Today I decided to give you some thoughts about how you should promote or market yourself at work, this is from my own experience and it has helped me a lot. I think that this is the five most basic things you can do and probably the five most important things, if you consider how little work that`s involved.
It`s very easy to do, everybody can do it and it doesn`t matter how much (or little) education you have or what kind of job title you got. Well, not even work experience is required. You can do it and I have been doing it for a long time now.
- Never say no
- Never close your door
- Always eat lunch with your colleagues
- Once a month, do something not work related
- Be personal
Never say no
This might sound rather weird, but never say no has helped me a lot. Your boss and your colleagues will know that they can always count on you and that you will always help no matter what kind of tasks they got for you. By never saying no to anything, you will become popular, at least if you do the tasks they give you and you do it the way they like. Of course, there will be things you have to say no to, but by having the attitude that you never say no, you have a positive attitude that people at your work will appreciate.
Never close your door
I never close the door to my office, it`s always open. People will see me sitting there, and when they see me, they will say hi more often than not, and they will stop by and talk to me, even though they were really just passing through. By leaving your door always open, you are giving a signal to people at your work that they can always come to you if they want to talk or if they need something.
Always eat lunch with your colleagues
This is important to me. When you have some time off from your daily work routines, like when you are having lunch, you should spend it with your colleagues. We have 30 minutes lunch break during the day, and we use this break to talk about everything, both related to work and everything else. This way, we will share important information, information that will help us to become closer and information that will tell you a lot about a person. Don`t sit alone in your office during lunch, even though you think that you have to work during the break. It`s very important to hang out with your colleagues during this short break.
Once a month, do something not work related
I started this at work about a year ago. Once a month, a different person each month will decide what we should do and everybody will do what this colleague wants to do. One month we go out and eat at a restaurant, another month we go to the movie theatre (the person in charge picks the movie), or we can go somewhere hiking, swimming or whatever. It`s all up to the person in charge. I think that this "once a month" activity has done a lot for us working together, and that it`s a lot easier to be a colleague with a person that you actually spend some time with outside of work. You are not becoming close friends by doing this, but you become more than just colleagues.
Be personal
I am never formal in anything I do, well, at least I try not to be. I am trying to be as friendly and personal as possible and at the same time I try to be professional. It`s not easy to be both personal and professional, but I think it`s very important. As long as you are personal, people will never really be scared of you or intimidated. They will think of you as a fair person, a person that they can talk to. And by being personal, your colleagues will hopefully have a good time everytime they talk to you.
We all like to share information, about our lives and about our work, if we are open and personal it`s a lot easier to share this and get people to share it with you. The five things above is working for me, and it might work for you as well. There might be a lot of other interesting stuff you can do as well, but all the things above are very easy to do and they don`t require anything really, just do it...
