How to become a high flyer in any organisation? 11

[prc]

One will find employees with same qualification starting at same age reaching different levels in an organisation with in a few years.What are the qualities that distinguish a high flier from others? If we can list up these, the same may help youngsters starting a career.Remember Peter Druckers' "The Effective Executive"

 

[prc]

moltenmetal, You are right.Before we think on the attributes of a high flyer,we must define a high flyer.Thank you for your thought provoking insights.I think a high flyer shoud have be a combination of all the three targets mentioned by you.Let me give you a star.

 

[spongebob007]

I would also add that what it takes also depends on where you are in your career path. For instance the advice to step up and take on tasks to make the lives of other engineers easier seems to me to be better advice for people who are in the earlier stages of their career. I am not a manager, but as a senior staff member, my manager does ask me for feedback on how less senior engineers are performing. I do assign tasks that are part of my projects to junior engineers and I really do appreciate it when they come to me and ask if I have anything that needs to be done. So remember, although you don't technically "work" for engineers like me, we do provide feedback to the boss.

I would also add that hard work misdirected is worth as much as no effort at all. I have found one of the best was of becoming a "star" is by directly impacting the bottom line. If you can make or save the company money, that will get you noticed. It doesn't need to be an elaborate idea either. For instance at my current job I found a big money saver after being on the job for just a few weeks. We do most of our machining outside with one vendor. When I spoke to the vendor I found out that his machine shop is equipped with all of the state of the art machines. I learned that when we send him drawings he takes our drawings and converts them to 3D models for programming the machines. We pay for this as part of the setup time for the job. How stupid is this? Our drawings are generated from 3D models, and we pay a vendor good money to turn our paper drawings back into 3D models for his CAM software. We determined that he could use or 3D models directly. This was a very easy cost savings in terms if both time and money. Very little effort went into this.

Effective communication can not be over stressed. Many engineering managers are idiots who barely know your name, let alone what you do. It took me a good number of years to realize that there are very few good managers out there who really engage their employees and have any handle on what is going on. If I wait for my boss to come to me, well, I am going to be waiting until performance review time, and I might not like what I am going to hear. I make an effort to keep my boss informed about what is going on. This is especially important of you do something good that is outside of your assigned tasks. This also gives the boss a feeling that he is important. Sometimes I go and ask him questions I already have answers to, or seek his advice (even though I know what to do and have no intention of listening to his advice anyway) just to keep him engaged and make him feel important.

Communication is important across all levels-peers and subordinates as well as your management. People who are well liked will generally do better than those who are disliked even if they are just as smart and work twice as hard. Like it or not, life is a popularity contest to some extent.

 

[moltenmetal]

spongebob007: "hard work misdirected is worth as much as no effort at all" - thanks, that's a new favorite of mine!

 

[evelrod]

I would also add that hard work misdirected is worth as much as no effort at all. I have found one of the best was of becoming a "star" is by directly impacting the bottom line. If you can make or save the company money, that will get you noticed.

In '97 my crew netted the company some $250,000 for the year. I even got a really nice bonus come Christmas time.
A few 'up and comers' took offense at that and since upper echelon management is not static, one managed a very high job appointment...high enough to see to it that I was out of a job by April '98 !!! No problem, after 38 years, I just retired. "I don't need no stinkin' job", comes to mind. Best decision I ever made.

Rod

 

[EngineerDave]

I wish I knew. I hate to be cynical but in every job I've been in I have thought I knew the best approach but I've fallen into the same trap which might be best left for another post.

1) The idea of working harder to help out the more senior people has always been my approach. While it seems to be appreciated at first, it becomes something that people take advantage of. Finally and in all of my jobs, I start to take on more and more until I reach a sort of breaking point. The breaking point normally means I get stressed, I make some errors that are criticized and i get pissed. I feel little respect and start to look for a new job. I realize the problem is very much my own and I should have a more proactive viewpoint but unfortunately I haven't solved this particular situation and it is even present in my current job.

On top of that I have always admired this particular boss for his work ethic. But working extra hard won't always impress such a boss since they work extremely hard to. What impresses him is this sort of natural brillance one of my other less diligent co-workers has.

I think this has something to do with the fact that for some people, we are sometimes only impressed by attributes we don't already hold.


2) Taking on the high profile jobs is a smart idea. However this can't always be done as effectively if you are already employing strategy 1. If you do, do it, you'll find yourself working an extradorinate amount of extra hours and getting bitter.

3) Smoozing the boss is always good. Backstabbing a co-worker or two never hurts. Following the moods of your boss and agreeing can only help.

 

[HgTX]

I'm assuming #3 above is meant as humor, but there's enough truth to it that I feel like I should address it.

Sadly, schmoozing and being a yes-man can work with some kinds of bosses. Not the kind of boss one ideally wants, but the kind of boss that does exist.

Backstabbing the co-workers, though, can backfire. I've run into people who think they can make themselves look better by putting others down, but I don't think even other backstabbers buy into that when they see it in someone else. The worst offender I know eventually failed to get a promotion that he'd kind of been on track for, and I suspect that complaints about his backstabbing behavior had a contributing effect. More passive forms of backstabbing like claiming credit or failing to credit will, sadly again, work in many environments.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[KENAT]

The problem with the 'backstabbing' type approach is that to do it well you have to be really sneaky etc., you don't want anyone to know you're the backstabber, or at least maintain plausible deniability. Many Engineers aren't good at this.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[carnage1]

Hmm im 6'1 225lbs, sneaky just doesn't seem destined to fit

Luck is a difficult thing to verify and therefore should be tested often. - Me

 

[controlsdude]

its what you know
knowing that you will get the job done quicker
find tools to get the job done better
don't be arrogant, I hate arrogance, might still like the arrogant person, but arrogance turns me off completely.
don't reinvent the wheel, we know your smart

 

[TheTick]

evelrod:

re: bonus envy
I would just once like to hear a company owner say to such a whiner, "F#¢^ you, it's my money and I'll do what I please."

 

[evelrod]

Well, Tick, that was ten years ago, but I got some degree of satisfaction from the experience....retirement is much better than I ever expected...I picked up an 'under the table' job with an air compressor service company for four years...the VP that saw to my exit got fired two months later. AND, to this date, no other supervisor/forman has gotten any where near my bonus....double smiley...

Don't ya just love it when a plan comes together?

Rod

 

[stanier]

Depends what you mean by high flyer.

If you want more respect. Quit and come back as a consultant. You get the money in your hand and the chance to work for other companies. The level of respect paid to you will beyond your highest measure. Just look around you at any 'experts" who are brought into to consult.

You are always at the cutting edge because of the spread of ideas.