Monday, 12 March 2012

Old Dogs: Looking Successful = Being Successful

It's the start of the week. What better time to learn a new trick? "Old Dogs" is designed to make you more effective by giving you a new skill to practice throughout the week and if it works for you, keep using it! All you have to do is read the article and give it a fair trial.


Can I start by apologising for last week. I've had a crazy one preparing several projects and didn't have time to write any articles. Funnily enough, that's quite against the principles of this article.

A lot of people talk about whether someone is productive, helpful or successful but what they actually mean is that someone appears to be productive, helpful or successful. The interesting thing is that this is a perception of success. Successful people may be perceived as 'useless' if they work in a messy environment, communicate badly or appear to crumble when under pressure. Conversely unsuccessful people may appear to be doing well if they cover their tracks by smooth talking, appearing calm under pressure or working in a tidy manner.

This generally means that regardless of whether you are actually calm or flapping massively, if you give an outward appearance of calm, people will think you're more competent than you feel. You'll have a calming effect on those around you and in turn this will calm you as your environment is less stressful.

Research has shown that those who adopt a persona in this manner generally develop those traits in time. So by acting calm, successful or helpful, you'll become calm successful or helpful instinctively.


So what?

For this week, try the following.

* Come in a little earlier, leave a little later or forgo one break today or tomorrow. Use the time to look at the space you're responsible. Try to see it from an outsider's point of view. Does it look cluttered, hectic or messy? See what you can put away, clear or file. Tidy your cables. Hang your coat. Put your work bag away. Above all, be brutal. For demo purposes, here's a quick snap of my office as it is now, with no tidying.



* Look at your dress and grooming. Are you presentable? Would you be happy with your appearance if the CEO had a surprise meeting? If not, maybe you need to rethink. When adopting these principles a few years ago, I realised that jeans, a t-shirt and a 3-day beard were not acceptable in my role regardless of my long hours or what my co-workers did and made a decision to smarten up. Casual doesn't mean grubby/lazy dress.

* Look for the next 'mini-crisis'. Try to look at yourself from others eyes whilst it's happening or alternatively analyse your responses afterwards. Make sure to leave off the rose-tinted glasses. How do your facial expressions appear? Your body language? Your tone of voice? Around 80% of communication is non-verbal. Make sure yours is confident and positive or at the very least neutral.

* Listen to the words and phrases you use. Whilst you don't have to offer the world or become a doormat and you still have three acceptable answers, are you making a 'mountain out of a molehill' or are you calm? Remember, social convention means you can almost always go away, prepare an answer and come back later.

* Look at your task management. Are you being effective or are you finding reasons to avoid that job you don't want to do? Get on with it and stand out from the crowd as a can-do person.

* Also, whilst on the subject of task management, make sure that you get the important things out quickly. Remember, 'what's important to my boss' is a good mantra, and try to extend this to the company as a whole


Remember...

Theodore Roosevelt said "Speak softly, and carry a big stick". Whilst this post advocates calm and reliability for the most, the ideology of a duck that is calm above the water but paddling furiously underneath, there will be times when you'll need to be loud, and throw your weight around in a real crisis. If you're usually the paragon of calm, when you do raise your voice or look concerned, it will carry far more weight than if you do so all the time.

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