In previous posts I've hammered the point that people need to know you to insure that you remain on the radar screen when choice jobs, assignments and projects come around.  Equally important is understanding who in an organization can make things happen for you and who you need to know.  Watch Brownnosers in action — they are masters at this.  You should be, too.

I heard a great story last night from a friend who spent just under 10 years in the military.  Just before he left home his Dad gave him some great brown-nosing advice.

"Son, no matter where you go, not matter where you are stationed around the world, there are three people you need to get to know immediately.  Get to know someone in the mess hall.  Then get to know someone in supply, and then get to know someone in the company commander's office.  That way, you'll always have the food you need, the supplies you require and most important, information."

This guy's dad was teaching him some basic survival skills which aren't much different than those  needed for survival in Corporate America, or for that matter, in any organization on the planet!  Understand this and you can move from survival to thriving in very little time.

At work, you need nourishment.  You need to nourish your mind, you spirit and your career.  Who are the people likely to provide this nourishment?  Who can give you challenging work, make you feel like you are valued for what you bring and most important, who are the key influencers who can make a difference in your career?

At work, you need supplies.  Not just pens and paper and stuff like that.  You need resources — access to people, ideas, materials, software, data, money.  Who has the ability to allocate these resources? Without resources you can't do much beyond your job. AND, if you've been following anything I've been saying you know that you must find a way to go beyond your job in order to make a lasting impression and create some visibility for yourself.  Who are the people who can provide you the resources you need to make this happen?

And finally, at work, you need information.  How much further ahead of the curve could you be if you got wind of the fact that your department was being eliminated, downsized or expanded? Or what if you knew about a new product being considered before everone else?  Or that there was trouble with a key account?  Knowing information allows you to position yourself to take advantage of the coming changes OR to help you mitigate any risk to yourself.  Information is power.  It has been that way through all of time in any organizational structure – government, politics, corporations, not-for-profit entities – all operate this way.  The more (accurate) information you possess, the more your value goes up.

Take a look around.  Take the time to learn who these key people are in your organization.  Then put your plan in place to get to know them. Just remember that in order to establish and leverage these relationships you must be able to connect with people and you must bring something to the relationship.  These people will want to know why getting to know you should be important to them.

Think about it —

Later, Linda