In the competitive corporate workforce, distinguishing yourself positively is a top priority for many employees looking to move up the ladder. But what are some of the best practices for making a positive impression and solidifying your standing in the office? Join “Can You Hear Me?” co-hosts Eileen Rochford and Rob Johnson as they discuss “How to Stand Out at Work.”
In the competitive corporate workforce, distinguishing yourself positively is a top priority for many employees looking to move up the ladder. But what are some of the best practices for making a positive impression and solidifying your standing in the office? Join “Can You Hear Me?” co-hosts Eileen Rochford and Rob Johnson as they discuss “How to Stand Out at Work.”
Relevant Resources
Simon Sinek's: The Optimism Company - Is Your Boss a Horrible Person? Plus: The Key to Standing Out at Work [LINK]
Can You Hear Me?: The Importance of a Personal and Professional Brand [LINK]
Kraig Kann - "Can You Get Our Attention?" [LINK]
Rob Johnson: [00:00:19] Hello again everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Can You Hear Me podcast. I'm Rob Johnson, president of Rob Johnson Communications. [00:00:26][7.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:00:27] And I'm Eileen Rochford, CEO of the harbinger Group marketing and strategy firm. Here on Can you hear me? We always try to provide a solid bit of advice and communications, and career advancement today is no different. So we know that many of you are constantly thinking about how to distinguish yourself at work and make a positive impression on your bosses and colleagues. Well, today we will dive deeper into how to stand out at work. [00:00:52][25.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:00:53] That's right Eileen, a recent article on LinkedIn titled Is Your boss a horrible person? Plus the key to standing out at work? The first part about the boss may take another episode, so we're not going to focus on that today, but we are going to focus on the part about standing out at work now. In this article, Simon Sinek quotes Tessa White, the author of The Job Gospel, who discusses several things that really caught our eye. One of them is not taking your job description as the gospel, pointing out that someone in HR wrote that description simply to get someone to fill the role. So don't take it so literally. And perhaps more importantly, here the article discusses White's advice about flourishing in the gap. Now that means recognizing those opportunities and work with fresh eyes and remembering them then within your own sphere of influence, figuring out how to address them, unquote. And she gives some examples, like listening closely to your leaders and seeking input from other departments. And so that's a really good way to start this, I think, Eileen, because we kind of tee it up with what Tess's advice is, and she's obviously thought a lot about it, having written about it. And as we sit there and think about those gaps, like, where are they? You know, everybody's kind of on the same road, where are those little gaps that I can take advantage of and be a difference maker? And certainly listening closely to the expectations and what your leaders want and then seeking input from other departments, that's collaborative. [00:02:14][81.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:02:15] It is those little gaps, as Tessa put it. Those are the places where often, particularly early in your career, you can really distinguish yourself. So watching and keeping a close eye, listening very carefully for challenges that your team is experiencing or your whole company may be experiencing, is how you can tune into what are those gaps, where are they? And then apply your own knowledge and skill set to thinking through oh, how could I be a difference here? As you put it? I love how you said difference maker Rob. That's perfect because that's really what you're looking for. And I personally right now since it's May when and it's, you know, new kind of let's call it new recruit season. Lots of folks who've just graduated from college are coming on the market and coming into new careers, particularly those in communications. We care a lot about, right, making sure that those folks get on a good path. So this is a bit of our advice, like find, listen for the places where you can be a true difference maker. I've got an example of, person here on our team. We use a tool called My crack. Crack seemed to be producing, not the exact, results and the searches that we established for a key client and a key campaign that was running, and we were just having trouble figuring out why, that was occurring. But frankly, there really wasn't someone on the team who had time to dig into it and figure it out. And this new, professional decided to just dig, dig into it bigger, spend their own time honestly, to work real closely with a representative from a crack. And within three days the whole thing was resolved. And it would seem like something that really, you know, wasn't critical. We weren't failing because we weren't getting the returns on the searches that we thought we would get. But what we didn't know was how much better we could be operating if we did have the right returns. And it was night and day. The difference once they had resolved this for us. So, I'll, I'll use that as an example of the type of, you know, flourishing in the gap, like recognizing, oh, that's something that's a a trouble point. This Muck Rack example I just gave, maybe I could dig into this and help, even though it's not specifically within my job description, because honestly, it wasn't within their job description, but it made a huge difference. You know, seemingly small problem went away. And that resulted in creating lots of new opportunities and successes for us. So we really appreciated that. [00:04:45][150.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:04:46] And I think you've also referenced to me personally, the great young professionals that work behind the scenes that, can you hear me, who you know, you'll say, hey, let's think about this or try that. And then they go off on their own and they heard what you've said and they they've been creating things, some things you've asked for and some things you haven't. So the really creative problem solving, skill set seems to be working there as well. It seems like that's related that. [00:05:09][23.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:05:09] That's absolutely great. [00:05:10][1.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:05:10] Example do something. You do six things and you're like, well okay thank you. That's that's you're going to be successful at whatever you do. [00:05:16][5.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:05:16] Yes. Our listeners, and then people who see us on social probably know that not very recent past, we introduced a brand new identity. That's, you know, the. Can't you hear me? Brands. What the colors we use, what our logo looks like. Everything. All of that was the product of the mind of one of our interns, who's a senior in college right now at Loyola. And she did just a fantastic job literally taking the bull by the horns. [00:05:45][28.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:05:45] Yeah. Bravo. Yeah. [00:05:46][0.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:05:46] Completely above and beyond. You know, the scope of what we had asked for. Just all kinds of additions of. Well, and I thought about this, too. And what if we start adding new content that is blog based that supplements, you know, the storylines? [00:06:01][14.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:06:02] And I'm sure our listeners are seeing and hearing that as well. If you're if you follow the can you hear me, LinkedIn page or whatever. I mean, we have the podcast like this, but in the middle they came up with, hey, why don't you all, you know, to create new content, interview each other and talk about things? And they're releasing that kind of, as an addendum to the, the, the actual podcast that we're going to. And that was all I mean, that was really them being, you know, the really creative problem solvers. Like I was saying, I wanted to say one of the thing about the advice from, Tessa and that is listening closely to you, really. And I think we're going to talk about listening later to that, that then people thinking, oh, they repeating themselves. No, we're trying to drive a point home because sometimes you think you know what people want, but you really have to listen to to what, let's say, leaders want or your bosses want, or sometimes you have to listen, and they may not be as clear as you'd like them to be. And you. And sometimes you're like, they should I be, you know, if if it if it comes down to doing more work or setting yourself apart like we're talking about, we're not talking about, you know, running yourself into the ground. We're simply talking about looking for the gap, the opportunity. Oh, I think they were saying that. And the second point was about seeking input from other departments, because that is collaborative. And sometimes people work in such big silos or like, well, I just do this. I just do that every time I've been part of a successful organization, whether it was working full time or whether it was consulting, people were like, listen, we all have our job description. We know that. But when push comes to shove, we're all a team and we got to get the job done and we got to help each other out. So to those two points, I say, you know, spot. [00:07:33][90.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:07:34] On and thanks for bringing those up. In particular, listening. I appreciate that you honed in on that right away because listening is something I don't know. I've no matter how long I've been working, I am constantly reminded to close my mouth and open my ears. Just me personally, like it is. Those are the moments when I learned the most. You know, asking questions certainly elicits good responses, but just allowing someone, even after the first question you've asked, just allowing them to keep going, the things that we learn from those exchanges, if we had just kind of bulldozed in and kept flapping our lips in our gums on our own, we never would have learned those things. It's a lifelong skill in development skill. As I'll characterize it, you never stop developing your skills, when it comes to listening. So great reminder, something that I tell myself almost every day to be quiet and listen more. And those are good days when I can't remember to do that. [00:08:34][60.2]
Rob Johnson: [00:08:34] And I was just trying to make sure that I was listening to you talk about that experience the whole time. Because I'm a talker. I love to talk and share things with people, and I too need to remind myself, know when you're especially when you're trying to assess things or clients or colleagues, whatever the case is, just listen. Yeah, take some notes, mental notes, real notes, whatever it is, and and then have something, you know, to add. [00:08:57][22.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:08:58] I have noticed that younger, very eager professionals also, love to be problem solvers. And that's what we want to see, right. And diving in to act on the things that they heard is a natural reaction. It's it's instinctual. Almost. Right. Absolutely. So the advice here just underscoring the listen closely guidance is also specifically, geared toward younger professionals. You'll be even more valuable if you resist the urge to act right away. And the first few things you heard and listened to, the whole story, or the whole challenge that's been laid out for resolution before you move into action mode, even though we love to see, get up and go and eagerness, you know, to pitch in, just remember, you still get the opportunity to do that. But first dedicate your energy to listening and hearing the whole situation. Because what you do in response to that understanding or with that understanding will be it's just that much valuable, more valuable, I should say. [00:10:04][66.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:10:04] Collect as much information as you can. That's what listening is. It's sitting there hearing what people's pressure points are, where they're, you know, maybe, weak spots are blind spots, I should say. And and you're going to be able to help them better. The more you listen, the more information you get from. Them, the better. You are going to be able to help prescribe what you need to do to before. [00:10:21][17.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:10:22] That's right. Okay, so let's move into, more bits of advice that we want to share, particularly in terms of how communications, and different parts of communications can help you stand out in your career and in your current position at whatever company may be, particularly if you are new to the working world. A lot of this will be quite useful for you guys. So we wanted to share. We've talked to people who are relatively new out there in the working world, especially in the marketing industry. And Rob and I have also just, organized, collected our own reflections. So we're gonna run through those now. So, the first is a big one. It's also probably one of the more time consuming it is to intentionally build your LinkedIn presence on a daily basis. As you can imagine, if you are new to the working world, your network on LinkedIn is going to be much smaller starting out. And that's normal. That's totally. Yeah, you would expect that. I see lots of folks right now who are seniors in college who were, you know, helping to mentor, spending time with, who have not yet built their networks very much at all. They may have 50 connections on LinkedIn. Well, I think in your first three months as being a professional, setting yourself a goal for increasing your network to at least 300 is a very doable goal, especially if you work on it every day. So, Rob, let's let's talk about some of the best ways to build your LinkedIn, expand your LinkedIn meaningfully and intentionally. On LinkedIn, I see you doing something that I love. So I'm going to highlight that okay. You share a video of yourself every day with a thought for the day, every week. [00:12:06][104.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:12:07] Yeah. Every once. [00:12:07][0.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:12:07] Every week. It's so often once a week I see it a lot and it's great content. So tell us about that. What inspired you to do that? [00:12:14][6.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:12:14] Well, first of all, we had we had a, an episode many episodes ago about LinkedIn and algorithms and things like that. So there are a few things people need to be really mindful of in terms of LinkedIn. And I've learned a lot of this from you, frankly, Eileen. And that is, the the constant drumbeat of original content, content, it's okay to repost what other people do, because then you're building a network and you're supporting somebody and maybe they'll support you. That's I'm not saying don't do that. I'm saying if you want to grow your network, LinkedIn is going to reward you by doing putting out original content that is your own. And then I started thinking about all the advice that I would give my clients. So I started doing this. I put them out on Thursday. It could I've done it on Wednesday, I've done on Friday. But I try to keep a pretty normal cadence and I decided, okay, I've done video for years, you know? I know what I need to say. I always tell all my clients, you need to be incorporating video wherever you can, because people will watch it more frequently. And then based on other experiences we have with clients, you know, you don't want to do a two and a half or 3 or 5 minute, opus on whatever topic it is. And so I was like, you know, I'm going to do I'm going to take a little bits and pieces of my career. Some of the things I've done in terms of being a communicator, and I'm going to give you 30 good seconds. It's like one thought, and here's just something to think about today. And it's not really meant to sort of like, you know, on occasion, I might put the website below if, if anybody ever wanted to have a follow up conversation, but I'm not sitting there trying to like, hey, call me at no, no, no, no, no or email. It's just like, here's a thought this and it's showing my subject matter expertise and it's and it's giving you just a little idea. Is it going to like, blow your socks off? Probably not. Is it going to be additive. Is it like. Well, I didn't think about that. That's a really good thing to think about. That was my goal. And now I've done like 10 or 12 of them and I do them once a week, as I mentioned, and I develop a good cadence. And much like we come up with ideas for can you hear me in advance? I'm sitting there like, all right, two, three, four out. Where am I going to be that week? Where am I going to be that Thursday? Oh, I'm going to talk about this that time or I'm going to be, you know, I was just, you know, and back in March, it was it was, timely because I was able I was at a friend's charity golf tournament. I was working in Palm Springs for like 4 or 5 days, and I was, you know, I had palm trees in a lake behind me, you know, and I was like. And I was talking about doing something bigger than yourself, supporting friends, you know, caring about charity and supporting your friends who do it as well. That was my thing that I shared back in March, and it had value. And so anyway, that's that was just the thing you were asking about. That's kind of how it all came about. [00:14:43][148.5]
Eileen Rochford: [00:14:43] Oh that's great. Well, it's a number of things that stand out about your example. That, that I'll, I'll point out, I guess you're using video, which is a core expertise of yours. So you're taking the opportunity to show off that core expertise. That's great. You're also showing how great you are on camera, which, you know, not everyone knows that about you. There's plenty of people in lots of markets who do. But in this new kind of iteration of your professional career, you're showing that off. And that's a big thing that you bring to the table. So in addition to that, people are engaging with that content. I see it, they like it. So the more you do it and the more consistent your cadence is, then the greater your engagement levels become. And sometimes it can feel like you're talking, you know, into an empty forest and there's absolutely no one there listening to you. But the more you keep at it, this is what the advice for particularly new professionals. The more you keep at it, the more people will pay attention. And the third thing, or maybe it's the fourth, I don't know. I've lost count. The thing that comes through in your content that you post weekly, Rob, is your personality, which is wonderful. So really engaging. People can just, you know, they you're very likable person. So utilizing this video aspect on LinkedIn is a great way for you, to help people get to know you. So this is advice that everyone can follow. Find the thing that you're really good at. It might be on video. It might not. It might be graphics. If that's the thing you're awesome at. And you might be. [00:16:12][89.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:16:13] It might be, you know, I mean, you. [00:16:15][1.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:16:15] Might write your own lengthy article, long form, just really well on LinkedIn, but just commit to doing it on a regular basis so that, as Rob said, it's something original that's coming straight from you. And on the other days of the week, make sure that you pop in there at least once. You know, even if it's 15 minutes, you're on there, you're liking, you're commenting on other people who maybe you're following because you admire them, or they're within the industry where you want to advance. So you're kind of making them aware of you. And then, like I said, share their content, comments on their content and take the step of looking at when LinkedIn recommends you, other professionals who you might like to know or who are similar to your profile, or a there's all different things that they, you know, tee up to you. Spend five minutes going through that and write a personal connection and grow your network. I've set a goal to grow my network this year by another thousand people. Now that's a lot, right? That's like a yeah, that's, you know, less than 100 month, but still it's a lot. And to do that, I am spending time intentionally every day reaching out, sending comment or sending content, messages, things like that. Out to people who I want to know for different reasons. And every time I notice that someone who isn't directly connected to me commented on something that I posted, or a comment that I left on another person's post or something on LinkedIn, if they're not connected to me, I send them an invitation to connect request as soon as I can. So it's just being very aware of activity and intentional of your time that you spend on LinkedIn and putting that into your calendar. [00:17:48][93.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:17:49] And I will say this about you. You have the harbinger group, LinkedIn, you have the Eileen Rochford link, and we have we have the Can you Hear Me podcast LinkedIn page. And you really need to think about it instead of, oh, they're telling me to find the time like I'm a list maker. I write a list, I cross them off when I get them done and when it's time to do my thought. The video thing that we were talking about, I write that down on a Thursday. If I'm doing it on a Thursday or if it's, you know, spend time on LinkedIn, you need to set aside that time just like you would for anything else. Because if you say, well, I'm going to try to find the time and then there's five minutes or 2.5 minutes or whatever the case is, I find myself, you are so good at what you're talking about. Just just then about spending the time and doing that, that a lot of times it's a nudge to me like, hey, Rob, comment on this or do that or whatever, you know, and and what's up with The harbinger? What's up with Eileen? You know, it doesn't have to be related to what we're doing together here on the podcast. It could just be me supporting you and, you know, you supporting me, but but your presence is sometimes for me, a great, like, motivator, like, oh, I got to catch up there. Oh, that person commented on something we did and and Eileen and I need to, you know, just spend that time doing it. And the last thing I'll say, because I know we gotta move on to some of the other great advice we have here, is you were talking about building the audience. I have a dear friend of mine who is an attorney, and he writes about PCB litigation, very specific stuff. He puts out, lawsuits or he puts out opinions about them. And it starts off and 1 or 2 people are liking it, and I'm one of the two people. And that was several months ago. And all of a sudden it's like 7 to 10 and 10 to 12. And sometimes, you know, maybe a couple of dozen. I can see him naturally growing his network, even though when he first started doing it, nobody was commenting because you didn't have a presence, he didn't have a presence. Now he's building it. It's not unless you go viral for some reason, it's going to be incremental growth, and you can't get dissuaded because 500 people didn't like what you said. [00:19:47][117.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:19:47] Yeah, that's an excellent example. Thank you for sharing that. It's, kind of like the tortoise in the hair right now. You just gotta finish it. Yeah. Do the work and you'll get so. [00:19:57][10.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:19:58] So we could talk about that for probably another 30 minutes. And maybe at some point we'll be like, hey, let's focus on LinkedIn again, because that's where so many people are spending their time professionally. But we do need to move on. And this next one's fairly simple, Eileen, but you'd be surprised how many people don't do it. And the next thing that we talk about when you want to, you know, stand out at work is make sure that you ask for what? You want and what you need. [00:20:18][20.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:20:19] Yes, it's the best advice I was ever given. And I'm so sad that I can't even recall who gave it to me. But it made a massive, massive impression. The. And since then, every person I've ever manager mentored. It's one of the first things I say to them when we're getting to know each other and especially in, you know, kind of like that, one on one meetings and reviews. Ask for what you want and tell us what you need to be successful. They're not always going to know everything. Especially, you know, younger folks in their careers won't know. But you probably have a sense, whether you realize it or not. So asking for what you want. Sometimes that applies to I feel very strongly that my contributions in this organization warrants a raise, a raise maybe bigger than the one you got. Or maybe it's not even within the raise cycle, but you've done something tremendous. [00:21:08][49.2]
Rob Johnson: [00:21:09] That's if that's. [00:21:09][0.3]
Eileen Rochford: [00:21:10] If that's what you feel is right. Press it and you've really reflected on it. Don't ask for it. I've definitely done that a number of times in my career. And it paid off big time, literally. So especially, to younger folks and I will say younger women ask for what you want, ask for what you deserve. You you have so much worth and value, so make it known. And then in terms of what you need, if you need more time and an assignment, if you need some time off because something happens, you know, in your life, just ask for it. You're going to be a better, part of the team by doing so. Muscling through when you're sick, muscling through when you've had a tragedy. It's just not a good choice, you know? And don't let anybody kind of tell you otherwise. Take that time. It's your time. You deserve it. And by creating space for the things that you need when you come back, you're going to be just better at your job. [00:22:03][52.9]
Rob Johnson: [00:22:04] So and I would agree, as a as a boss extraordinaire yourself, it's it's nobody wants to miss a deadline. You see people like oh I missed a deadline. It just makes you look bad as a, as an organization, right. Yeah. But if but if I say to you, Eileen, I'm having this, this and this, I'm not going to make that deadline. You're going to be like, all right, how are we all going to pick it up? What are we going to do to to to solve that problem? If, you know, on the front end is the boss, you're going to be a lot more. You're going to show a lot more grace than you would if somebody tells you, you know, three hours after the deadline, oh, you know, this and this and this happened. And that's why I missed it, because then you all look bad. So just ask for what you want. Ask for what you need. [00:22:41][37.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:22:41] Simple as that. Pay attention so that you're asking far ahead of a need to change a deadline. That's the only caveat that you're asking at the last minute is just not okay. Okay. You know, no point. It's just truly not. So stay ahead of things. And if you can see down the line, this is these things aren't lining up. We're going to need to move these two priorities down and this one priority up. And we're going to move this deadline. Put those pieces together and be the person who raises the flag. Yeah. All right. So our next piece of advice of how to stand out at work, is the lack of time face to face. So in this age of the constant virtual meeting, it can be really hard to get face time. Face to face time, I should say, like real. You're in front of me face to face time. [00:23:27][46.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:23:27] Exactly. As opposed to face time, which is also virtual. [00:23:30][2.3]
Eileen Rochford: [00:23:30] Yeah, exactly. So it's your colleagues, your mentors, you know, people higher up in your organization. Yet that time together is so it's just enormous the impact it can have on your career. So my my guidance here is be the person to initiate some time physically together in the same place if this is possible. I know not every job it's boss of course, but if it's not, substitute it with just one on one coffee time in your own private, you know has to be video based. So it is. But, you know, at least you're getting together privately without whole teams, and you're getting the benefit of, getting to ask them things that maybe you wouldn't ask in a formal project or business based meeting. It's just social time. Let's get together. Let's have lunch, let's have coffee. Let's get to know each other as human beings and establish a bond that couldn't be there otherwise. And you'd be surprised. Right now, I'm seeing people do this, and I'm usually, you know, I've got a pretty packed schedule and my life's a little full. But when I'm being asked to spend time with whoever it may be, whether, you know, you know, people who are in college who are asking for some career advice, whether it's people in other organizations or nonprofits who are just wanting, you know, to see, maybe if my network can help them. They asked to have a meal, and I realize I'm dying to do that, that that's going to be so much fun. Yes, let's go do it. Whereas, you know, the last couple of years I wouldn't have prioritized something like that as much. But now things are changing, so take advantage of it. People want to be together. You, you'll score points because it's flattering when someone asks you to go spend some social time. Honestly, it is. And you think that those higher ups and you're going. And don't have time for it, but you would be surprised how they'll make time. It really makes you stand out so you never get done. Yeah, yeah. [00:25:25][114.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:25:25] Don't be deterred by oh, it won't work now or whatever, but if and then you're not going to be a pest about it. But if you don't let one time like, oh gosh, they said no. So that means no forever. It means people are busy. And there might be another time where there is a moment or, you know, you follow up with them again and maybe that works or doesn't work, but then they're like, hey, I remember we were talking about going to have a coffee together. Let's, you know, do it here or here or there. And I've always been way better, like in person than I've been on the phone. You know, video meetings are fine, you know, but I really value that because I feel like you get so much more. And I was just thinking about this. We're talking about colleagues, mentors and organizational leaders. You and I went to, lunch back in March with Rich Jr instead. Who was one of your mentors, as I recall? Oh, yeah. That's right. And, he was head of Golan for years, right? Yep. And and then you're with me. So you and I were friends, were colleagues. You know, we do this together, and you're with your mentor. And I just met him, and we had a lovely time. [00:26:23][57.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:26:23] And it. [00:26:24][0.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:26:24] Was just such a it was such a wonderful time to spend you and me together. Yeah, but also with Rich. You. You and he have a, you know, a rich history, pun intended. But it was just it was terrific. And I learned so much. I mean, there were things that I knew about you, that I learned more about you. But even that we know a lot about each other. But like for Rich, I learned so much about him, and it was fascinating. And so, yeah, it was one of those things like, hey, let's make it work. And we did. And it turned out to be gold. So that's just an example of that, I suppose 100%. So the next one we need to focus on here, and it's and and you and I talk about this a lot and I know that I am a firm believer in it is overcommunicate about the progress of your work, the feedback you might need, the advice you need before. Remember, we're talking about final deadlines. Don't wait till you know the 11th hour. Make sure you're, you know, kind of thinking a little farther out. It's very important. People think, oh, I, you know, share too much. Their do they need to know every little nuance of what you did know. But if you think you need to bring up something and you're like, well, I don't know the answers, you do. [00:27:24][59.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:27:24] Yes. [00:27:24][0.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:27:25] If you say, I'm thinking about communicating with Eileen about that, she probably doesn't want to know about that. Wrong. I'm going to communicate it. And you should. Whenever you're at that crossroads and you think you should communicate it, you should definitely communicate. [00:27:37][11.5]
Eileen Rochford: [00:27:37] Yes, yes. Well, ahead of time is the best advice we can give you for sure. You know, the one thing I'll say when you are soliciting feedback or advice, you need to remember that the person you're asking the question of isn't responsible for doing your job. So have you. Before you ask the question, have you really thought through, how far can I take this before I have to ask them a question? Have you gone and sort out, you know, whether it's an organizational drive to find information that might help you answer the question or get maybe 50% of the way down the field if you haven't tried to do that first. And again, this is very much geared toward, you know, younger professionals, the advice that we're giving. But I really feel that, you can become annoying if you haven't done that thinking first. Right. Because you're if if you're not yours, frankly, not doing your job, which, you know, you got I always remember what's my job here? How can I do this on my own to the degree that I can before I have to go and ask for feedback and advice? If you've hit a roadblock, it might just because you be, because you haven't thought about it enough yet. So spend a little time, think it through. Try and follow the path. You know, of researching information that could help you get where you need to be again, at least partially. And then if you're truly sitting there and don't know what to do, don't seek feedback from your direct manager or whoever. Internal expertise within the organization may be able to help you every time. But just remember, you do have to try and take it as far as you can first and demonstrate. I've tried this, I've tried that, I went here, I went there, am I looking at the wrong place? Is there somewhere else I should go? That kind of thing. So we want you to initiate by asking for feedback and always over communicating about your progress. For sure. Always, always, always. But remember you're going to be taking it to the well too many times if you're not first reflecting on what could I do to move this forward before I go and take time from someone in the organization who's like my manager or otherwise. [00:29:37][119.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:29:37] Look around that corner. If you can see, trouble on the horizon, look around that corner and not at the last second. [00:29:43][5.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:29:43] Yeah. That's right, that's right. Okay, so here's another bit of advice on how you can stand out at work, especially when you're newer in your career in communications. Be the person to raise your hand and say, I can do that. I can take on more projects. That's going the extra mile. I mean, you hear that phrase all the time, but you don't always see it as much anymore. And I don't mean it's because, you know, people are choosing to work less. That's not why I think there might be some fear or reluctance, that resides in that space that's keeping some of our younger professionals from feeling like they can. Do that to say yes, I want to do more. So. Remember, you always have to meet, you know, your responsibilities and your deadlines and the projects that you already have in your workload and do that work to the highest quality. But finding the space to be the person who raises their hand and says, I can take on a little bit more responsibility, that sends a big message to everybody in the whole company about who you are, what you're capable of, and how much you want to be a part of that place. And it just it feels really good to do it, too, because you're stretching yourself. You're seeing, you know what? I can actually do more than I thought I could, and I took on a project or solved the problem, you know, saw a need that nobody else did. And I made a big contribution. And that feels really good. And it boosts your confidence. [00:31:01][78.6]
Rob Johnson: [00:31:02] The only thing I need to say on this is what we talked about earlier, when you were referencing the people in the harbinger group, interns and new professionals that were asking, listening to what the needs were and then going and not only executing what you asked for, but beyond what you or I would be asking for as it relates to the podcast as well. That's exactly the point. I think that we need to to to make about this. It's those people that are doing it. So to me, that's that was the that was a perfect example that we shared earlier. That really illustrates exactly what you're talking about. [00:31:34][31.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:31:34] Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Those kinds of things. Be the person who shows up and offers is, I think, the basis of the advice we're given here. So there's one other thing that I want to, throw out here. And we'll attach this as a template in the show notes. This is what's what is called in a lot of different realms has different names, but we have boiled it down to a couple iterations, the monthly outcome charter or even the 90 day outcome charter is the world's best tool to track your contributions and make sure you're you, are you and the person who manages you. So your direct manager, whoever it is you know, who conducts their internal review you to use this in conjunction with one another. You create it in conjunction with one another. So it's got four quadrants. The outcome one, outcome two, outcome three. And then the fourth is professional development. So outcomes are things that you're responsible for making happen. creating producing an outcome. Right. So and then underneath each outcome there's yeah three, four maybe five specific bullets that articulate. So to make sure that that outcome happens here's what I personally am going to do. So I'm personally going to write ten blogs in the next quarter or 2 to 3 blogs in the next month. That's an example, right? If you were responsible for increasing, you know, the thought leadership content produced by your organization, that's one, you know, one example. So the the beauty of an outcome charter, particularly if you are new to the workforce, is you you don't there's the removes the ambiguity of what's my job. It's very clear. So those are the things that you know you need to accomplish. And then if you're cranking out you're doing great. Then, you know, I've got some space here where I can go and fill the gap that we didn't get earlier. [00:33:23][108.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:33:24] I can go volunteer for a little extra. Yes. Yes. So it all it's all related. This is all intertwined. [00:33:31][7.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:33:31] It is so clarity. It creates clarity and outcome charter. And again we'll attach a template in the show notes. [00:33:38][6.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:33:38] It would be good to see for sure. [00:33:39][1.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:33:40] Awesome tool. So simple. You wouldn't believe it. but we're loving using it on our team and it's really boiling things down to where where should I be, whether I'm new to this industry or I've been in it for 1520 years, where should I be spending my time right now? What's my priority? [00:33:58][18.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:33:58] And nobody can say, oh, I didn't know that I didn't have expected of me because you're like, nope, we got the quadrants right here. Here they are. Yeah. [00:34:04][5.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:34:04] Right. And the fourth quadrant professional development, it's it's an outcome in itself in a way, but it really puts an emphasis that 25% of your time or 20% of your time, I'm going to read things that help me advance in my career. I'm going to listen to things that help me advance in my career. Or maybe I'll even take a short certification course. You know, build in half an hour or three days a week so that by the end of the month I've completed a certification, that kind of thing. So. So that way you're also demonstrating to the people in your organization. I'm a lifelong learner. I'm a continuous learner. I want to be great in this industry. I'm going to do the things that need to be done to keep me great. So sends a big message. [00:34:41][36.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:34:41] Good stuff, good stuff. Here's one I think you've heard of before. Earlier in the podcast, I said we might bring it back up and that is to listen. I don't think we need to probably give a ton of color around it since we already did. But again, it's so overlooked sometimes as a really important skill set. Just make sure that you're a good listener and you're going to just like I said, you're going to accrue so much information and you're going to be so much more useful to the people you're working for or with. [00:35:05][23.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:35:06] Yep. I remember we had a podcast. I don't even recall what the episode was, but it talked about how I was told you need to listen more. And I was pretty young and I took. The advice that someone gave me, which was attach a rubber band to my wrist. And every time that I wanted to jump in and say something, I was just going to snap that rubber band. Right. [00:35:23][17.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:35:24] So did you have red marks all over? [00:35:26][1.7]
Eileen Rochford: [00:35:26] I did, I did. It was for like the first year. There was always a rubber band on my wrist. So. Anyway, so there's a I'm bringing that back from the archives because it's a good one if you need it. If you're like me, it's a good one. You're really impulsive. It might be helpful. [00:35:40][13.6]
Rob Johnson: [00:35:41] And when you're talking about being a good listener. And I've been very careful, like, I don't want to talk over here because I'm trying to be a good listener. I'm sitting here telling everybody to be a good listener, but I need to exhibit my ability at this moment to be a good listener. [00:35:52][11.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:35:53] Yes. It's very hard, isn't it? Yes. Okay, so finally, as we wrap up this awesome episode, we want to talk about a bit of advice from Kraig Kann of the Kann Advisory Group, a communications expert and former guest of this podcast. He said, and we noticed this on LinkedIn, and I just loved it. He said, quoting here, appreciate the interest others take in your professional journey. So it might feel like, especially when we're younger, that people are supposed to be into what I'm doing because that's how it is. The spotlight's always been on me. My parents always loved everything I did, like teachers. I always loved everything I did. Or maybe not always, but, you know, they're always paying attention. You get the idea. Remember, as you go along that that is a gift. It's jewel. It's precious. Be really appreciative of everything that people do to help you, or even when they share something of yours on LinkedIn, which is a very simple gesture. Acknowledge it. See the ex reply right. Send the thank you note. I've had so many great moments in the past couple months where people are once more sending thank you notes, and I'm loving it. So that's that's the advice we wanted to highlight. [00:37:05][71.9]
Rob Johnson: [00:37:06] I think it's I think it's so important because, you are you are taking interest in other people. You know, they're taking interest in you and you should be taking interest in them. And you were just talking about the thank you and the please, and there's just a way to do it. Sometimes people that are high up the, you know, organizational food chain, forget that people, you know, want to have people they want you to be interested in them. And when you're when you're reminded, when you ask somebody for something, it's easy to say please and it's easy to say thank you and it's easy to show interest. And Kraig is really, hyper focused on and I'm proud of him. And just just like you and I partner together and do work together. I'm working, as a partner, with Ken Advisory Group, and we're doing workshops. Communication workshops. We were he's starting a broadcast talent coaching business that we're kind of developing, you know, here in this in the spring. So it's very exciting. And I have such high regard for him, but he is keenly aware. That's the other thing, too. This is it's kind of an EKU thing. And I think a lot of really high achievers have it. You have it, he has it and it's being aware of others. [00:38:08][62.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:38:09] And it's being. [00:38:09][0.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:38:09] Aware of of who's out there and what people's needs might be. And if you don't know what they are, then you ask. So I think that's a really great, point that you made there. [00:38:17][8.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:38:18] Yeah, I love that he put that out. And, it was in a post on LinkedIn and the words, deeply resonated with me. Appreciate the interest others take in your professional journey. Very good reminder. And someone had done that for him, and I'm sure it was done for him lots and lots. But it was nice of him to highlight the moment in the piece that was done about his career. [00:38:36][18.9]
Rob Johnson: [00:38:37] Yeah, no. No question. Well, that's a lot to chew on, I know, but that is going to do it for another edition of Can You Hear Me? I'm Rob Johnson. Now, if you'd like to weigh in on the podcast or give us an idea for a topic, please contact us at our new Can You Hear Me podcast page on LinkedIn. [00:38:52][15.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:38:53] And I'm Eileen Rochford. Thanks to everybody for listening. If you liked this show, please consider giving us a review on any of the streaming platforms where you can find Can You Hear Me? Apple and Spotify and many more, because your reviews help other smart listeners to find our show so we can really use your help. Thank you. We appreciate it. [00:38:53][0.0]
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