Brown-Nosing 101

Careers, Agendas and Brown-nosers - Hope is not a strategy

I had a very interesting discussion with a student last night who was concerned that brown-nosers have an agenda.  I can understand her point and am happy that she gave me the opportunity to set the record straight about my position on brownnosing.

For those of you who have just discovered this blog, if you only read a few lines or posts you might think I am advocating that you forget about doing a good job and just try sucking up to get ahead.  No - that's not what I'm suggesting at all.  In fact, just the opposite.  I'm suggesting that you do an excellent job, be more knowledgeable about your boss and his objectives, the company and its objectives, the industry and its trends, issues and opportunities than anyone else you work with.

I advocate becoming a problem solver instead of someone who calls himself a 'realist'  (which is simply a way of saying that you think you know more than everyone else and won't support people, concepts or ideas that aren't in alignment with your personal position or perspective).  I am adamant about the fact that you must understand the skills that are required to work effectively in an organization and then you must use  those skills to further your own agenda.

Yes, I said YOUR agenda.

Brown-Noser's Don't Let Their Credentials Fool Them

I teach adults - people in their 20's to 50's who are returning back to school to fortify their resumes and get some additional education to keep themselves competitive.  Last week, a student who is about to graduate came to me and asked, "Can you give me some advice on how to position my request for a raise now that I have an MBA?"

"Yes," I replied.  "Go back to work and do something that builds your company's business.  Then take that success and walk into your boss's office and show her what your education means to her and the company."  The student looked at me as if I was clueless. She mistakenly believed that the degree alone made her worth more. 

When you watch competent brown-nosers at work they rarely go around patting themselves on the back and asking for hand outs simply because they have a credential.  They make themselves useful which, in turn, gives them some corporate visibility.  They know that their own development builds the capacity of the organization but increased capacity has no value to the company if it doesn't build the business. 

Choices as Brown-nosing Power Tools

In his book, Running From Safety, one of my favorite authors, Richard Bach, advises that choices are power tools for creating a successful life.  As you think about your career goals I suggest it might be a good idea to review the choices you have made in the past. They are, after all, the reason you find yourself where you happen to be today.

I also advise that you look around at the brownnosers in your workplace and try to see what choices they have made. If you happen to like their career trajectory then you might want to think about incorporating some of those same choices into your plan.

To the unenlightened eye the choices that brown-nosers make may seem shallow and self-effacing, almost embarrassing. But if you look closer their true skill is in the ability to figure out how things get done in the corporate world, or should I say, who gets things done in the organization.  Then they leverage their skill at connecting with people and positioning ideas to take advantage of this understanding.

As we slide into the end of the year, it seems to me that you have three choices when it comes to work:

1. You can choose to accept the fact that brown-nosing is not always quite what you think it is and you can learn a little brown-nosing skill of your own.
2. You can choose to hang onto your somewhat naive notion that education, smarts and good work alone will get you where you want to go and ignore any evidence to the contrary.
3. You can recognize that you should learn some of these skills but opt out, even if you know it would be in your best interest to play.

All three choices have consequences. Which will you choose?

Think about it ----

Linda

P.S. Learn more about these brownnosing tools in Brown-Nosing 101:  A career survival manual for the rest of us.

 

Should you Brown-Nose?

One of the things I like most about teaching is that I get to hang around people who are smarter than me.  As a consequence, I'm always learning something. 

I recently had the opportunity to give a Brown-nosing 101 talk to an undergraduate organizational behavior class.  My colleague - I'll call him Steve - asked me to share some of my passion for this effort. 

When he introduced me he told the students that I was there to help 'flatten the learning curve' so they could benefit from my experience, observations and research.  The talk went well and I received a good number of questions which is always a good indicator that people have taken what I said to heart. 

After class, Steve suggested that I use my breast cancer diagnosis to help people understand that just because they now know what these brown-nosing skills can do for their careers doesn't automatically mean that they should go back to work and start using them.

What would a brown-noser do?

I've categorized this post as Purpose of Work because in all of our careers - our lives- there comes a time  when some event pushes us to examine how we spend our time.  One of those events came for me a little over three years ago when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.   The big "C".  Swell.  The good news is that we caught it early so my prognosis is excellent.  But I must admit I was stunned at first. Once the shock wore off I realized that I was more determined than ever to make every moment matter,  since I don't know how many of them I have left.  Do any of us?   Do you know how many of them YOU have?

This is the very reason I decided to tackle this subject - brown-nosing.  Sounds like an odd subject to wrap a mission around but  in my time out there in corporate America I have seen too many people become angry or disappointed, even depressed about their jobs, their careers and their futures simply because they believe that others - brownnosers - are out maneuvering them in the world of work.  This anger, disappointment and depression seems like such a waste to me - a waste of talent, life, love, mission, purpose.

Why a career book on Brown-Nosing?

A number of you have asked me how I came to think about Brown-Nosing 101, so let me share the tale, here.

For about 10 years now I  have had the privilege of teaching graduate courses in marketing for a local University. During one particular class, I stood in front of a new group of students and asked the same opening question: “Why are you here? Why did you decide to come back to school?” And, like every other year and every other class, the responses were predictable:

•  “I’ve spent years trying to get my boss to listen to my ideas, but she always says they won’t work. I know they will. I’ve seen them work in other places. Clearly, I’m not getting anywhere with her. I figure there must be something I don’t know.”

• “In my company, it’s not what you know  but who you know that matters. I don’t know anyone. I’m a peon. I’m not sure this [a graduate degree] will help, but it certainly can’t hurt.”

• “Here’sthe thing, Linda. My boss is an idiot. I’m an idiot, too, but the difference is he’s got an MBA and I don’t. So I figureed that if I got an MBA, maybe I could get a promotion and show the rest of the company that I’m an idiot just like he is. After all, it works for him!”

• “I’ve been told I have good ideas but there never seems to be enough money to get them implemented, even though we’re constantly introducing new items and starting new projects. Clearly, I’m doing something wrong. There is some kind of game being played, but I can’t figure it out.

• “It seems that there is an ‘in crowd’ that gets all the promotions and raises and I’m not part of it. I hope that with a graduate degree people will want me to be part of that crowd.”

•  “I’m tired of being passed over for promotions. The only people who seem to get ahead in my company are those brown-nosers who spend all day sucking up to anyone who will pay attention to them. I’m going to get a graduate degree and move to a place where my talent will be appreciated.”

As I moved from student to student, the stories were the same ones I'd heard over and over in my teaching career—so familiar, in fact that I came close to tuning them out since I had heard them all before, repeatedly. And then, in what can only be described as a moment of enlightenment, it occurred to me – “These people don’t know how the game is played!"

Brown-Nosing Behavior and Getting What You Want

As I sit down to write this there is a 100lb. Rottweiler staring me in the face.  Loosha is smiling and panting and pawing me with all the affection she can muster.  Lying on the floor behind her is Kayla, my Shepherd/Greyhound mix and Strider, my Chihuahua.  They are acting aloof but are well aware of the game that is now being played between Loosha and me.

You see, it is shortly after noon and typically I give the dogs a treat at this time.  Once Loosha figured this out, she began to use my intention to her advantage.  At approximately noon every day (don't tell me they can't tell time), she will track me down and begin her brown-nosing game. 

First, she gives me a big, wet, slobbery kiss.  Then she insistently paws at my hands, which are usually on the keyboard, until I stop what I'm doing to pet her.  She continues to smile and give me kisses, acting as if I'm the only thing on the planet that could ever make her happy.  I'm not fooled. I know this is her way of reminding me that it's treat time.

Today it was very apparent that I had seen this same brown-nosing  behavior for many years in the corporate work force.

Brown-Nosing and positioning negative information

I had a great question in class last night. A student asked, “What if there is a problem someplace at work and you have an idea how to fix it – would you actually make the recommendation if it meant that someone might be offended or insulted because the problem is in his/her department?”

My response was an unequivocal --- Yes, but…

This is a classic example of how the concept of positioning is critical to building alliances and relationships at work. In this case, if you can position your idea in terms that are non-threatening and that actually make the problem department manager look good, then you will not only have shown your astuteness but will most likely make an ally in the process.

 This isn’t easy but can be done if you understand the department manager’s goals, objectives, issues, idiosyncrasies and agenda. This requires some work on your part to understand the dynamics of the workplace. Successful players and certainly brown-nosers do this all the time. Does this look like what brownnosers do? Suck up to others rather than ‘telling it like it is?”

I’m not suggesting you don’t tell it like it is. What I am suggesting is that a little social and communication skill on your part will go much farther in making YOU look good. After all, these are skills that are critically important as you move up the corporate ladder.

 Think about it….

Linda

P.S. Brown-nosing 101 is finally available!  Click on the Buy the Book tab at http://brownnosingonline.com.

 

 

Breast Cancer Blues and Brown-nosing

Breast cancer awareness month is good news and bad news for me.  Good news because it means that we continue the work to understand this disease but bad news because it reminds me that I am a member of a sorority that I did not pledge.  I am reminded of my ordeal just three years ago.

I couldn't believe that less than one month after being diagnosed with breast cancer I was having trouble remaining focused. Oh my God, I thought...I'm human! What a difficult way to learn this lesson.   Of course, a diagnosis like this made me spend some time thinking about what it means to be human and in line with my objective here - to bring my message of competent brown-nosing to the world of repressed talent - it also caused me to reevaluate how I might use this adversity to that end.

I've been spreading my home grown brand of brown-nosing through this blog for a while now and even this cancer experience has shown me how these four skills - gaining visibility, connecting, networking and positioning - are used by all of us all the time. For those of you who can't imagine using 'brown-nosing' skill to further your own agenda, let me share a real world example from this experience.

Brown-Nosing for Breast Cancer Research

No doubt you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Here is a story from my past that will illustrate how little things can make a big difference when raising your visibility and connecting with people. This one comes courtesy of a group of students who completed a marketing class with me during a particularly difficult time in my life.  It is short, but poignant.

I finished a class that was conducted in a hybrid modality - the first and last classes were held face to face with students on ground at the campus and the classes in between were held online.  This particular class was somewhat difficult because the night before I was to meet the students for the first time I learned that I had breast cancer.  After virtually no sleep the previous night I arrived early Saturday morning, April 29th, and needless to say, was not on top of my game.

In a posting in the online classroom several weeks later I shared  what had been transpiring in my life and as might be expected, several students made it a point to continually connect with me to ask how I was doing.  There was never any doubt in my mind that their concerns were sincere, so clearly they were accomplished students of the L.S.Teza Brown-nosing method - i.e. show sincere concern for others before you think about what might be in it for you  (visit www.brownnosingonline.com to learn more).