Why being hardworking isn’t always enough to climb the career ladder – and the cringeworthy step experts say you should take to get ahead
People who work the hardest don’t necessarily perform the best in the workplace. If you want to get ahead, you need to show your colleagues your achievements, experts say.
Professor Alison Fragale says: If you pass a colleague in the office and he or she asks how you are, don’t respond with the standard ‘fine’ or ‘busy’.
Fragale, an expert in organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina, says instead, you should take pride in a recent accomplishment.
As painful as this behavior may seem, Fragale told the Wall Street Journal that it will change your colleagues’ perception of you and put you on the path to a promotion.
“We are constantly given opportunities to tell our story, but we throw those opportunities away,” Fragale said.
And she offered some advice for overcoming the shame you feel when you brag: think of colleagues who have managed to quickly rise through the ranks by doing the same thing.
Alison Fragale, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina, suggests that employees seeking promotions brag to their colleagues about how well they do their jobs.
She said that those who get promoted already brag about their efforts
She also said employees should ask themselves what positive aspects of their workload are not being recognized by their bosses, as more and more work is being done behind the scenes.
Tessa West, a professor of psychology at New York University, found that 80 percent of people play multiple roles at work, such as leading a committee or collaborating with another department on a project.
More than half of these additional responsibilities do not entail any additional compensation.
“People often assume they get credit for that, but that credit is only in the boss’s mind,” if the boss even remembers it, West said.
Tessa West, a psychology professor at New York University, found that 80 percent of people fulfill multiple roles at work
Sometimes the manager doesn’t even want to tell the boss how much extra work you’re doing, for fear it will seem disorganized, she adds.
West therefore advises asking your boss if the extra duties you perform will be discussed during annual performance reviews, when bosses evaluate their employees behind closed doors.
She also suggested reminding yourself that even the most powerful people say “no” to things often and protecting their time by spending it on their most important skill.
If you can’t figure out how to manage the extra workload you’re taking on, it’s probably not going to help your career, West says.