Brown-Nosing 101

Brown-Nosing is all about Communication

Many of my younger students, those with limited work experience,  often ask me, "What is a brown-noser?"

Hum...a tricky question.  Most of us know brownnosers to be corporate suck-ups who seek out people of influence and then try to gain some sort of favor from them by kissing up, fawning and being overly agreeable and compliant.  The worst of these sorts do this instead of doing what they were hired to do - i.e. their jobs. 

When I started digging into the brownnosing phenomena I learned that there truly are very few of these people in the workplace.  They are the people we love to hate because they typically leave us with extra work to do and many of us have work a ethic that dictates we pick up the slack.

In fact, the vast majority of people we call brownnosers are people who are actually decent at their jobs but simply happen to be very good communicators - better than the rest of us.

Another Quick Brown-Nosing Tip - What are your Assets?

Today, I've got a quick tip for you to help you understand the power and the tools you have at your disposal when trying to outmaneuver brownnosers at work. 

The other night I watched a finance class talk about assets and how they are used to help a company make money.  Hum, I thought.  When it comes right down to it, we all have assets that we use to make money. They are called our skills, knowledge, abilities, education, perspectives, experience, expertise, attitudes....

Have you ever watched a brownnoser with his or her boss?  The brown-noser ALWAYS knows what he brings to the table in terms of his assets.  It may just be a word of encouragement with little substance behind it, but he knows when someone needs encouraging, doesn't he?  Isn't that why we dislike him so?  It's as if he's got a some sort of tracking device that can sniff out opportunities to get in front of the boss and look good.  Not so - he simply knows what his assets are and then puts them into play to help him make money, friends, influence people, get jobs, get your promotion, etc.

Here's what I want you to do.  Take an inventory or your assets.  How can you possibly position yourself or your ideas if you don't know what you have to offer?  Be careful - this requires some soul-searching and an honest attempt to assess yourself.  Don't discount anything and don't assume that simply because you aren't allowed to use an asset at this particular time that it should not be on your list.

Easy BrownNosing technique

On this Veteran's Day I hope you've spent a moment or two thinking about all the people who have served this great nation to help preserve and defend the freedoms we all too often take for granted.  Better yet, find a Veteran (or more than one) and thank them. 

Here's a quick tip for those of you who will have decided that it would be wise for you to use this freedom to live up to your full potential.  Get involved!!

There are plenty of ways to create a significant amount of visibility for yourself in most organizations, even if you believe you have a dead end job or if your work keeps you isolated from others.  Get involved.  Most organizations (other than the smallest mom and pop shops) are constantly trying to make the workplace better for their employees and position their businesses as good corporate citizens.  (If yours doesn't, time to update your resume). 

Involvement with the company newsletter, community events, internal councils, non-specific projects or programs or other volunteer options are all ways to develp the four brown-nosing skills.

Involvement boosts your visibility, is a great way to network,  requires you to connect with others in the process and forces you to position yourself as someone who can add value to the project.  It's not rocket science folks - it's the fundamentals of getting ahead in any organization.  I've been preaching this stuff to my students for years. The basics can be learned by reading previous blogs or reading Brown-nosing 101: A career survival for the rest of us.  You can find it online on Amaon, Barnes and Noble, or by clicking on the Buy the Book link here www.brownnosingonline.com. 

Think about it,

Linda

Brown-nosing and Politics

Over the weekend I heard a story on our local public radio station that cracked me up. Apparently there was some guy in the city who was running for office in his precinct but having trouble getting the required number of signatures necessary to eliminate the hefty filing fee. So, because HE is having trouble he decided to sue, claiming that the requirement is unfair and a hardship on some people. Wahhh…..wahhhh.

What a whiner. “It’s too hard. You need to make it easier for me.” One of the commentators made a good point. “Politics is tough. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. And it certainly isn’t fair.”

That’s pretty much what getting ahead in business is all about, too. It takes effort beyond the basics. It’s not always easy and it certainly isn’t always fair. It means getting out of your office and pressing the flesh (visibility and networking) , getting to know others (networking, connecting and visibility) and letting them know what you stand for (connecting, visibility, positioning) and how you can help them achieve their goals (positioning, networking connecting).

Brown-nosers are Change Agents

One of the best ways to make yourself visible in an organization is by becoming a Change Agent. For purposes of this discussion I’ll define change agent as someone who supports, even actively encourages change events that are happening in the company.

We all know people who balk at every suggestion that something be done different. But without change nothing gets done and progress is not made. Change is the antitheses of the status quo. Companies and organizations are constantly looking for ways to do things bigger, better, faster, stronger, cheaper, simpler and changing the way things are done is how this happens.

Instead of being someone who resists the inevitable changes that will occur, act like those brownnosers in your organization who not only support the change but support those who are proposing the change and those who are accountable for delivering the results. We snicker at brownnosers when we hear them say, “That’s a great idea boss. I’m glad to be part of your team. You can count on me.” We laugh at them, but who keeps getting what we want????

 

Don't beat brown-nosers, join them!

While reviewing the key words that people search to find this site, I discoverd that the phrase 'beat brown-nosers' comes up quite frequently. I find this interesting because it says that people perceive Brown-nosers to be some sort of a threat; otherwise why bother trying to beat them at anything?

My thoughts on this are very unambiguous.  People want to beat brownnosers because they are winning the game.  What most people fail to recognize is that these corporate brown nosers who are schmoozing the boss and getting ahead are using critical business and people skills that the rest of us need to master. The only way you can actually beat someone at their own game by actually playing the game!!  DUH!!!

Education and Brown-Nosing

Just today I was speaking to a student who proclaimed that she didn’t need to read my book about brown-nosing because she was getting a masters degree and once she had that she would be able to write her own ticket. I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble but anyone who has spent any time in the corporate world can tell you that education does not necessarily make you a success at work.

Your education helps. It helps you perform better at your job. It helps you understand the organization. It helps you think. It helps you see things in new and different ways. It helps you solve problems, assess risk and manage processes. But it cannot make up for people skills and it cannot make up for the brownnosing skills I’ve been writing about ---- visibility, positioning, networking and connecting.

Yes, her degree is a ticket.  But this student fails to see that the degree is simply the ticket that she needs to be allowed into the game. A masters degree may be an upgrade from an undergraduate degree which brings with it a few more perks but once allowed into the game you still must know how to play.

 No amount of education can make up for a deficiency in personal and social skill but there are many people out there who have these skills and who are quite successful without much formal education.

After all, education doesn’t make you smart, it just makes you educated. Don't ever forget that it's not about the credentials you have, it's about how you  use those credentials to further the organization's goals and objectives.

Think about it ---- 

Linda

Diplomatic Brown-Nosing

I received an email from a student today that is a brilliant example of how to position a 'concern.' 

I teach adults who have chosen to come back to school to further their education and further their careers.  Because many of the students already hold responsible and sometimes impressive positions they are often more enlightened about organizational behavior, office politics and the skills that brown-nosers use to get noticed and get ahead.  This student was no exception.

His previous classwork had taught him that there were a handful of leaders in this class and he included himself in this group.  If I placed him on a study team as the only leader he feared he would end up carrying a greater share of the work than would be fair.  How he expressed this concern was truly artful.

A New Beginning

My morning routine has always been to spend some time in quiet reflection and though this morning seemed no different, indeed it was.  Yesterday, a dear friend of mine informed me that he did not receive a promotion that he had coveted for a very long time.  He called seeking some advice.  "What should I do now?" Good question to ponder...

When someone earns a position that you believe should have gone to you, how do you handle yourself?  Do you throw your support behind the new boss or leader or do you quietly criticize and undermine his or her authority?  Do you recognize that for some reason, known or unknown to you, the new boss has something that company leadership believes to be valuable to the future of the organization? Do you try to get to know the new boss a little better so you might learn what this value might be?

The new boss needs your support to achieve the organization’s objectives.  Once you recognize this, you must become an ally and supporter.  As such, you will be someone who works in support of the company’s goals and objectives.  This support can position you in a favorable light to those who have influence over your career.  This doesn’t mean that you become a “yes” man or woman blindly agreeing with everything the new boss suggests; after all, as a wise friend and mentor once told me, if you agree with the boss on everything then apparently one of you doesn’t need to be there.  Your perspective adds value and your support can also include disagreeing in a respectful and diplomatic manner.

But at the end of the day in the corporate world, as in politics, the military and government, the boss is the boss; he or she is the one who will ultimately be held accountable.   Your job includes making sure you do what you can to help him or her succeed because your career success is ultimately tied to the organization’s success.

I suggested this to my friend and though he was disappointed, he also seemed to instinctively understand that he had a few things to learn about the game of work.  How's your game? 

Think about it….

Linda

P.S. More tips about playing the game of work can be found in Brown-nosing 101: A career survival manual for the rest of us.  You can pick it up here.

Another Natural Born Brown-Noser

I've already written about my friend's son David, a natural born brown-noser, but I have to share another story.

I was just invited to spend some time over the Thanksgiving holiday with my family in Savannah and am reminded that I have not spoken my 'pseudo' nephew Alex (my cousin's son whom I've known from birth) since he returned from an internship in Bangladesh this past summer.  I look forward to catching up with him. 

Alex has been called a 'BS'er' by everyone who knows him.  He doesn't think much about it - he simply smiles widely and clearly feels very comfortable being who he is.

A while back, when I reminded him that I was writing a book on Brown-Nosing, he offered these (few) words of wisdom.  "I BS and brown-nose because I want people to feel good about themselves and I want them to feel good about me."  Whoah!!!  Beware, all of you,  who will be competing with this guy in a few years!