They say you should never stop learning. When I look back at my career, I learned a lot of important lessons early on – and I continue to learn important lessons to this day.
As a communicator, you work with senior managers – right up to the top of the house – early in your career. One of the best pieces of advice I was given early on was to never, ever, ever annoy the president’s assistant. Because she (and sadly, it still usually is a she) runs the world. While that may not technically be true, she does control access, and without quick and easy access to the “big cheese” you can really get sidelined. It really is in a communicator’s best interest to make that relationship work – and work well.
I’ve often given that same piece of advice to young communicators who have begun their career working for me. Some have looked at me as if I’m mad. Others seem to understand, and not surprisingly, they’re the ones who can get things done without hitting roadblocks.
I’ve learned to listen at least twice as much as I talk. Not only does that help me write in different leaders’ different voices, but it ensures that I understand enough detail to get the job done. And hopefully, it halves the chances I say something inappropriate!
I’ve learned that good enough is sometimes – well, good enough. While you always want to bring your A-game and do your best, there comes a time when it’s more important to get the job finished than to stress over the finer details that are the equivalent of “higher quality than the customer requested.”
I’ve learned to value my strengths, how to play them up, and how to recognize my weaknesses and build a team around me that provides what I lack. Case in point? People assume all communicators are creative types. Me? Not so much. But I can recognize the germ of a great idea and I can make it happen. My challenge is to make sure I give credit where credit is due so my colleagues and those I work for know who came up with the idea in the first place.
I’ve learned the value of balance. While I struggle with this one to this day, I think that overall, I’m getting better at balancing the needs of work, of family and of self. There’s still a way to go, but the journey has begun.
I’ve learned that I bring value to an organization. This is another tough one for those of us who aren’t as self-secure as we make out to be. There was a time in my life when people closest to me didn’t celebrate my accomplishments but chose to belittle and demean my triumphs.
Fortuitously, my full-time return to the workforce after years of freelancing coincided with a boss who took the time to make sure his people felt valued and appreciated for their work. It came at exactly the right time for me, and my self-assurance grew. Communicators typically only get feedback when things aren’t going well, so I do try to make sure my team knows I appreciate their contributions and take time to celebrate their accomplishments.
I’ve learned there is more than one way to get the job done. I know I have had colleagues who think I’m not aggressive enough. That I don’t push my viewpoint strongly enough. Perhaps they’re right, but I usually take a more collaborative and subtle approach and nine times out of ten, I get where I wanted to go. I just did it my way.
I’ve learned I’m resilient. Through plant closings, environmental incidents, self-employment, rotating leadership, project difficulties, sales and acquisitions, I’ve managed to keep my head above water and get the job done. Although I sometimes worry about this elasticity as I age, I’m still bouncing back.
I’ve learned to manage not up but around. On more than one occasion, I’ve reported somewhere that makes very little sense on paper – once I ran a Communications department that reported through Finance! I learned it makes very little difference where you report to on paper, so long as you build relationships throughout your organization. Solid lines? Dotted line? No lines at all? It’s all workable, if you want to work on it.
I’ve learned to keep growing and to be true to myself. I blogged recently about the books Lean In and Thrive and my thoughts on the two authors’ approaches. I clearly align more with the latter, and it’s taken me a long time to be able to say that without feeling as if I’m not “serious enough” about my career.
Perhaps most importantly, I really have learned never to stop learning. In some place in your life, there should always be something to learn. If not, it’s time to challenge yourself. Some of my more recent challenges have little to do with my actual job, but keep me interested in life and learning. And that makes me a more valuable employee at work too.
What have you learned lately?
