LET THE GAMES BEGIN
According to Harvey Coleman, of Coleman Management Consultants, pursuing your career is like playing a game. And your career, like every game—football, soccer, tennis, swimming, bridge, golf, you name it—has its own set of rules and the inevitable winners and losers. When it comes to professional success, why do some people win and some people lose? What makes the winner a winner?
To achieve victory, winners must first learn the rules of the game and then play the game better than their competitors.
Coleman, in his book Empowering Yourself, The Organizational Game Revealed, postulates that we play out the game of life on a game board shaped like a pyramid. He contends that when every employee in an organization knows the secret of reaching the peak in that organization, the game shifts onto a more equitable playing field. All candidates have an equal opportunity for promotion, which is based on the quality of their play. Just like with any game, the choices each candidate makes on a daily basis will determine how far up the pyramid he or she will climb. How well each person knows the rules and how well each plays the game will determine who reaches the peak and who settles for a lower plateau.
Coleman further proposes that the main ingredient that makes it all work is people. Everything else is just detail. Because money is a by-product of your relationship with people, he advises that impressing the boss will get you the pay raise. You will never receive a promotion unless another person agrees to it.
WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THE GAME? TRY PIE
Coleman proposes that all serious players hone their game skills by perfecting the following three crucial elements: Performance, Image and Exposure, or PIE for short. He has assigned different weights to each of the three elements, as shown below. A serious game player needs to focus on all three elements to earn long-term success in his or her profession and organization:
ELEMENT WEIGHT
Performance 10%
Image 30%
Exposure 60%
Are these ratios surprising to you? Organizations tend to give pay raises based on performance (10 per cent), while they promote individuals based on their potential, which is influenced by image and exposure (for a total of 90 per cent).
PERFORMANCE
Your ticket into the promotions game is your performance. To improve your performance you need to have a game plan. Whether or not your organization has a formal appraisal system, it is important for you to create your own plan. Consider the following simple steps and be sure that they form the basis for your working document:
By taking the lead role in the performance planning process, you are letting your manager know that you regard the process as very important, and you eliminate the need for her/him to create a separate plan for you.
All well-written performance appraisals include specific components and levels. The tasks to be completed in a given timeframe are listed, and a specified quality level and a minimum standard needed to meet those levels are laid out. Your objective is to exceed all expectations. Remember: serious game players do their best to make sure that each of their choices and all their moves are geared toward winning the game.
Remember that the game is about people. It is very important to establish a good relationship with your managers. They are crucial to your career success. If your managers are unhappy, the rest of your performance becomes meaningless. Your job is to make your boss look good all the time. Although performance only had a 10 percent weight, it is a major contributor to your image and shows what value you bring to the organization as a whole.
IMAGE
Your image is a statement of who you are and what you represent. It is a clear, non-verbal message that tells others what direction you want to move in professionally. Think of the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” You never have a second chance to make that first impression. Coleman weighs image three times more than performance.
It is very important to set an image that is positive and one that gives you credibility. We all know that “actions speak louder than words.” Leaders lose credibility with their staff when they practice the method of “do as I say, not as I do,” rather than choose to “walk the walk.” Two components that are essential to projecting a good image are presenting a positive attitude and wearing professional attire.
Positive Attitude
It has been said that life is made up of 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent of how you react to it. Each of us controls our own attitude. Each of us chooses how to embrace each day. Maintaining a positive attitude in the workplace is of utmost importance. Attitude affects how you communicate with other people as does body language. Your attitude has a huge impact on your overall image. No matter how good you are at your job, if you have a negative attitude and constantly complain, it will affect your relationship with the people around you. You certainly will not be identified as a team player.
Members of successful teams are people who demonstrate flexibility and understanding; they are willing to help in all situations. Responding “it’s not my job” when asked to help out is not tolerated on high-performance teams. A winning team cannot afford people who narrowly interpret their job descriptions.
Dress for Success
What impression are you trying to make? Each level of an organization has its own unwritten perception of what constitutes appropriate attire. Each choice or move you make becomes a trade-off. Gaining the competitive edge in the game is not only a series of moves and choices, but also a series of trade-offs. Regardless of what the dress code in your current role is, dress for your ultimate career goal.
Your business attire is one of your most important investments. What you wear establishes your authority, credibility and likability. Your wardrobe sets a tone for your personality and the direction you want to take. Serious game players consider their dress to be very important to their career, and they dress at least one level above their present position on the pyramid.
Corporate casual attire is a relaxed version of your traditional business style. Whatever you choose to wear remember that it shapes both your mind-set and those of your co-workers and upper management.
EXPOSURE
In Coleman’s PIE formula, exposure is the element that carries the greatest weight—60 per cent. Exposure highlights the fact that the key constituent in the career game is people. Your ability to become visible and influence others in a positive way is the defining move that can help you to score big and reach your professional goals. Gaining exposure and greater visibility can be challenging and risky. You must weigh both the risks and rewards involved. Determine whether or not you will be happy at the next level. If the rewards are greater and the trade-offs minimal, then you will want to plan on moving ahead. However, if, in your opinion, the rewards are not worth the trade-off, then perfect the level of your choice.
Employing the suggestions listed below can help you gain favorable exposure and greater visibility both inside and outside your organization.
HAVE A GOOD GAME
Today, more than ever, competition for advancement has increased dramatically. Most people feel that education, hard work and ambition will get them to where they want to go. In the current, complex and rapidly changing business environment, employers search for, hire and promote people they believe will “fit” into their organizational culture. Employers look for professionals with the leadership qualities they perceive as being important to the future of their organization. To win the game, serious players learn the rules, develop a game plan, and beat the competition.
Coleman details well the rules of playing and winning the game in his book. However, he is quick to point out that it is not only knowing the rules that are important—execution is the most important move you can make in the career game. Coleman concludes his book with the following saying: “Success is how you define it and the choices you make to achieve it. You are in control of it all—you are empowered as you want to be. You are in control. Have a good game!”