My friend V, she always says, "Listen (Pause)...." and then she tells you the real deal. So I'm telling you right now....Listen....cause if you ain't got advocates you ain't gonna make it.
YOU: FARE, What you talkin bout Willis???
Well it hit me in a convo I had with a very dear friend. This friend is a rock star! Unfortunately, my friend had no advocates. The end result....company is about to lose top talent!! So this is for all my future Managers, VPs all the way up to the top spots...C-Suite Execs and Board Members (aka my future Ballers and Shot Callers). LISTEN....
First, let me define advocate (this ain't Webster's, this is FARE's definition): A person who has a seat at the table behind a door you don't even know about or fully comprehend. Said person will speak highly on your behalf, even putting their career and credibility on the line to vouch for you and vouch for promoting you. This person is usually highly respected in the corporation and probably has the power to make or break your career in the corporation with one sentence.
You need not just one advocate...you need advocates.... at various levels in the organization to speak loud on your behalf. One of your advocates should preferably be your boss. I am very fortunate to have this (Thank You Sweet Baby Jesus) but not everyone has this.
My question to you...and to myself being 5 months in, it's 10:23...Do you know who your advocates are???
If you don't know, you better start finding out. And it's really not hard. You just need to figure out who is keeping check on you.....from a distance, who asks about your progress? Who are you having to send updates to that is higher up in the organization? Who is spearheading the initiative or project you are working on? (Do all these questions make sense?) Basically it's time to do some investigating to figure out who is in your corner and cheerleading for you.
*Tips to finding this out, ask your HR contact that guided your interview and possibly on boarding process. In fact, you should make this person one of your many Work Friends. This person can at least find out what goes on behind that closed door that you may be oblivious of. *
As I was typing this, I realized this subject needs more than one post...and it requires action!!! So, I propose some work and some dialogue, I hope you guys can roll with me.
I realized that I'm writing this post, putting my two cents out there, but outside of my boss, I don't know who else is advocating for me. A little birdy told me who advocated for hiring me during the calibration after the interview process...but I now wonder if this person is still advocating????
I need to find this stuff out for myself. In two weeks, let's revisit this subject of advocates and talk about how you were able to find out who your advocates are, if any.
Then we will discuss how to identify and acquire more advocates in the next post. After this, we can discuss how to keep your advocates engaged and how to make them look good as well (which is key to gaining and keeping advocates.)
This exercise will not only help you gain advocates, it will give you more insight into company politics and help you understand what factors go into your next promotion.
So please, post comments, advice, stories, and situations about how you found out who your advocates are or what you did to identify and gain an advocate. We only get better by learning from each other.
If you don't want to post a comment due to privacy, send me an email and I will post your contribution to this discussion anonymously. feliciaannrose@gmail.com
Okay...for those who decide to take on the Advocate Challenge, I will see you back here....same bat time, same bat channel.
Love,
FARE
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