, including building a strong knowledge base and developing your competence.

Developing a thorough understanding of your core business function will establish a solid foundation upon which you can build your case for promotion.  Ignoring this and going for glory will simply set you up for failure by moving ahead of your level of competence.  As a graduate, it is easy to be distracted by your ambition for promotion, however this needs to be balanced with the development of your skill base and the acquisition of business knowledge.

The spotlight will get you promoted, but if you don’t put in the hard yards you might just get sacked!

The key to making time for exception pieces is using enhanced productivity skills (we will go into these subsequent sections) to eliminate double handling of your core responsibilities and automate repetitive tasks as much as possible.  This will create regular time for you to dedicate to exceptional work.

Some of the efficiencies that you can achieve are truly remarkable compared to the sloppy practices you will encounter.  In one instance I reduced a task that took my predecessor 5 days of solid work each month to complete (and to a lower standard of quality), into 3 minutes of automation.  Plenty of time to make a cup of coffee for myself.  Truly!

We will go through these productivity skills later, but next up we will outline a plan of action for you to gain social acceptance in the office.  Be sure you don’t miss out! Remember to subscribe by clicking here.

Tags: challenges, exceptions, expectation, graduates, productivity, promotion, spotlight, support