Here’s a good joke to play on your employer: Get to your work a little earlier and leave a little later than you are supposed to. Handle his tools as if they belonged to you. Go out of your way to say a kind word about him to your fellow workers. When there is extra work to be done, volunteer to do it. Do not show surprise when he ‘gets on to you’ and offers you the head of the department or a partnership in the business; for this is the best part of the ‘joke’
- Charles M. Schwab
I came across the following material on the Internet, complements of Forbes, [J1] which I feel certain will profit the reader, especially those that are currently in other people’s employ. Please enjoy it:
“Sometimes you’ve got to show the higher-ups you can do the job before they give it to you. Forward-thinking employees know that, and are taking on additional responsibility to prove they should get promoted or switch departments altogether. Yes, it takes additional planning – and lots of extra hours at the office – but the effort can pay off.
Take Greg Topalian. He started working at Reed Exhibitions 10 years ago as a salesman, and now he’s a senior vice president at the Norwalk. His steady climb up the corporate ladder is a direct result of asking himself what it takes to get to the next level.
“This wasn’t about how I could steal my boss’ job,” says Topalian. “It was more of, ‘What skills does he have that I don’t?’ When I started as a salesman, I realised my sales director does things I don’t, so I’d offer to help. I’d say, ‘How can I make your life easier? Can you show me?’
“It made our most senior management feel that I clearly grasp the nature of the senior vice president role,” says Topalian.
And that’s what all hiring managers want. As Karen Rohce, vice president of human resources at Sun Microsystems, puts it: “Experience is the best classroom.”
To get it, employees need to set up a supportive structure. First, explain to your boss that you greatly enjoy your job, but you want to take on new responsibilities. (It helps if you scout new projects or find a mentor to give you added tasks.) Employees should assure their supervisor that their current work won’t suffer and that these new responsibilities will make them a “value-added staffer.”
Once you find a mentor or supervisor to work with, set up the parameters of the additional projects, including its length of time, along with ways to measure success.
Also, get feedback from your “part-time” boss. Was he or she happy with your work and are there skill sets you need to strengthen? It also helps to have your two managers communicate. Ask your part-time boss to send your regular manager periodic updates on your work. This is a great way to remind your supervisor that you’re working two jobs.
The biggest challenge is getting burnt out by the additional hours spent at the office. Avoid that by taking on small projects until you feel comfortable with the new workload and unfamiliar skills. But the bottom line is, if you want to make it to the next level, you’ll need to work more. “There are times when you’ll be doing a 10-plus hour day to get to the next level,” says Topalian. “That’s a reality.”
You can alleviate some of the workload by encouraging your subordinates to do the same thing. “They’re able to take on your lower-end work, which is high-end to them,” says Topalian. “There’s a synergy there that’s very important.
