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How Do You Know When You’ve Become Successful
- 1. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’VE BECOME SUCCESSFUL? PRESENTED BY Rebecca Wall Executive Assistant to Chief Executive SunWater Limited Corporate PA Summit 2011 7 December 2011 Pan Pacific Hotel, Perth
- 2. The View from the Top Me and my favourite “View from the Top” 2
- 3. The View from the Top More mountains! 3
- 4. The View from the Top What goes up, must come down! 4
- 5. The View from the Top “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo • Look for more “mountains”. • Learn from a perceived failure. • Congratulate ourselves for trying in the first instance. 5
- 6. How Do You Know When You’ve Become Successful? “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. ” Bob Dylan 6
- 7. How Do You Know When You’ve Become Successful? • • • • Making a positive impact on someone’s day. Title/who you work for: Mary Jones, PA to Johnny Depp. Salary and the lifestyle it affords. Success is a personal thing - only you can define if you’re successful. 7
- 8. Making The Most Of Opportunities • Never say never (well almost never!) • Work for other managers or departments. • Look for internal transfers or secondments. • Taking a side step is sometimes the way up in the end. • Join committees, focus groups – just participate! • Increases visibility. • Shows you have an interest in improving the company. 8
- 9. Recognising Milestones • Obvious milestones include: • Promotion, pay rises. • But don’t miss the day to day milestones • Being asked for feedback or your opinion. • Being sought out for your expertise on a subject or process. • Being thanked. 9
- 10. Becoming An Integral Part Of Your Manager’s Team “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. ” Henry Ford • Join the right team. • Ensure you and your manager have complimentary work styles. • Provide a unified front. • Never undermine your manager in front of others. • Work together – literally! • Shadow your manager where you can. • Visit work sites, attend workshops / forums as an observer. 10
- 11. How To Develop, Maintain And Promote Key Relationships “No matter your education, your experience, or your title, if you can't play well with others, you will never accomplish your work mission.” Susan M Heathfield, About.com 11
- 12. How To Develop, Maintain And Promote Key Relationships • Key to successful relationships: • Be professional and mature. • Be respectful of all, not matter their position. • Smile and be friendly. • Communicate with fairness, honesty and respect • Keep tone neutral and on topic • Don’t “Dob” • Raise an issue face to face. • Don’t go “over heads”. 12
- 13. How To Develop, Maintain And Promote Key Relationships Be visible – Don’t be Waldo! 13
- 14. How To Develop, Maintain And Promote Key Relationships Pick up the Phone Try the Personal Touch 14
- 15. Empowering Yourself How To Gain The Foundation Of Trust You Need To Make Autonomous Decisions On Your Boss’s Behalf “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.” Samuel Johnson • Empower yourself with knowledge and make it your mission to know what’s going on. • Read correspondence. • Ask questions. • Draft responses to emails and letters. • Read your manager’s sent items. • Above all, maintain confidentiality and discretion. 15
- 16. Building Confidence In Your Ability Projecting Confidence In The Right Way “It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.” Anonymous Remember who you work for, however: • Do not mistake confidence for arrogance. • Do not throw your weight around. • Be firm but fair in requests. • Lacking confidence one day? Fake it till you make it! 16
- 17. Being Prepared Doing The Groundwork, Projecting A Powerful, Persuasive Argument • Research! • Check your facts. • Research the impact of your idea. • Ascertain costs of proposed initiatives. • Listen to your audience • Be factual • Keep emotions out of the argument. • Talk about improvements and efficiencies. • Do not make requests about you personally but focus on the benefit to the company. 17
- 18. Work That Attitude! “The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” Charles Swindoll 18
- 19. Celebrate Along The Way • • • Doesn’t have to big but if it’s important to you, it’s worth celebrating. Laugh with your boss and work mates. Importantly, enjoy your job! 19
- 20. Questions 20
Editor's Notes
- Notes to self:Pace yourself. Breath. Relax. Look at the audience!Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you Suzanne for the introduction.Overview of SunWaterGoc based in queensland7billion19 dams,weirsMajority supplier of irrigation waterExpanding in water treatment & managementM’ment scrivenerWorking on ord irrigationMy role – keep peter where he needs to be when he needs to be there with what he needs. Get him out the door by 6 for his main priorty - family
- In 2005 I hiked 40km over 4 days to reach the mythical Machu Pichu in Peru. It was 4 days of going up and down to ultimately reach a magnificent site high in the Andes.
- Only thing was, once I got there, there were even more mountains in front of me to climb!
- So do you ever really reach “the top”? Personally, I don’t think so. In my mind if you think you can’t go any higher, then logically the only direction you can go is down.
- For me I hope to keep striving for that next goal, that next mountain to climb. However even if you never reach the perceived top, would you consider trying still being successful? Even in what can be perceived a failure there is usually something to learn and growth to be made. Apollo 13 didn’t quite make it to the moon but I don’t think anyone believes the crew failed. Instead of saying “I failed”, we should congratulate ourselves for even trying in the first instance.
- How do you know when you’ve become successful? Bob Dylan is quoted as saying “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”
- For me, I’m being successful in my career when I’m happy and looking forward to going to work to each day. Or most days at least. it’s about feeling that I make a positive difference to my CEO’s day. But we are all individuals so for some of you it will be the title after your name, earning a certain salary to live a lifestyle you want or send your kids to a good school.Working part time; Work funding further studyOr perhaps you have a company in mind that you’d like to work for. Only you can define if you’re being successful.
- Making the most of opportunities, recognising the milestones along the way we all get caught up in the day to day routine of our jobs that it can be easy to miss the chance to make ourselves shine or stand out from the crowd. So what can we do to turn our normal jobs into a chance to stand out or grow?Never say no (well almost never)Work for Other Managers or DepartmentsEarlier this year I supported another GM within the company for three weeks while his EA was on leave - provided me day to day professional interaction with a group of managers I would predominately only see in the hallways. Remember, the way to the “top” isn’t always a straight line. Join committees, focus groups – just participate!Increases visibility.Shows you have an interest in improving the company.If anything you usually get fed!As a senior I have to say no to work. There are just not enough hours in the day. However it’s what we say yes to that will provide us with the most opportunities and benefits so the trick is to be selective.
- Recognising the MilestonesAs with opportunities, milestones can be subtle and easily missed. Obvious milestones include:Promotion, pay rises.But don’t miss the day to day milestonesBeing asked for feedback or your opinion. Being sought out for your expertise on a subject or process.Being thanked.Like any relationship, for me it’s the little things that matter more than the grand gestures. Next time a colleague thanks you for something, don’t dismiss it as “nothing”. You made a difference to someone’s day. To me, that’s the sign of a successful work day and other step up the ladder.
- Join the Right TeamI don’t play basketball so I’m not going to join a basketball team. Present as One Team, Not IndividualsSecondly, we need to work with our managers, not against them. Provide a unified front. Ensure you’re on the same page. If you don’t agree with your manager, never undermine him in front of others. Work together – literally!Participate. Where possible, go with your manager where you can. Ask to tag along on site visits or sit in on parts of workshops or presentations. Taking an interest in what he’s doing and being visible as he goes about his job shows not only your manager but others that you are integral part of the team and someone your manager relies on and is wanting to be a part of his office.
- How to develop, maintain and promote key relationships in your company and externally “No matter your education, your experience, or your title, if you can't play well with others, you will never accomplish your work mission.”Susan M Heathfield, About.com
- Unfortunately we have all worked with those staff that just don’t play nice. The ones that like to identify problems, stir the pot but not actually offer any solutions. Those are the staff I don’t like to deal with or go out of my way to engage so it figures if I act in that manner, others will not engage me either. This is a sure fire way to kill any career progression or opportunities within a company.For me the key to successful relationships at work is professionalism, respect and friendliness.Communicate with fairness, honesty and respect. This is basically treat others as you would like to be treated. Whether it be via email, phone or face to face, keep your tone neutral on and on topic. You will gain professional respect not only from the person you are communicating with but also from those around you. How often have we heard a colleague speak in an inappropriate manner to another and our view of them diminish as a result? Even if you are not talking to someone directly, inevitably those around them can hear the conversation or will quickly become aware of your manner and judge you accordingly.Don’t “Dob”This is a pet peeve of mine. The mature thing is to approach that staff member first. Provide your colleague with the opportunity to explain. If you’re not happy with that, talk to their manager. Going over heads is a sure way to create tension and rifts in relationships that can be difficult to repair. Every worker has the right and I believe obligation to raise concerns about a colleague’s conduct. You will gain the respect of other managers if you approach them about their staff first rather than going over their heads.
- Be Visible – Don’t be WallyIn a large company, it’s very easy to get lost in the crowd, no matter who you work for.Be your own publicist and make yourself known.For me, the easiest way I find to do this is to walk the floors and not sit at my desk for 9 hours a day. This means doing my own internal deliveries within the Brisbane office. Usually around 9 I’ll collect any paperwork that needs to go to other staff members and hand deliver individually rather than use our internal mail. It only takes me around 10mins a day to cover the three floors but it provides an opportunity to say hello to staff I might not otherwise see, have a quick chat to a manager about work I may be delivering to them. This hopefully enhances my profile as someone who is friendly and approachable. No different to any relationship, building relationships within a work environment takes time. Not everyone is going to like you and we all have to accept that. But it’s a lot easier to work with someone or approach them if you can actually put a face to the voice or name on the email.
- Pick up the PhoneBefore we all fell in love with email, we had to actually talk to our work colleaguesWith external relationships or staff in other offices, this is integral as we often can’t physically go and see someone.
- Empower yourself with knowledge and make it your mission to know what’s going on.It takes time however the only way to get to the point where you can make decisions on behalf of your manager is to have a very good understanding of what he’s doing and prove this understanding to him or her.Read correspondenceI try to read over correspondence and documents coming across my desk for my CEO. Logistically, I cannot read everything in great depth but reading executive summaries or glancing over letters and emails provides an insight into where matters are at. Ask questionsIf you don’t understand something, ask! I’m blessed with a boss that will explain things in plain English to me. Asking shows an interest and willingness to understand the issues.Draft ResponsesIf you believe you know the answer to questions coming to your CEO or know how to get the answer, draft a response for his consideration. Not only does it show initiative, it will in time show your manager you are capable of dealing with certain matters on his behalf. Even if you are wrong in an instance, a good manager will more likely encourage you and point you in the right direction for next time.Read Sent ItemsOne of the greatest sources of knowledge as to what your manager is doing is to read his sent items. It provides the other side of the story to the inbox. Maintain Confidentiality and DiscretionThe key to any of these actions however is confidentiality and discretion. While a colleague may be able to provide you with relevant information, depending on the topic, it may be more prudent to go directly to a manager or to allow your own manager to deal with a sensitive issue. Our ability to maintain a code of silence is imperative to building trust with our managers. Once broken, trust is nigh impossible to restore.
- Remember who you work for“It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.” ~Author UnknownThis is an area I struggle with and invariably a few times a year my CEO reminds me of my position within the company and who I work for. My dealings are predominately with other managers who by rights are more senior than myself.Confidence is not arrogance and as I discussed earlier, treating colleagues, no matter their position within the company, with respect and dignity will get your further than throwing your weight around. I like to take the firm by fair approach. I will always ask for something, rather than demand it. I try to be sure in what I’m asking for and that I’m asking the right person.Ultimately though, a show of confidence can in fact having to pull out the Ace as I call it and remind staff it’s a request from the CEO’s office, not me personally. And if all else fails, fake it till you make it!
- Research!Whether it be asking for a pay rise, presenting a business case or submitting an idea to a Committee, be sure of your facts, the impact of your idea on the company and the true cost of any initiative.Armed with facts will enable you to speak with confidence and your audience will pick up on this confidence and knowledge.Listen to your audienceThe real key however is to learn to say “I don’t know”. even more compelling than someone with all the facts in front of them is someone willing to say “I’m not sure but I can go away and research that for you”. Your argument won’t lose any of its strength and your audience is less likely to dismiss the idea outright if you are prepared to provide them with more information or listen to an alternative point of view.Be FactualKeep emotions out of an argument. Saying you want a pay rise because you can’t make ends meet is not valid. It is not your employer’s responsibility to help you live within your means. Showing however where you have contributed to cost savings for the company, have improved a process or taken on new responsibilities and grown your role is however a valid argument.Similarly, when requesting a change in process, talk about work efficiencies and productivity increases rather than a discussion about what will make life easier for you as an individual.
- Change what you Can, Accept DefeatYou can seek to change a process but not a person. One “battle” at SunWater was to encourage members of the support staff to actively participle and work as one team for the company rather than lots of little silos working for individual managers. I’m pleased to say as a team we have achieved major success in this regard but on the flip side there will always be those that just don’t want to participate. I’ve now conceded I can’t completely win this task and it’s a battle I’m no longer interested in. I’d rather divert my energy elsewhere.
- CelebrateLife is short. Enjoy it. While at times we all inevitably moan about going to work, for a lot of us it’s what feeds us and drives us. Celebrate meeting a deadline or dealing with a difficult manager who thinks he got what he wanted even if he didn’t. It doesn’t have to be big. But if it’s important to you, it’s worth celebrating.Have a laugh with your work mates. Make a fool of yourself at the Christmas party in fancy dress. Enjoy your job. - We spend 35 to 50 hours at work. Let’s make the most of it.
- Thank you for your time today.Does anyone have any questions?