From the course: Handling Workplace Change as an Employee

PEAR: The qualities for promotion

From the course: Handling Workplace Change as an Employee

Start my 1-month free trial

PEAR: The qualities for promotion

- What are the qualities that a person needs to have so that they are one of the ones who are kept in a restructuring? Or even the one who gets promoted or selected to be in the new team? Well, I would like to suggest four qualities that spell out the word PEAR, which you can cultivate in order to be in demand, and therefore to be a fair bit safer if a change suddenly comes along. First, the P is for positive. Nobody wants someone negative on their team, so make a point to never complain or moan, but always to say, yes, I can help with that. A positive person will be enthusiastic about new ideas, encourage the others on the team. They tend to focus more on the present and the future, rather than the past, and they take responsibility and they make things happen. Of course, if you spot a genuine flaw, then you should say so, but only so that you can fix it and the team can all move on. So, that's the P for positive. Second, the E is for easy to work with. If you're high maintenance, then people won't want you on their team. And by high maintenance, I mean always wanting to know every detail before you can start, using lots of people's time with questions, doubts, do you think this is okay, are you sure? There's a trainer I work with sometimes who's really high maintenance. He rings up a customer and asks about where he can park, can they reserve him a parking space please, and can they make sure he gets a new pad a flipped top paper and a pen of each color. And he says, Chris, you should do that, you're not assertive enough, Chris. But I'm thinking, I wouldn't want to hire a trainer like him. Even though he's a great trainer, I don't have the time for the maintenance he needs. I want someone who just books the date, turns up, does the job for me, no arranging, no hassle. Sort your own parking out, don't trouble the customer. So, that's what I mean by being easy to work with. The third part of PEAR is the A, which stands for appear in control. If you want to be promoted or to survive cuts, a good image to have is that you're in control, you're on top of the job. And this shows in two main ways, your desk is tidy and you're always on time to meetings, not rushing in at the last minute dropping a trail of papers as you run in. Ironically, neither of these things in themselves, desk and punctuality, have anything to do with job performance, but they are vitally important because they look as if they do. And actually, I think they usually are reliable indicators of how organized a person is. If you're disorganized, it's going to show in these areas, amongst others. But what a shame if you're actually quite organized, you just often turn up late, or you're one fault is that your desk is a total mess. You're not doing yourself any favors, so it's important to get these basics right. The final letter of PEAR, the R is for reliable. This means always delivering every job on time as promised. In fact, always keeping your promises of any kind. I don't now if it really is correlated with job performance, I think it probably is, but what matters is that reliability is important to how you're seen. Nobody wants someone unreliable on their team. So, make sure your jobs are delivered on time by using project management tools like gantt charts, and not filling your diary too full. And make sure you keep every promise by writing everything down on a master list, and then using a daily list every day to make sure you get everything done. There's more about this on my efficient time management course. So, that's being PEAR-shaped for promotion and survival in times of change. Positive, easy to work with, appear in control, and reliable. How are you on these four things? Could you be more positive, at least in how you appear to others? Could you be lower maintenance? You might have to ask a friend for the answer on that one. Could your desk be tidier, and could you be more punctual to meetings? And could you be more reliable in terms of writing everything down and always doing everything that you say you'll do?

Contents