Terry Starbucker wrote a great blogpost on 10 Surefire Ways To Impress Your Boss (and get what you want). As he notes:
Be on time. Nothing, I mean nothing, is more penalizing than being habitually late. There is a lot of truth to the saying “90% of success is showing up” – that is, provided it isn’t after the appointed hour.
Keep your promises, and over deliver too. This is like mom and apple pie, I know, but getting the boss to trust you explicitly is absolutely critical. You need to be counted on when the pressure is on.
Display common courtesy, especially by returning phone calls & E-mail. In this day and age, doing this consistently actually makes you stick out. Those Thank yous and I’m sorrys add up in the “who’s a better person for the promotion” derby.
Show quiet confidence, and take “can’t” out of your vocabulary. A little positivity goes a long way out there...
Use the language appropriately – both verbally and in your writing. Bad grammar and spelling is right up there with punctuality as promotion killers. Proof read your stuff – and use spellcheck. It all matters!
Disagree and challenge respectfully. You can disagree with the boss, or even say “no”. Just be prepared to back it up, with a statesman-like flair. But if the play is called and it goes against you, despite your feelings you need to move on, and execute. There’s no pouting in the conference room.
Focus on the task at hand like a laser beam. I know it’s really hard these days to put down the Blackberry or stay away from E-mail, Twitter or Facebook, especially on conference calls, but when the boss is talking, stay focused.
All these suggestions would work well for our students also. In fact, I may tweak Terry's list and put on a future syllabus!
You can access the entire article here:
Delaney, Thanks for the link! I can certainly see the application of these points to the student world. I only wish I followed them when I was in college! :-)
Thanks again, and all the best!
Posted by: Terry Starbucker | February 06, 2010 at 01:42 PM