Tom has been on the job as an assistant manager in the shipping department of a 250 employee manufacturing company for the past six years. He knows that all of his direct reports like him and he believes that he has a great working relationship with his colleagues and his supervisor. His last performance review listed a few items Tom needed to work on but he saw no red flags. Tom knew that most of the work was shipped on time and that which wasn’t was due to a slip up in some other department. Over all Tom always thought, “I’m doing my job.”
Tom was stunned when he reported to work on Monday and was given his walking papers about 5 minutes after he got there. He never saw it coming. When he told his wife later he described the firing as a “total surprise,” like getting hit by a train.
In business, surprise is never a good thing.
On the job, with your boss, with your customers, and your co-workers, you need to know what makes them happy, what keeps them wanting more and better from you and how they are constantly evaluating you. They are all always constantly evaluating you.
Here are some of the things Tom should have been doing.
- Your job is to make your boss look good. Know what the boss needs to accomplish and help make that happen. Simply “doing the job” was not enough for Tom and will not be enough for you.
- Tom made the rookie mistake of wanting his direct reports to like him. He should have worked to gain their respect.
- Ask for frequent feedback. When it is positive ask for details about doing more; when it is negative, ask for details about what was missing.
- Know how your boss will evaluate you, how the people the boss depends on for information will, and how your customers will evaluate you.
- When any work relationship begins to drift (people avoid you, you are no longer invited to meetings, people change the subject when you show up, etc.) take some action to put it back on track.
- Know that the skills which brought you to your present position will not be enough for you to advance with. Always be learning and growing.
- Know how what you do fits into the entire company, have a strategic picture.
- Get really good at everything you do: be indispensible.
- Practice getting the skills your boss uses and needs so you can grow into new positions—at this company or elsewhere.
- Get known inside your company and beyond.
- Guard against the four “internal demons” which plague us all. Ego, envy, greed, and hubris will doom you and you won’t see them coming. You need other people to keep you aware.
The boss certainly could have given warnings and handled the situation differently in many respects Perhaps s/ he should have, However, it is always the employees responsibility to be aware of his/her position.