By Pamela Jett, CSP
I am a huge “Olympic Geek” – particularly the Winter Olympics (OK, I confess, I am not really a huge fan of curling, but just about everything else has me glued to the television.) This weekend I watched Apolo Anton Ohno win a silver medal in Men’s Short Track (speed-skating). Short track is very exciting to watch because all sorts of things can happen in a very short amount of time and the medal race was no exception. Ohno was sitting in fourth place behind 3 Korean skaters who were pulling away from the pack during the last moments of the race. All of a sudden, one of the Korean skaters attempted to improve his position. The result – two Korean skaters slammed into the wall and Ohno, because of positioning, won a silver medal – just like that.
In many ways, success in short track is all about strategy and positioning. According to his coach, while “Ohno may not have the power to simply blow by someone on the final turn, he™s much more aware of positioning, angles and setting up his opponents for the pass.” It’s all about positioning.
The same thing goes with career success. It’s all about positioning. Are you using your powerful communication skills to take advantage of opportunities? Are you communicating in a powerful, professional fashion? Do you use confident language and avoid disclaimers and minimizers which can make you look weak? Are you positioning yourself in such a way that when opportunities arise for advancement your name is at the top of your leader’s list?
One way to use great communication to position yourself for success is to send regular “I’m great up-dates.” These are brief e-mail reminders you send to your leader about once every quarter which highlight your contributions to your organization’s success. This is not done to brag, simply to keep your leader in the loop. Sending an “I’m great up-date” not only displays confidence, it is a proactive step to let your leader know how valuable you are. It makes it easier for them as well. When review time comes around they can use your “I’m great up-dates” to help them write a great appraisal. For more on leveraging your “I’m great up-date” and communicating with confidence, listen to my “Mind Your Own Business” audio CD program available at my success store.
If you’ve successfully used an “I’m great up-date”, I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment, tweet this blog, forward it to your friends and let me know what you think. And remember, use powerful communication to position yourself for success. Take a lesson from short track, it is all about positioning.
Tags: career development, communication
