The Consequences of Not Self-Promoting
There is a fundamental mistake in sales, in business, in life, that I continue to make repeatedly. Quite frankly, I STILL often catch myself making this mistake, even though I’ve felt the repercussions many times. I don’t know if it’s how I was raised, my natural disposition or because I’m a woman but I’ve always believed that if I work hard and strive for excellence, people will take notice.
That’s right folks, the mistake I keep on making is…not self-promoting!
Many people have an expectation that if we do right, we will be rewarded. I don’t mean to brag here (ALERT…self-promotion to follow…), but I was really good at school…did my homework on Friday nights, tippy-top-of-the-class, student council co-president (uncontested…) good. Classic overachiever…and it was rewarded with good grades, excellent post-secondary opportunities, and ultimately a job with a reputable company. This is what the traditional pedagogy of education teaches us, we are all being measured on an absolute basis and those visible measurements will get us places!
When I got to the workforce, something strange happened. I realized the people getting ahead were the ones who were having coffee with the department head, asking pertinent questions at the employee forums, and announcing their successes on the company intranet. Not that they weren’t also working hard, nose to the grindstone, but they were doing something ON TOP of that. They were self-promoting! So I adjusted, not only did I work hard, I found subtle ways to talk about my work.
Then a few years back, I found myself in the running for Valedictorian of my graduating EMBA class. Prior to nominations, I had spoken with various people in my class and expressed my interest in being the Valedictorian. Those I spoke with encouraged me and a few folks actually took themselves out of the running in favor of giving me the opportunity.
Nomination day came around and I was the first person on the list. After my name was up there a long pause followed before others started adding others to the nominations. I was thinking to myself, “This is great! People know I want to do this!” I was clearly the front-runner. I…had self-promoted!
The next couple of weeks passed and I thought nothing of additional campaigning approaching the vote. I was confident, people had endorsed me, I’d already verbally secured their votes! Then the morning of the Valedictorian announcement was upon us…
I did NOT win…
One of my classmates and consequently good friend had won the nomination. While I was happy for him, I wondered what had transpired; I felt distinctly out of the loop. I later came to realize that he had campaigned hard, sending emails and having one-on-one discussions with almost everyone in the class. This was something that mattered to him, so he went out and worked for it…by promoting himself!
Ultimately, it was my own fault that I didn’t get the Valedictorian role. Once again I had failed to self-promote beyond the initial nomination. Lesson noted…again…lesson noted.
These past few months, I’ve found myself in a new department at work where I have fewer connections, am doing a job a little outside of my skill set, and am a manager of two very hard-working individuals. Now not only does my ability to self-promote affect me, but it also affects my team. The stakes are higher…and this time I’m going to try and not learn this lesson the hard way again…
