My MSN
By Annabelle Reitman
When is it proper and acceptable to toot your horn in your workplace? What is the difference between “tooting your horn” and bragging? ! Bragging is a form of exaggeration. It can be boasting and/or gloating. Tooting your own horn is letting people know about your actual accomplishments, expertise, experiences, and where and how you want to move along your career pathway.
Opportunities to move up the organizational ladder are opened up to those whose names are known to the decision makers. And sometimes you do not know when that next opportunity is just around the corner. Tooting your horn is all about getting your getting your name out front, becoming truly visible in a way that doesn’t come across boasting, being pushy, or aggressive.
However, you definitely want people with the authority, ability, where forth to influence and make a difference in your career movements, to know about your background, qualifications, and successes. You want to be impressive, memorable, and passionate. It is your name that you want on the tip of their tongues when new positions open up or replacements are needed. You need to pu together a stash of “tooting your horn” info bits.
With this stash, whether it is a planned or unplanned moment, you are prepared 24/7 to pull out the most appropriate success, experience, or idea to mention to the person you need or want to impress. You are ready to self-promote in any work-networking situation. However, you need to know when and how to toot. Are you joining a group or meeting in the middle of a serious conversation or hot debate? Has top management called everyone together because of a reorganization announcement? These are not the right times for talking about yourself. These are situations that call for careful listening and perhaps at a later, calmer time to suggest some ways you can contribute to the solution. If your gut level feeling is that it comfortable and appropriate, then go with it.
If you do not toot your own horn, no one else will, in fact another person may take the credit for something you suggested or developed. In fact, by being proactive about yourself, you project the image of an outstanding team player and a future leader, who can always be counted on to complete projects effectively and efficiently.
When tooting your horn, remember that the “toots” must be relevant to the listener – the person must be able to identify with the info, get the image you are projecting, and clearly see how you will meet his/her present or future needs. If you want to succeed in an organization, understand and accept that self-promoting is not a bad selfish action, but a survival and moving ahead technique. So go ahead and look for an opportunity to toot your horn this very day!
Email comments to: Annabelle Reitman, Ed.D.
Career Management Strategist, Author
anreitman@verizon.net
Showing posts with label workplace community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workplace community. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
CREATE A WORKPLACE COMMUNITY WITH STORY
Much as been written about today’s multigenerational workforce with its diversified work styles, communication ways, language, values, and perspectives. Having three or four generations interacting in an organization is the beginning of creating a community where everyone can feel that they belong and have something to contribute.
When a workplace community exists, it provides ways for new employees to feel welcomed and enables them to integrate into the organization more quickly and effectively. A viable workplace community strengthens ties between people no matter position, status within the organization, allowing loyalty, respect, bonding, and trust to deepen. And, last, but certainly not least, a true organizational community gives the senior-level staff and executives a reason to remain motivated, engaged and involved.
How do you find and build on the common and compatible points that exist among the generations? Storytelling is a powerful tool that everyone can use and see its application in building a talent community. People love to tell a story, an anecdote, an incident that reflects who they are and experiences that have had an impact on them. Stories allow people to share, empathize, find their common ground, identify with, and learn outside a structured classroom and formalized training.
Stories can be told from either the individual or organization’s perspective. Junior-level employees can tell stories/anecdotes, for example, about their background, passions, career goals, work expectations, interests, images of organization – information that their peers can identify with and that management can begin to form ideas about potential leadership candidates. On the other hand, senior-level staff can share stories about the organization and their own work achievements, for example, regarding the organization’s brand, culture, vision, mission, and epic successes.
Stories can be exchanged, for example, during new employee orientation, introduction of a work team, initiation of a mentoring program, an organizational networking event, at a department/division meeting – with a facilitator for this activity. The role of story cannot be ignored when trying to create a community – its authenticity, purpose, and power leads to a sense of belonging, greater productivity, and identification. The end result is that a multigenerational workforce will feel, “we aren’t that all different after all, we can work together with understanding acceptance and respect!”
Email comments to: Annabelle Reitman, Ed.D. Career Management Strategist, Author
Email: anreitman@verizon.net
When a workplace community exists, it provides ways for new employees to feel welcomed and enables them to integrate into the organization more quickly and effectively. A viable workplace community strengthens ties between people no matter position, status within the organization, allowing loyalty, respect, bonding, and trust to deepen. And, last, but certainly not least, a true organizational community gives the senior-level staff and executives a reason to remain motivated, engaged and involved.
How do you find and build on the common and compatible points that exist among the generations? Storytelling is a powerful tool that everyone can use and see its application in building a talent community. People love to tell a story, an anecdote, an incident that reflects who they are and experiences that have had an impact on them. Stories allow people to share, empathize, find their common ground, identify with, and learn outside a structured classroom and formalized training.
Stories can be told from either the individual or organization’s perspective. Junior-level employees can tell stories/anecdotes, for example, about their background, passions, career goals, work expectations, interests, images of organization – information that their peers can identify with and that management can begin to form ideas about potential leadership candidates. On the other hand, senior-level staff can share stories about the organization and their own work achievements, for example, regarding the organization’s brand, culture, vision, mission, and epic successes.
Stories can be exchanged, for example, during new employee orientation, introduction of a work team, initiation of a mentoring program, an organizational networking event, at a department/division meeting – with a facilitator for this activity. The role of story cannot be ignored when trying to create a community – its authenticity, purpose, and power leads to a sense of belonging, greater productivity, and identification. The end result is that a multigenerational workforce will feel, “we aren’t that all different after all, we can work together with understanding acceptance and respect!”
Email comments to: Annabelle Reitman, Ed.D. Career Management Strategist, Author
Email: anreitman@verizon.net
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