Have you noticed how restroom art is getting more interesting?
More and more, I notice elements that capture my attention beyond the room’s basic function.
Last weekend, I was surprised by this poster in the restroom of a coffee shop in Boulder (image below). It reminded me of a conflict many scientific leaders face:
Balancing the priority of doing the work versus speaking up about it.
For many of us, the natural tendency is to just do the work, the best job you can, and assume that your good work will speak for itself. These tendencies are reinforced by our scientific training and sometimes by our cultural background.
On the diagram, this puts us in the “martyr” category – high work, low talk.
Even though martyr isn’t a word I’d use, I’ve seen it in action. Doing your hardest, best work doesn’t always net out the recognition or impact you want. It’s easy to get frustrated, to feel unappreciated, to notice someone else taking the credit, and then to double down in the same pattern.
Because goodness knows you don’t want to become a “charlatan” – all talk and no results.
However, martyr implies powerlessness to act. I don’t believe that. Communicating for impact and recognition is a skill that can be learned, especially when you get rid of unhelpful mindsets about speaking up.
During my own career, I learned to speak up about the value of my work in several important ways (and now guide my leadership coaching clients to do so themselves).
1) Making sure that people who need to be are clear on the significance of my results.
This came up a lot in my first industry job at a biotech collaborating with a big pharma. I learned that a big part of my job was to make sure that the partners understood the results and implications of what my teams could do. To do this, I had to change how I communicated scientific data.
2) Letting my manager and others knew about my successes, and that they had a heads up on any issues (better to hear first from me!)
This required owning what I was good of and proud of and not being afraid to talk about it – or to worry I was becoming that “charlatan.”
3) As my scope of leadership responsibilities increased, the talk became the work, not just with my manager and direct reports but with my peers and extended colleagues.
If I wanted a project to move forward, a few minute conversation could sometimes move it faster than beating my head alone on the wall.
So, if you are currently on the lower talk/higher work triangle, how can you use your voice to:
—> Move the work forward – impact?
—> Move yourself forward – recognition?
The first step is to diagnose where you are now. Take a few minutes to look at the list below – different ways you can use your voice to increase career success – and assess which behaviors you do frequently, infrequently or not at all. Which might make you a little uncomfortable?
🔲 Telling others about your accomplishments
🔲 Speaking up about the results and impact of your (team’s) work
🔲 Sharing information and building relationships with people outside your group
🔲 Giving your team clear guidance
🔲 Asking for what you need
Consider what you learned from this reflection, and choose one type of communication to try to do more often.
If one barrier is having the time, try what I suggested to a client recently: “Bundle” the new communication you want into existing forums. This could be sharing a success with your manager during a regular 1×1 or asking a colleague about what’s going on in their world when you have a meeting on another topic.
If another perceived barrier is communicating skillfully, stay tuned. My next post will delve into how to talk about your accomplishments without making yourself (or the other person) cringe.
In the poster, the balance of work and talk is a rectangle – equal time? What do you think the right proportion is? And is it necessary to be a “hustler” to achieve it?
Be well. And don’t forget what else I saw on a bathroom wall recently – that surely they were not all foo-fighting.
