It is a fact of professional life that someone must choose you to be successful. Usually, this someone is your immediate boss, and it pays to do everything in your power to make yourself valuable to this important individual.
说起职业生涯,一个事实是想成功需遇慧眼伯乐。而通常这个伯乐就是你的直系上司,所以你需要不惜一切代价向这个人证明你的价值。
Success, Power and Politics in the Workplace:
职场中的成功,权力和政治:
Before diving into a number of ideas on making yourself ever more valuable to your boss, let’s explore the issue of someone needing to choose you to be successful.
在谈怎样做能让你对于老板更有价值之前,我们要先深挖一下伯乐识出你这匹好马的因由。
More than a few people have suggested to me that this thinking discounts the importance of individual determination and hard work. My polite pushback is that nothing replaces or minimizes the need for these behaviors—they are essential for success. However, for your efforts to pay off in an organizational setting, your hard work must be recognized and appreciated by some person or some group able to choose you to do more.
不少人提醒我说这种想法是对个人毅力和努力的否定。而我对此礼貌的回击则是,这样的思考角度并没有取代或缩减个人行为表现——这些已被默认为成功的先决条件了。但是,在企业里想要成功,你的努力必须得到别人的发现和赏识,这个别人则是那些之后会更青睐你做事的人或组织。
Yes, power and politics play a role in your success, no matter how hard you work.
没错,不论你努力与否,权力和政策都在你的成功道路上扮演重要角色。
Senior managers select individuals for promotion or advancement based on how much they trust him/her to make good decisions to lead initiatives or manageteams. This trust is cultivated through experience working together and ample evidence that the individual under consideration for advancement displays consistently good judgment when it comes working with others, solving problems, setting priorities and creating results that help the organization.
在选择提拔晋升名额时,高官们会以对个人作决定、引领项目发展和管理能力方面的信赖度作为考量依据。这样的信赖度,是通过与其共事和其他能证明一个人一直表现很好,受到好评的考虑所慢慢建立出来的,这都在他与人合作、解决问题、清楚主次和做对公司有利的事时得到体现。
Since many advancement opportunities are stretch assignments for us—larger in scale and broader in scope than our prior experiences—this factor of trust is critical. The individual extending the new opportunity to us is literally trusting that we will grow safely and quickly into the role.
当很多更高要求的机遇战士在我们面前时——比我们之前从事的业务规模更大范围更广——这时对我们的信赖度就格外重要。伯乐之所以把机会交到我们手里,是因为相信我们可以平稳快速地适应新角色的要求。
Given the importance of trust and the power your boss has to select you for “more,” it is essential for you to help make his/her decision an easy one when it comes to considering you for new opportunities.
那么在知道了信赖度和上司倾向于选你做事的重要性后, 关键就在于你能否让他们轻松地决定你担当新任务的首选了。
8 Ideas to Make Yourself Even More Valuable to Your Boss
八个妙招让你对上司更有价值
1. Strive to understand and support his goals. 
1.尽力理解和支持上司的商业目标。
Nothing says “I care and I am committed” more than striving to understand and support your boss’s priorities and goals. Not every boss is forthcoming with their own professional goals and personal aspirations, so you may have to dig just a bit. Use the rationale that you want to ensure your goals align with her goals. Ask clarifying questions.
没有什么比尽力理解和支持上司的商业目标更能表达你的忠心了。并不是所有老板都有明确的职业目标和强烈的个人意愿,所以你要稍稍挖掘。基本的原理是确保你的职业目标和老板的商业目标同一步调。适量询问以确认。
2. Communicate at the right volume.
2.适量交流
Every manager has slightly different communication preferences. Some appreciate detailed, regular updates. Others are more interested in noteworthy exceptions. Pay attention to the cues, including interest or boredom and adjust accordingly. And it never hurts to ask: “How often and what detail do you prefer that I communicate with you?”
每个经理人对于沟通的偏好都不尽相同。一些追求细化的日常报备;一些更倾向于了解客观的变化和特例。注意言行间的意味,包括兴趣点和无聊点的把握,并依此调整自己与上司的交流模式。问出:“以怎样的频率和拿怎样的细节信息来找您沟通您觉得合适呢?”不会有差错的。
3. Be careful with the water cooler conversations but keep your eyes and ears open. 
3.扯闲篇时要小心,也要处处留心
The magnetic attraction of gossip is potentially toxic to your career. Steer clear of most of these group gatherings and their negative banter. Nonetheless, it pays to keep your ears and eyes open looking for the nuggets of truth often present in workplace gossip. If you learn that people are confused over the firm’s direction or latest strategy, this is important information for your boss.
被谣言话语吸引注意可能对你的工作有潜在危害。尽量和群体性扯闲篇划清界限,因为负面影响大。虽然如此,你还是可以在听职场闲篇的时候仔细观察和倾听,抓住一些事情的实情。如果同事抱怨不清楚公司现在的发展方向和最新战略,那么这将是对你上司很重要的情报哦。
Filter out the he said/she said gossip, but don’t discount the talk that highlights organizational shortcomings and opportunities.
汇报给上司时不要提说话人的名字,但是暴露出的问题的细节和机遇在内容上却不能忽略。
4. Save her from unwelcome surprises.
4.别把惊吓当惊喜送给上司
No one loves a negative surprise, least of all, your boss. If you see or sense something going wrong, run, don’t walk to share this information. Your advance warning will enable her to help mitigate the problem or at least plan how she will share it with her boss and others in the organization.
谁都不喜欢坏消息,特别是你上司。如果你嗅到了出现坏情况的气息,快跑,别逮谁都说。你的提前警示不仅可以帮助上司缩小问题,至少也可以让他有规划怎样给他的上司和其他人汇报的喘息之机。
5. Always go in with a plan.
5.不打无准备之仗
The most destructive words to your credibility with the boss are, “What do you think I should do?” Purge that phrase from your lexicon and remember to always enter the boss’s office with a plan—preferably two options with one preferred.Be prepared to support your recommendation. 
最掉信赖值的一个问题是,“您认为我要做什么呢?”把这句话从你的语库里彻底拿掉,并且保证每次去上司办公室都有一份计划——最好是两个选项,划分出优先级,准备好推荐其中一个为优先级的原因。
6. Build bridges across the organization. 
6.建立公司内的桥梁
Whether you recognize it or not, you are an ambassador for your boss, reflecting on his or her reputation and ability to select and develop good people. Act accordingly. Armed with context for your boss’s priorities, attempt to build allies and represent those interests in the spirit of strengthening the organization. Also, work hard to understand the priorities of other leaders and groups and ensure that your boss has this intelligence to apply to her own efforts.
不管你有没有注意到,你已然是上司和同事信息沟通、发掘人才的桥梁了。你就按此行事,依照上司的优先级定位,尝试建立盟友并以公司发展为导向代表公司利益。另外,也要努力试着理解其他团队和领导的优先项设定,并保证你的上司能够获取到这些信息并应用于他们的工作。
7. Show off your work without being obnoxious. 
7. 展示工作成果,但不要显得烦人
Smart professionals master the fine art of showcasing their successful results without crossing the line to obnoxiousness. Modesty is not your ally when it comes to building credibility for advancement. Make certain to share the spotlight with those who helped bring about your good results.
智慧的工作者懂得显露自己成功业绩却又不讨嫌的艺术。在追求加强信任度和晋升时,谦虚就要站一边了。确定好一些你晒业绩的对象,并知道他们能把这些传递出去就是个很好的办法。
8. Develop the reputation for developing others. 
8.建立不吝荐才的好名声
Nothing reflects better on a boss’s selection of you for a promotion than your proven ability to also develop great talent.
没有什么比知道你懂得发扬他人才能更有利于上司提拔你的了。