Young Professional Series : Office politics

Office politics could cause you to shake your head in resignation – it stops you getting things done, new ideas implemented, customers signed….or does it?

Office politics can be counter-productive, but only if you don’t know the rules. Taking the time to understand the workings of the office learning to navigate the politics can make you extremely effective.

Get a reputation for being effective by understanding your office. Learn who makes the sales, who signs the cheques, who makes the hiring decisions, who can get you time in the CEO’s diary and so on.

There is an underbelly of office politics - the gossip, backstabbing, non-transparent decision making and so on. I am not suggesting you get off the bench to play this part of the game but rather learn the rules at your office and which playbook everyone is reading from.

Young professional series : Cleaning up your on-line image

If I did a Google search on you, do you know what I would find?

As the world gets more connected, the chances of you being found online increases. Everything you post on Twitter, Facebook and other social media remains long after the controversial conversation concludes or compromising photo was taken. People may not have been watching at the time but the Internet never sleeps and has a long memory.

Take charge of your on-line presence by making sure your content on all these sites reflect a positive image of you. Check your sharing securities on Facebook, think before you post online on blogs, comment on news stories or pass comments on Twitter.

Once you have cleaned up, stay clean using Google Alerts. If you are a registered Google user, you can use the Google Alert function to trawl the internet for your full name or just your surname (mine is pretty unique so that works for me). When anything gets posted on the Internet and Google finds it using your search terms, you get an e-mail with a link to the site.

That way you can check whether the new information on the web that relates to you adds or detracts from your on-line image and you can try to change it.

People are getting fired and not being hired due to Facebook activity and what Google searches turn up. Don’t go making the same mistake.

Young professional series

I am hardly still a young professional, but I am still learning an immense amount about being in the business of consulting every day. And it excites me and scares me all at the same time.

The cause for these mixed emotions is the same thing. No matter how much you know, there still is so much to learn. The learning curve is steep, especially if you have recently transitioned into advisory from a commercial background.

Intermittently, I will be writing down interesting things that I pick up from reading or from experience - as much for myself as for anyone else.