Avionics News October 2013 - 72

BUSINESS BASICS

Continued from page 71

“You’re building your reputation with every single interaction
you have with your colleagues and
clients,” Bennington said. “Every
interaction you have face-to-face, by
email, passing in the hallway, passing in the shop, that’s a touch point.
You have a choice as to how you
want to manage that. You can leave
them with a favorable impression of
you – or not.”
You’re wise, then, to establish
“guiding intentions” to establish
how you want others to think about
you – smart, credible or promotable,
for example.

“The more you can be intentional
and own your choice in the moment
for how you want to act, the more
likely you are to make smart decisions,” she said.
Likewise, you were hired to work
to the best of your ability, but if you
want to be seen as a high-performer,
you’ll need to give extra effort, even
on mundane tasks. In fact, volunteer
for appropriate assignments that no
one else wants to add value. Avoid
multitasking. Instead, cultivate selfmanagement skills for working on
multiple projects so each task is
completed one at a time, quickly
and correctly. You’ll only become
“good” at your job when you exceed
expectations.

Understandably, you don’t want
to be a bumbler, but you also can’t
be invisible. Much of the time, the
decisions that affect your career
occur when you’re not even in the
room. If you’re operating under the
radar, or you’ve created a negative impression, you’ll miss out.
Continually ask yourself, what’s
going to happen when my name
comes up?
Improve your visibility by using
face-to-face conversations instead
of email to strengthen relationships.
Volunteer enthusiastic greetings to
co-workers, and never eat alone at
your desk. Instead, invite a co-worker, your supervisor or an industry
acquaintance to lunch to get to know
them better.
Deliver, too, a brief Friday memo
to your supervisor every week; this
offers a bulleted update of your
accomplishments for the past week,
the areas where you need input and
your goals for the week ahead. “It
increases your visibility because
your boss is getting the update
every week, and he or she is able
to see what you’re working on and
help you prioritize your projects,”
Bennington said. “It lets you have
those conversations every week.”
Just avoid over-promotion. Be
aware of the point where colleagues
aren’t listening because you’re just
talking about you.
“People want to engage with
you when you’re adding value,”
Bennington said. Think insightful
comments and intelligent contributions, not blubbering recaps of your
weekend shenanigans.
PATIENT PROGRESS
Moving beyond this stage of your
career is pretty simple: be good at
this stage of your career. Be realistic
and patient with how long it will
take to move up. Recognize that you
won’t regularly get “trophies” to

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2013
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Avionics News October 2013

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