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- 1. Development and Learning in Organizations Emerald Article: A call to all L&D, OD and HR professionals: how can you increase your professional reputation? D. Keith Denton Article information: To cite this document: D. Keith Denton, (2011),"A call to all L&D, OD and HR professionals: how can you increase your professional reputation?", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 25 Iss: 1 pp. 6 - 7 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14777281111096753 Downloaded on: 12-04-2012 References: This document contains references to 2 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 981 times. Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by FPT UNIVERSITY For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Additional help for authors is available for Emerald subscribers. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download.
- 2. Viewpoint A call to all L&D, OD and HR professionals: how can you increase your professional reputation? D. Keith Denton t is all about perception. Lilly Eng, who spent ten years in line management at Allstate I Insurance in the USA before transferring to the company’s HR department, says, ‘‘In many respects, HR is viewed as a company policeman who takes away the line manager’s flexibility’’ (Caudron, 1999). The message is clear – if you want more power, more influence, you have to be perceived as more of a helper rather than a hindrance. Influence is obtained when others value you and what you bring to the table. D. Keith Denton is Professor of You can gain influence and cooperation and when you reduce adversarial relationships. Management at Missouri State To do this, you must build trust, secure confidence and above all, develop a good University, Springfield, Missouri, professional reputation. USA. E-mail: dkdenton@ missouristate.edu By taking a look through the seven factors below, you’ll be able to assess how well you are currently doing and flag up any areas you might want to work on. Be a well-spring of information Being perceived as a source of valuable, accurate and timely information by line managers and your boss is crucial. Openly share information that is of use to them. Make it easy to access and easy to use. Do your homework. Be knowledgeable about the latest advances, have a good grasp of facts and figures being discussed. Get in the habit of keeping statistics on current activities, keeping accurate and up-to-date files and preparing graphs and other visual aids that can be used to display information. Instead of having complicated procedures and red tape, you can simplify procedures and volunteer to provide coworkers with the details. Focus on the business Rules are necessary, but don’t focus on what the rules are; rather show your line colleagues what they can do to support their business objectives. Don’t talk about ‘‘resolving conflict;’’ show them how what you do improves market shares, increases productivity or improves yield. In other words, think and act like a line manager. Bosses and line managers are concerned with what works. They don’t care about rules, but rather about getting the job done. You must show you understand the bottom-line mentality of business. Be proactive Do not wait for managers to come to you, seek them out; learn about their business. Get invited to their department meetings. Ask them for advice on how to make their job easier. The more you help them, the more valuable you will be to them. Your professional reputation increases when they trust you and they trust you when you work toward the same goals. To be seen as competent – collaborate, cooperate and communicate. PAGE 6 j DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS j VOL. 25 NO. 1 2011, pp. 6-7, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1477-7282 DOI 10.1108/14777281111096753
- 3. ‘‘ You can help develop a good professional reputation by improving your own decision-making ability. ’’ Project confidence and capability Behave in a manner which earns professional admiration and respect. Enhancing your professional reputation means doing an excellent job managing your day-to-day operations so, when managers have questions about policy and procedures, you provide competent answers. A self-confident attitude projects confidence to your employees and coworkers, and shows your ability to handle problems. Even in a caustic climate, your self-concept will influence others. A strong self-image allows you to positively influence others, whereas a weak self-concept keeps you from improving your performance. Find and perform tasks that show how you can help them. Publicly recognize others Being helpful, honest and considerate of others’ point of view will prove successful in getting things accomplished. Recognizing and making others feel good about themselves is an extremely powerful method of creating influence and building better relations with employees and coworkers. Successful leaders are able, at least partly, to satisfy the needs of others to feel capable. Ask them for their contributions, and intentionally seek their advice. Asking an employee to review your work not only helps improve it, but lets the reviewer know you think he or she is important. It is as much about developing connections as it is about getting a broader view. Sociologists call this process of networking, succeeding through weak links. Researcher Mark Granovetter found that 55.6 percent of jobs were gotten through weak links, not through close contacts (Dilenschneider, 2007). Make yourself visible When employees, coworkers or your boss recognize that you have a reputation as a competent, successful professional, your opinions will carry more influence. If you do not promote your own professional reputation, you will not be able to generate this type of support. To do this, you must become as visible as possible. Make employees and coworkers aware of your services, show them how you can help them. If you have some expertise, concentrate on being forceful in that area. If you are on a committee because of your expertise, seek to be helpful. In short, tastefully show off your personal talents by carefully selecting projects that involve interaction with those employees and coworkers you want to influence. Be a problem solver Finally, you can help develop a good professional reputation by improving your own decision-making ability. A thorough exploration of a problem situation not only produces better decisions and solutions, it helps you explain and sell others on your ideas or recommendations. Ultimately, your reputation as a problem solver is the best way to increase your professional reputation. When this reputation is nurtured, your help will be sought more often as others within the company increasingly recognize and value your contribution. References Caudron, S. (1999), ‘‘HR vs managers’’, Workforce, Vol. 78 No. 8, p. 3. Dilenschneider, R.L. (2007), ‘‘The rules have changed’’, Vital Speeches of the Day, Vol. 73 No. 6, p. 7. Corresponding author D. Keith Denton can be contacted at: dkdenton@missouristate.edu j j VOL. 25 NO. 1 2011 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS PAGE 7