Know Your Job

To be honest, I almost didn't add this section to the guide. Of course you know your job...right? Well, the truth is, many people do not know their jobs, or really just focus on parts of their jobs. Many people would be surprised to find out exactly what is expected of them in their current positions. It is a sad fact but one that is easily remedied.

Maybe you were given a "job description" when you first hired on or maybe that is a completely foreign concept in your company. If such a document exists you can probably get a copy of it through your boss or the Human Resources Department. If you do secure a job description, take the time to read it and outline the various elements or duties listed for your position. Whatever duties it outlines, you will still need to do more than what is required but we will discuss that later.

If no job description exists, then you might be the perfect person to create one. Thoughtfully consider your role in the company and the essential functions and activities you perform on a regular basis and list them. Then consider what more you might do to help the company and list those items as well. Obviously you can only do so much and should not list so many responsibilities that it will be impossible for you to complete them. Outline the list of duties you think your position should be performing, then define and describe each of them like you would a goal.

I like to use the "S.M.A.R.T. Goals" formula.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals Are:

Specific - Name the actual thing you hope to achieve

Measurable - State "what is" and "what will be" once your goal is achieved

Attainable - It should be achievable with solid effort

Relevant - It should relate to things you have authority to change

Timely - It should have a reasonable time frame for completion

Using this basic framework you could create a job description that would clarify your role and help you demonstrate your success in the role. Sometimes the ambiguity about your role in the company can be enough to cast some doubt on whether or not you are doing your job well.

There are virtually no limits on what job descriptions look like, so you can feel free to use your imagination. Just make sure whatever you create represents your duties accurately and shows you have put some real thought into how your position adds value to your company. Be prepared to live up to and surpass anything you write in your description.

One great way to examine your job is to think of yourself as an outside consultant who has been sent in to examine your position and how to improve it. Outside consultants bring "fresh eyes" to projects allowing them to spot problems that others have accepted as the status quo. They are not bound by the "how things work around here" syndrome. Because you are experienced and know what's going on in your area and position, you will need to follow one basic guideline: "Question Everything."

I have made a living by questioning everything these last 10 years. It is a powerful process and will help you determine exactly what it is you do in your job. Questioning will also help you know what you should keep doing, what should not be part of your job, and what duties might be added. You really need to put some effort into analyzing your job to understand it and shape it in a way that makes sense. Make sure to leave a little room for future responsibilities and unforeseen duties that may crop-up over time.

If I were writing a job description through a "consultant's eyes" I would mostly describe: general duties, followed by specific requirements, and include a few ways the position could be improved. Improvement suggestions written into a job description make a good case for your desire to achieve excellence.

The following links provide some decent examples of job descriptions but are not comprehensive by any means. If you search the internet you will find thousands of resources that can be helpful to you in preparing job descriptions.
Business Owners Toolkit™ Job Description Form & Sample

Janco Associates Inc. Sample Job Description (Manager)

Culpepper™ Sample Job Description

Beyond Your Job

Doing whatever is expected of you in your current position is certainly not enough, in most cases, to earn promotions. There is a widely held view that "if I do my job well, I will be promoted." There is nothing further from the truth. Once you understand the minimum requirements related to your job, you'll need to find ways to truly excel and surpass even the highest expectations held regarding your position.

Most everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule and how it applies in many different situations. The basic concept is that the top 20% of something is vital and 80% is trivial. This is sort of the textbook definition, but in life and work, it has more specific implications. In companies, the top 20% of the workforce (star performers,) provide 80% of the value, or generate 80% of the sales, etc. If you are among the 80% of the workforce in your company who can only muster 20% of the value, than you are definitely not on the fast track to promotions.

The vast majority of those who earn great promotions work in the top 10 to 20% of their companies. They are essential and key to the overall success and profitability of their companies. Without these folks many companies would fail.

Senior executive positions usually require people to operate in the top 1 to 10% range. What that looks like in some companies, may be different in yours. In some companies showing up on time is exceptional and commendable. In other companies that is only a basic expectation and nothing more. In some companies speaking a second, third, or even fourth language is expected, while others would be satisfied with employees who spoke the native language of the area.

You will have to figure out what becoming a star performer looks like in your company and then emulate or imitate those behaviors. It is in the extra 10 or 20% that you give that makes the biggest difference to your company and to you. You really don't have much of a chance of being promoted if you linger with the 80% who just punch the clock or half-heartedly go about their jobs day-in and day-out.

Think of your job like an elevator. Maybe you work on the 20th floor of a 30 floor hi-rise. In order to increase your value to the company and become more promoteable you will need to work as if you are on the 21st, 22nd, or even 23rd floor, or perhaps beyond that. Working above expectations helps you be seen as a valuable and promoteable employee. You should likewise have a very good sense of what goes on at all the "floors" below you.

For our purposes, going beyond your job really hints at knowing your colleague's duties, your boss's duties, and perhaps some duties beyond each of them. The more you know, and the more you are able to do, the more likely it is you will be given greater responsibilities. Very often I have witnessed people taking on more and more responsibilities until they were eventually doing the job they wanted. Eventually, senior management just concedes and officially promotes them into the job they were already doing. Even if this is not the strategy you choose, it doesn't hurt to tread into next-level environments and begin familiarizing yourself with them.

Another way of getting educated is to do your "homework" related to the position you are seeking. At minimum, you should find out the information outlined in the next several pages.

Who Currently Holds The Position You Want?

Whether the position is vacant or someone is about to leave it, you should do your best to get to know the person who currently holds the job prior to applying for it.

• Ask them about the specific requirements for the job and if they have enjoyed their time in the position.


• Find out what was good about the job and what they didn't care for.


• Tactfully ask them about their immediate supervisor and/or manager(s). Find out who they are accountable to and how those relationships have been. That question can be as simple as asking: "So, have you felt adequately supported in your position?" Let them do the rest; generally people will elaborate when presented with this type of question.


• Ask them what changes they would make in the position and what future plans they had before deciding to move on from it.


• Ask if there are any specific skills or talents they wish they had to better function in the position.


• Find out if it is possible for you to "job-shadow" this person for a day or two even if you need to be off the clock to do so. Job-shadowing is simply watching someone do their day to day job for a period of time and asking relevant questions regarding what they do. This is an incredibly valuable tool to help you assess your real interest in the position as well as start your training process. Good bosses generally appreciate it when people are self-motivated enough to learn new jobs within the company.

One Up And One Down (a.k.a. +1 -1)

This is the practice of learning the job of the person(s) one position above you and the person(s) one position below you. It can also be applied to lateral but different positions. In a factory, for example, you might want to learn the job of a "stage-one" assembly worker and a "stage-three" assembly worker when you yourself are a "stage-two" assembly worker. This is a very important practice that can propel you ahead in many companies.

If you were to be promoted to a supervisory role, knowing the various positions in your department inside and out would certainly help you be a better supervisor. You would probably have the respect of your team for knowing the area so well, and having "been there and done that," as the saying goes.

If you have both a broad and deep knowledge of the overall functioning of your department, you are ahead of most of your co-workers and potentially the natural choice for a leadership role. That said, taking some classes in communication skills and leadership would be a great way to augment your selling points to management.

Industry/Company Knowledge

How much do you know about your company in the grand scheme of things? Here is a quiz which should illustrate some of the important things you should know about your company and your industry.

1. How many people work at your company?


2. How many people work at all of the "sister" companies your company owns world-wide?
   • Can you name all of the divisions and their specialties?


3. What products or services does your company offer?
   • Do you know all of them?
   • Could you speak intelligently about each product or service your company offers?
   • Are your company's products or services ahead of the curve, or soon to be out-dated by newer and better services/products?
   • Are your competitor's products/services better than yours?


4. How much of the market share does your company provide products/services for?
   • Is your company increasing or decreasing with regard to market share?
   • Can you name all the states, regions, and countries your company provides products/services to?
   • What are the long-term projections for your company with regard to market share? (Increasing or decreasing?)
   • Is your company publicly traded or privately held?


5. Is your company making money, staying even, or loosing money?


6. Have there ever been lay-offs or shut-downs in your company?
   • When?
   • How deep were the lay-offs?
   • How long were the shut-downs?
   • Are they projected to happen again?
   
   
7. What are owner's and senior management's goals for your company?
   • Could you list all the primary goals your chief executives have identified?
   • What is your role in achieving these goals?
   
   


8. What are the political considerations related to your company's products?
   • Environmental, Social, Philosophical, Economic, etc.?

Now ask yourself all of these questions with regard to your competitors. The fact is, your senior management team has been, or should have been asking these questions since the company was founded.

If most of the questions above are a mystery to you then you have some real homework to do. You may be thinking "I don't need to know about our market share to be a good supervisor or head secretary etc." and you are right, sort of. This guide is designed to help you move as far up the ladder as you want to go. You'll have to decide how far that is.

The people at the top of your company's hierarchy are concerned with all of the questions above and probably dozens more. When you push yourself to think more like an owner or a boss, then you prepare yourself to become one. Nothing screams "PROMOTE ME" quite like someone who treats a company like they own it.

So What About School?

Trade schools, colleges, universities, online training, seminars, retreats, books, audio tapes, CD's, and all kinds of programs are available to you if you want or need them.

Whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out in your career, you should be involved in, and dedicated to a lifetime learning process. It is one of the common differentiators I have seen among strong candidates and those who were just average candidates for promotions. Strong candidates seem to have a passion for learning and are never satisfied with what they already know. They seek out new things to learn and do.

We've all seen the statistics about college graduates earning more than their non college-grad counterparts. Literally dozens of times I have spoken with bosses and others who deeply regretted not having a college education. They claim that not having a degree has stifled them from getting the promotions they wanted, but they are now "too old" to go back to school.

Many companies retain policies that do not allow for the promotion of people to certain levels unless they have the specified or required degree. One common example of this happens in universities. It is very rare to see a full-fledged university professor who does not have PhD after his/her name. Even in manufacturing plants, I have seen a number of people fail to advance to senior management positions because they had lower degrees than the people they would be managing. You owe it to yourself to get whatever degree is needed for the positions you seek. Advanced positions may be completely unavailable to you if you don't.

Whether it is through a college or self-study, learning more about your profession is always worth it. You never lose anything by enhancing your knowledge and credentials. Even if you don't wind-up using some of your new-found expertise at your current company, you might use it at your next company and it may be all you need to make that transition.

One amazing thing to me has been the fact that many companies offer full college tuition to their employees for virtually any field of study. I've seen companies pay 100% of tuition for 4 and 6 year programs that didn't apply to their industry and would not yield specific benefits to the sponsoring companies. One example would be a person who works at a restaurant and is earning an environmental law degree. There's no long-term direct benefit to the employer, yet they just keep paying the bills.

More so lately, I am finding companies only willing to pay for degrees or programs that somehow translate to direct value to them. It seems most companies are happy to support MBA (Masters of Business Administration) programs, as the MBA is widely desired in most businesses. Once a person has completed the program they may, however, be enticed to join another company with this marketable degree.

To combat this, many companies are putting employees under contract to either remain with the company some minimum amount of time i.e., 2 years, or repay the company for their education should they leave before this minimum time is complete. Either way it is a great deal.

I was privileged to have facilitated an MBA program for one of my former employers. We even allowed students (employees,) to leave their jobs early or have special time off for the purpose of working on their degrees. Much of the time they were still on the clock during their training.

It is a huge mistake to not take full advantage of your company's training opportunities if they provide them. Some companies have great programs but don't advertise them to their employees. You may need to ask your boss or the good folks in HR directly about the availability of such programs.

The Books You Read

Keeping good books and training materials at your desk or in your locker etc. is a good way to raise your knowledge and demonstrate your intentions. There is a clear difference for example, between a desk and walls cluttered with comic strips about bad bosses, and a work area supplanted with well organized books and supplemental training materials. When your boss sees you are reading books on self, company, industry, management, and other improvement guides, that literally speaks volumes about where you see yourself going.

Don't be afraid to ask your boss for recommended reading material on your industry or profession in general. They probably already have some great materials they will enthusiastically lend you. Be a willing student and you will see your efforts pay dividends many times over. Be genuine, read the materials you are given, and ask intelligent questions. This shows you are committed to improving and giving your all to the company.

One book worth having on your desk or in your work area is:

"The Employee Handbook of New Work Habits For a Radically Changing World" by Price Pritchett www.pritchettnet.com This is not a paid advertisement; I just like the book.

This little guide gives some great examples of how the workplace is changing and how people need to adjust to new expectations. It's an easy and quick read and well worth your time.

There are so many good books about self-improvement, attaining goals, and etc., that you should have no problem finding some great reading material. Such books can encourage, motivate, and inspire you to be a better employee and achieve your dreams.

Keep these materials nearby and spend some break times going through them. Co-workers and others will notice your interest in improving and may start a dialogue with you about your goals. I have seen this happen in various settings and you probably have too. If you think I'm suggesting you keep these materials around for show, you have missed the point. These materials can really help you become more promoteable and happier in your current position. They are worth your time and attention.

Strategically Speaking

Please forgive the sports analogy, but I think it's a good one. It is often said that a race car driver is "always thinking a few turns ahead." Sure, they are negotiating the current turn on the race track, but they know if they don't come out of that turn "low and on the inside" they'll never keep their speed up through the next turn and they will lose position.

Work is not so terribly different. You need to pay attention to what you are doing, but you also need to become extremely aware of what is going on around you and perhaps a couple of turns ahead. A couple of examples come to mind.

Example #1

John is 67 years old and in poor health. Steve is his expected replacement, and Jenny is likely to be Steve's replacement. That leaves Jenny's position wide open. That is seeing at least three turns ahead.

Example #2

Cliff is a real dynamo and on the fast track to becoming a member of corporate leadership. He'll definitely be taking Phillip with him when he goes. Both Phillip's and Cliff's jobs will be opening up with no clear successors.

I'm sure you get the point here. It really pays to pay attention. The best racers, from our earlier analogy, actually go into the turns in such a way that their teammates gain some advantage while their competitors lag behind. I'm not a big fan of "dog-eat-dog" tactics, but finding a way to prepare better than others or outshine your competitors, is completely ethical and somewhat necessary if you want to win the race. Being prepared long before changes like these take place, will give you a definite competitive edge.

Chapter 7 Summary Points

• Carefully review your job description and learn every aspect of your current job. A job description is based on minimum requirements meaning you will need to surpass it.
• Create your own job description, if needed, by outlining your duties and questioning everything you do.
• Surpass even the highest expectations for your job.
• "80/20 Rule" the top 20% (star performers,) create 80% of the results in most companies.
• Senior executives are usually chosen from the top 1 to 10% of the star performers.
• Know the duties of your colleagues and bosses and beyond. Use the "+1 - 1" approach to round-out your skill set.
• Get to know the person who currently holds the position you desire. Find out what it is really like; both pros and cons.
• Job-shadow your desired position if that is an option.
• Take courses that augment your skills and serve as selling points for higher positions.
• Learn what you can about your company as related to your industry and markets. You should be able to intelligently discuss your products and services and know about each of your sister companies.
• Learn about your company's competitors and consider how you might create a competitive advantage over them in your industry.
• Learning about your profession and enhancing your skills is never a waste of time. When you "add value" to yourself, and team, your company also benefits.
• Take advantage of company sponsored degree programs and training. They can be a great deal and enhance your resume even if you move on to another employer.
• Continually read good books and expose yourself to training materials that will help you improve in your profession and demonstrate your excitement about learning.
• Know what is going on in your company and what personnel changes might be developing. Be prepared for opportunities to fill a position that opens suddenly.

Bill Hanover is author of "No Sucking-Up! How to Win the Job Promotions You Deserve" and a Lean Manufacturing Consultant. You may learn more about "No Sucking-Up" at www.nosuckingup.com or Bill's consulting services at www.tpslean.com