Tips on playing 'the game' at work

I start my new job today after being promoted to Supervisor. The best way to get noticed is take no time off , do lots of overtime and don't moan - just do your job. When staff start coming up to you all the time for advice then your nearly there. When management start asking you for advice then you've cracked it and its just a case of playing the waiting until your promoted.

It might be different where the OP works. I'm at Nissan UK.
 
I've usually end up as the "go to guy", which has it's downsides - but on the plus side when moving around a big company you get to know plenty of people who are more that willing to take you on when you get sick of your current position.

Make yourself desirable across multiple departments & you will find that your current boss will value you more (as your name get's dropped into meetings in a positive way which in turns makes them look good).

Earn a reputation as delivering before expected (by giving them inflated ETA's, then beating them) - manage expectations & make sure they understand how much work you have on (but not in an excuse making way).

Be polite, firm, fair & accommodating - seems to work OK for me so far (regarding promotions).

Also - don't be a walkover, but don't be one of those problematic people either.
 
[FnG]magnolia;22503656 said:
Make sure that your ducks are in a row and that you're singing from the same hymn sheet. Never settle for the low hanging fruit.
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And remember to touch base a lot, even if you've taken the matter offline.
 
elmarko1234 said:
Sounds like a plan, going forward lets do that.

I'm sure we can think of more before close to play today.
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I'm on a work conference call right now and the amount of nonsense people are saying along these lines is nauseating...

"We all dialled in for that week in September?"

"Do you want me to get him teed up for you?"

"Can we leverage her? She's a great resource."

**** this, I'm going to go leverage a sandwich...
 
I hate 'business speak' or more precisely 'meeting speak'

I have been in a (waste of time) meeting where someone actually said "amorphous blob" I mean wth?!

Basically it's the art of using as many words as possible to say something where 3 would have sufficed.
 
Urban Dictionary said:
Leverage

A buzzword used by management and those who aspire to become management. It used to describe an advantage gained by using a tool. Later it became a term used to describe corporate debt. For example, a leveraged buy-out is one where the buyer has to borrow money in order to buy the other company.

After much mis-use, the word leverage no-longer describes anything or have any meaning to anyone who has ever worked in an office. In business circles this word is most commonly used in place of the word 'use'.

Steve: Can we take this off-line, I'm hungry. I'm going to leverage a sandwich.
Paula: Great idea, I could also leverage some food.
Steve: Come on then, we can leverage my car to get to the sandwich leverager.
Paula: Good leverage, we should leverage your leverage so we'll leverage
Steve: Leverage
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Meridian said:
Everywhere plays the game, it's just a slightly different set of rules in each place. If think that you aren't playing the game, it's just because the rules in your place suit you. Or it comes naturally to you. The only way to stay out of the game is to be a company of one.
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Or find somewhere that's meritocratic, where responsibility and accountability are rewarded.

I suppose where I work does suit me - fair point.
 
Crimefighter said:
Joking aside, this is how people speak in my company....in a non-ironic way. :(
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Same.. :(.

The worst thing is, I use the correct terms (instead of the business lingo) - now others are starting to use them in a "business lingo" way (all the time & when it's really not needed).

1. You either use business lingo & become what you hate.

2. Speak articulately & accidently create more lingo (become the next stage of what you hate)

3. Or finally don't use any big words (or business terms) & have people think your an idiot who can't even pick up basic business lingo & get passed for promotion.
 
There's a handful of mistakes that us lot in the IT industry make, that will hurt your chances of getting ahead in the "game" (in certain industries).

Typical IT view "I don't understand why I need to socialize - I mean I'm a developer what does it matter?"

Generally managers will look for staff that form strong relationships with colleagues and customers. This might not seem like part of your job, but it's really essential. Even if your in front of a keyboard streaming out lots of C code it's still an advantage to network with people. The benefit for the company is that you may meet new customers, potential new staff members, people that will do you a favour.

Typical IT view "That manager hasn't got a clue about IT, why should I listen to him? I'm going to tell him exactly how project XYZ should be done!"

IT is litered with arrogant staff. 99.99% of the times when I'm dealing with seniors they haven't got the sllightest clue what the hell I'm briefing them on. BUT it's critical that they side with me (to some degree) in order for the project to continue. Does this mean pandering to them? Damn right it does, I don't like it, but 10 months down the line when you put a budget request in for 100k of new kit and they have to sign off on it - you can be absolutely certain that the ground work you put in will have some effect. To be honest the more senoir you get the more of this you need to be doing - winning around senoirs to your ideas is absoutely key to getting up the chain

Typical IT view "Okay I've just pulled an all nigher and fixed problem ABC. I've told my supervisor, job done, I hope they give me something for all this extra work"

This probably frustrates me the most. IT folks can be shocking at comms. In this case if you've fixed something then definitely tell people. This doesn't mean CC'ing half the planet on an email saying how amazing you are. It just means informing key stake holders about what you have done, why you did it, what the outcome was, how you could mitigate aginst the same problem in the future and any intermediate steps on route. If you don't tell anyone ever about what you do then don't expect them to remember it.

Typical IT view "I've got my CCNA and blah blah surely that's enough to justify a pay rise / no pay cut / not being fired"

Qualifications are nothing without experience. If you're arguing for more money argue based on examples when you've saved the organization you work for money, time or effort.
 
Reading this "game" nonsense is just depressing. Do we really have to stoop to such pathetic shennanigans just to keep a job these days? I feel lucky to have escaped this crap frankly.
 
Theophany said:
And remember to touch base a lot, even if you've taken the matter offline.
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When I first started working at my current gig, there was a meeting going on at the desk behind me at someone's computer, and when the phone rang a woman in the meeting answered it and said "Sorry he can't talk right now, he's MID STREAM with something.". I just thought WTF? The caller obviously did too, since she had to repeat it. So somehow it's become acceptable here to compare being busy with something to urinating.
 
The Funktopus said:
Reading this "game" nonsense is just depressing. Do we really have to stoop to such pathetic shennanigans just to keep a job these days? I feel lucky to have escaped this crap frankly.
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Same here. Isn't most of it just in very large organisations / public sector though?
 
^ that's my experience of it, yes. In smaller companies it just can't happen because there isn't layer upon layer of management for the BS to accumulate.
 
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