You may have noticed that all four of the brown-nosing skills I've mentioned here – Networking, Connecting, Positioning, and Visibility – are virtually always used in conjunction with the others.  They work together in a seamless attempt to garner you some favor with those people that have the ability to make something good happen for your career.

When you speak up in a meeting you create instant visibility as well as position yourself as someone who has something of value to bring.  Your words position your idea in a manner that you believe will be beneficial to others and as a consequence you make a connection with them.  Your ultimate objective is to get a promotion or pay raise or prestigious assignment, but your approach has others in mind.

When you take an idea to your boss, you connect with her on some personal level in an attempt to insure that she will actually listen to what you have to say.  Then, you position your idea in terms of what is in it for her.  Your intention is to be considered as someone with potential to think bigger than your own job, but your approach starts with how to make others look good.

If you want to be considered for a new project you search around to determine who has the power to make that happen.  Then you do some networking in an attempt to get closer to that person. Using the power of other people's contacts your process includes making strong connections with people who can get you in front of the decision maker.  It is then imperative that you make a strong connection with this person so you are offered the opportunity to make your case i.e. position why your presence on the project would the right thing for him (not you).  This gives you a degree of visibility so even if you aren't selected for the project you've made some good contacts (and hopefully some good impressions) with people who could help you when the next project rolls around.

As you can see, these skills work synergistically and you can't use one without using several (or all) of them at the same time.  Consequently, you must work to hone all of them in the context of the culture in which you work.

Yes, here's the rub — HOW these skills are used is dictated by the culture in which you work.  If you are relatively new to this game, you'll need to do a cultural 'audit' to learn how the game is played in your organization. 

How do you learn about the culture?  Next time….

Got to go….Linda