Corporate America, especially in a down economy is a very difficult place to get ahead. In some corporate cultures, people are out to get each other as much as they are out to win business from prospective clients.
Politically speaking, you have to be highly savvy to get ahead. By savvy, I am referring to one’s ability to effectively deal and persuade his or her co-workers. Here are 7 ways to win friends in corporate America:
1. Take an interest in others
When you take time to learn about the interests, background and preferences of the people around you, they will return the favor. In many cases, people aren’t truly concerned with your needs unless you display concern for them as individuals.
2. Remember names, even the seemingly unimportant ones
The best way to judge someone’s character is not by how they treat their boss, but rather how they relate to those of inferior title. Be known as sincere not full of self-interest and you’ll quickly make allies around the company.
3. Talk in terms of other people’s interests
To get someone to warm up to you and be able to persuade them, you must begin to discuss things in relation to the benefits others will receive by taken a particular action. Too often, the incumbents in Corporate America are too concerned with what they want which actually hurts their ability to achieve their goals.
4. Learn how to see the world from the perspective of corporate America
Until you can gain the vantage point of your co-workers, you’re never going to be able to connect with them. Our success in dealing with others in both your career and in life hinges on our ability to step outside of ourselves and analyze the wants, needs and concerns of the other party(s).
5. Be energetic, positive and glad to see your co-workers
The reason people love dogs so much is because without fail dogs greet us as if they are happy to see us. The same thing goes for people.
Your co-workers are more likely to gravitate to individuals who display enthusiasm upon seeing them. It shows you care. Most of the time, a simple smile amongst a sea of frowns will do the trick.
6. Speak no bad of others
Even though people around the office may talk about one another, it’s best that you take the highroad. This does not mean running away when someone comes to you with gossip, rather it means listening and not engaging further.
“One of the best ways to create mortal enemies that will want to hurt your career in corporate is to hurt their sense of pride via talking behind their back.” says Matthew Barby a Social Media strategist at Wow Internet.
7. Remember names
Great politicians are very well known for their sense of ability when it comes to remembering the names of just about everybody around them. One of Andrew Carnegie’s reason for being able to successfully lead the workforce around him is the fact that he knew how to deal with people.
One of his secrets was that Carnegie learned early on that people like to hear their own names. As simple as it may sound, we often are too concerned with our own daily life, forget most people who are around us and, thus fail to make them feel important.
