Quick Tip – Control Your Work Reputation
🚀 How do you want to be seen by your boss? – Issue #125
Where do you fit into your workplace? How do you think your manager views you?
Every boss has either a formal or informal categorization of the people they manage. When I was leading teams in the corporate world in Tech, I had a rough model of seven types of employees:
Innovators
Disrupters
Overachievers
Optimizers
Maintainers
Slackers
Spoilers
I’ll explain more about each later. But, I would guess that your manager has their way of thinking about employees and how valuable they are to the company.
I’m sure that certain types of people receive promotions and raises more frequently. Others aren’t rewarded, or they tend to be the ones who get fired or laid off.
How do you fit into the picture? What comes most naturally to you at work?
More importantly, how do you want to be viewed? You can intentionally craft your professional reputation and work to build up the evidence to support that image.
Innovators
Innovators have a reputation for being creative and generating new ideas. When managers have a cutting-edge project without a clear definition of what needs to be done, they assign it to an innovator.
Managers work hard to reward and retain these employees through promotions, raises, bonuses, and stock (i.e., golden handcuffs).
I can’t think of a single company or boss that doesn’t want innovators. The only risk in making this your professional brand is that you must deliver on it.
Disrupters
Disrupters are similar to innovators, but more focused on shaking up existing products and services. They aren’t afraid to break things in the spirit of helping the company succeed (e.g., Apple disrupting the iPod business with something even better, the iPhone).
Some bosses recognize the value of disrupters (e.g., disrupt yourself before the competition does) and compensate them well. Other bosses may get upset when a disrupter keeps “breaking things” and causing trouble.
Before you decide to pursue this professional brand, make sure that your company culture and manager see it as valuable.
Overachievers
Overachievers are the most ambitious and hardworking employees in the company. They seem to be tireless, take on more work than most employees, and deliver exceptional performance.
Of course, bosses love overachievers. They wish that they had more of them. Overachievers receive lots of raises, bonuses, and promotions.
The only risk in making this your brand is that you must continue to deliver this level of performance, and that can lead to burnout. I should know. This was my professional brand for many years.
Optimizers
Optimizers make everything better. Give them a product, and they will find a way to make it faster, smoother, and generate more revenue for the company. Give them a process, and they will milk it for efficiency.
Smart bosses know that they need optimizers in their organizational mix. You can’t run a company with only innovators and disrupters.
However, bad bosses focus so much on their innovators and overachievers that they ignore their optimizers. They may not recognize their value and bump them to the bottom of the stack in performance reviews.
Know your company and manager before you commit to being an optimizer. I know how incredibly valuable optimizers are, but I also remember some bosses who did not.
Maintainers
Maintainers keep things humming along. They are solid performers who get work done and make sure everything is running as it should be.
They won’t come up with new ideas or squeeze maximum performance out of something. But, they are valuable contributors and make good owners of stable “cash cow” products and services.
Similar to optimizers, not every boss will recognize the value of maintainers. Smart bosses know that they need them, but bad bosses will complain that the maintainers don’t have ambition or a “creative spark.”
Again, know your company, boss, and the role. You can craft a professional reputation for being an excellent maintainer or steward of a product or service, but you had better be sure that your boss values that approach.
Slackers
Slackers have a reputation for not pulling their weight on teams. Some are capable but deliberately choose to be lazy and not give things much effort.
Other slackers aren’t malicious, but they are underperforming and have a reputation for not getting much done (or done well). Everyone knows that they aren’t good at what they do, and they try to avoid working with them on projects.
Good managers try to understand what’s going on with slackers and work with them to turn things around. If things don’t improve, they let them go.
If you have a reputation for being an underperformer, you may never receive a raise or promotion. In the worst case, you are fired.
No one wants to have the professional brand of “slacker,” but sometimes your actions can lead to that unfortunate label. If that happens, take ownership and turn it around quickly.
Spoilers
These employees always have something negative to say about a new idea or a situation. They are the first to proclaim, “Oh, that won’t work.” They are quick to shoot down suggestions.
They’re also the ones who like to gossip and spread rumors. They love creating and amplifying drama. Spoilers enjoy getting coworkers worked up, anxious, and fearful (e.g., “Did you hear? I think that we’re going to have layoffs.).
Smart managers know that they need to deal with spoilers quickly. The employees improve their behavior and stop “spoiling” the organization, or they get fired.
Again, no one would deliberately pursue a professional reputation of being a “spoiler.” However, bad behavior (e.g., complaining, gossiping, negativity) can paint you with that brush. Don’t let that happen!
Cultivate your professional reputation
Find out how you are viewed professionally by your manager, peers, and partners. See if it fits the reputation that you wish to cultivate.
Develop a body of evidence in your work and behavior that supports the professional brand that you know is right for you and is valued by your company.