Are You a Star at Work?

When stars hear that story, they say, "That's not initiative - that's just doing your job!" The boss told her to report on the meeting. How she chose to do that was up to her - but tape recorder or no tape recorder, she was only doing her job. For stars, initiative generally has four elements: It means doing something above and beyond your job description. It means helping other people. Usually it involves some element of risk-taking. And when you're really taking initiative, it involves seeing an activity through to completion.

Here are a couple of other rules about initiative: First, before you take on anything new, make sure that you're doing your assigned job well. Second, remember that social initiatives don't count for much. Organizing the company picnic or a blood drive won't get you the kind of recognition you want. They're fine things to do - but do them because they bring you satisfaction. Third, the kind of initiatives that matter to your career are those that relate to the company's critical path. Find out what promotes the company's core mission, and tie your initiatives to it.

Do you have a star-studded network?

Networking is the way work gets done. most people don't have all the knowledge they need to do their work. Jobs today are too complex, they're changing too quickly - or they just involve more work than one person can handle. That's why stars turn to others to get help. They use networks to multiply their productivity.

If you want to be better at networking, start by recognizing what you don't know but need to know. Then figure out who can supply that knowledge - and cultivate relationships with those people.

Stars do this all the time. They are always on the lookout for people to add to their network. When they find themselves in a meeting that's a waste of time - and we all have too many meetings like that every day - they use the time to identify people in the meeting who are worth getting to know.

Stars also understand the economics of networking. Average performers look at networking as if it were a right: They call someone they don't know and simply demand help. Stars realize that networking is a barter system. If you expect people to trade with you, you have to establish that you have something worth trading. You have to have expertise that people need but don't already have. You also have to be patient: Be prepared to help out a lot of people before you ask anyone for help in return. You start with a negative trade balance, and it takes time to build up credits.

Do you see your career as a constellation?

Average performers see self-management as time management: "If I get my work done on time, then I'm a good self-manager." To stars, that's just the beginning. You're expected to manage your time well. You're expected to manage your projects well. Real self-management means managing not only your work but also your relationships with people, your career, and your career assets over time.

Here's an example of how average performers and stars differ in this category. The average performer finishes a project, and then goes to the boss and asks, "What do you want me to do next?" The star starts looking around six months before a project is done and asks, "What experiences do I have in my portfolio? What assignment should I tackle next that would make me more valuable for the company and more valuable in the marketplace?" Stars select their next project before they finish the one they're working on.

What you hear from average performers is a complaint: "It's all political. All the best projects around here are wired to stars. They get whatever they want, and we have to take what's left over." Average performers don't see what's really happening. It's not that the organization is wired. It's that stars know how to get ahead of the game - while average performers wait for the game to come to them.

There are some core skills that you can develop to do a better job of managing yourself. Start by understanding the company. What is its critical path? Then align yourself with its core business, so you contribute more directly to its larger purpose. Second, understand who you are and how you work best. Too many people think they're going to become a star by changing who they are - but that almost never works. It's more important to recognize how you work and then to turn that into an advantage. There are plenty of stars who have messy desks, for instance. They know how to be productive and have a messy desk. How do they do it? You can find out by talking to them - and then figuring out how to apply their techniques.