A CEO was being interviewed and she shared that she felt like what really helped her climb that corporate ladder and end up in the C-suite was always putting in the extra effort – she always went that extra little step. And similarly, I grew up in a household where I never really felt like I heard my parents say this, but I got this feeling of work hard, and you’ll get rewarded. That worked for me all the way through, until mid-level management.
In fact, when I deliver one of my talks called “Breakthrough the Promotional Pipeline,” I share that story and how that strategy only got me so far. So as I was reading this interview with this CEO, and I certainly don’t want to discount that that’s her belief, that she feels that’s what got her there – I however, have experienced, and I’ve seen all too often that people really cling onto this theory, this belief of just put in the extra effort. “If I’m always putting in the extra effort, I’m going to get to that next level.”
And while that may be a component of it, what I’m going to challenge in that is, are you putting in the extra effort in the right places, in order to get what you really want?
If we think about your day, my day, all the things that we work on, there are certainly a bucket or a pool of tasks, of responsibilities, of duties, of activities that you engage in that you could potentially put in the extra effort over and over and over again, and all it’s going to give you is burnout, frustration, and irritation. Maybe you feel good sometimes because you think, “Oh, I got a lot of things crossed off my to-do list, look how amazing I am. I put in the extra effort!” But is that really the pool, the bucket that’s going to get you to where you want to go?
Whether that’s a promotion, whether that’s an increase in your salary, increase in responsibilities, whatever it is that you want. Versus taking a look at the areas where if you did put extra effort into those specific areas, you would be more likely to get what you want. Those are things that are high profile, other people who are decision-makers see that you’re doing them; it’s the things that actually move the needle.
So instead of having this blanket philosophy or feeling of, I’m going to put in the extra effort and that means I’m going to get somewhere – because I have worked, coached, and executive coached so many individuals who are at that point of frustration saying, “I don’t get it. I mean I work hard, Colleen, I come in and I go above and beyond.” I hear this all the time, I go above and beyond and still I’m not getting what I want.
Well, are you going above and beyond in the correct places, in the places that are going to actually make a difference for you that your manager, your senior leadership, your organization actually care about? Nobody cares if you’re putting extra effort into creating notes for the team. They care about extra effort for things that are going to drive revenue, help meet organizational goals – those are the things that I’m going to challenge you to take a look at.
If you have heard yourself recently saying, “Oh my gosh, I’m doing so much. I’m putting in, I’m always here. I’m always giving more,” and you’re not getting what you want, re-evaluate where you’re putting in that extra effort and find where you should shift that energy, that time, and those other resources into the things that’ll actually move the needle for your manager and your organization, and ultimately get you what you want.