Meritorious work counts, but only comprises one piece of a large complex
puzzle that determines success in your organisation. Photo/FILE
Fotosearch
By Scott Bellows
Posted Thursday, June 6 2013 at 18:22
Posted Thursday, June 6 2013 at 18:22
In Summary
- Research shows if you increase your non-substitutability in your organisation and strengthen your position of power, not only will you enjoy job security, but also receive faster promotions.
Thomas curled his lips in anger. Sweat started
dripping off his forehead. Thomas used to just smile and conceal his
unhappiness. However, his displeasure at his workplace increasingly
became harder to hide.
In Thomas’ mind, he failed to understand why
Jacinta kept getting promoted instead of him. “Surely she receives
promotions because of her gender,” Thomas thought to himself, or “maybe
she enjoys patronage because her relative runs the company”.
How many of you see what appear as injustices at
your workplace? How many of you dream about a world where men and women
obtain promotions purely on the basis of the quality and quantity of
their work? Those of us in Kenya know better than most of the world the
realities behind human psychology in the workplace.
Meritorious work counts, but only comprises one
piece of a large complex puzzle that determines your success in your
organisation.
Today we focus on how employees may obtain their
own power. So in our above example, Jacinta possess multiple contingency
powers unknown to Thomas.
She first made herself non-substitutable to the
organisation. The organisation became unable to imagine substituting, or
replacing, her with anyone else.
There exist four methods to increase your own
non-substitutability at your place of work. First, strive to
differentiate yourself compared to other workers. If all other workers
leave the office at 5pm, then you should leave at 6pm.
If all other employees bring their lunches to
work, then as an alternative you develop the habit of going out to lunch
with the boss. Instead of copying your co-workers as a way of fitting
in, you should rather find ways of standing out for positive reasons.
Work in a different style. Dress better. Socialise
more effectively. Whatever method you choose for differentiating
yourself from the others, do it consistently and gain a reputation in
people’s minds for that positive differentiating behaviour.
Second, attempt to control the tasks in your
department. Show through your actions that you possess capabilities of
getting the job done every time. Become the bridge between other
departments, other supervisors, and other employees and the tasks that
require completion.
When you stand out as the employee who bridges the
gaps and controls tasks, even if you do not do the tasks yourself, you
increase your non-substitutability in your boss’ mind.
Third, control labour where you work. Perhaps your
organisation maintains a workers union, staff council, or staff welfare
board. Utilise the opportunity to speak on behalf of other employees.
Work diplomatically in such a role so that
management does not see you as a complaining representative, but rather
someone reasonable that brokers deals and gets things done in motivating
other employees. Perform well controlling labour, and expect management
to soon actually promote you among their ranks into management itself.
Fourth, control knowledge. Start by understanding
your company’s business, market, and clients. Then learn your clients’
businesses and markets. Look for gaps where others lack knowledge of an
area.
Next, start to control knowledge sharing at your
company. Even offer to manage content on an internal webpage for
knowledge sharing.
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