Great comment. I often wonder why my own employees frequently don't do something like this. I can think of many examples where one of our reasonably intelligent employees could get way ahead by just asking me for more responsibility in some area where it's clear that we're lacking, instead of focusing on their precisely defined job. I try hard to give everyone developmental projects and new responsibilities, but regardless it is true that I would be very susceptible to giving new and additional growth opportunities to people who ask for it.
You have to have a very specific culture in order to enable employees to feel as if it is acceptable to ask for more responsibility. It may not seem counter intuitive to you, but to an employee receiving a paycheck for a specific set of responsibilities, the cognative leap can sometimes be pretty large.
There are a number of reasons for this. Not wanting to appear dissatisfied is one. The false understanding that if a manager wanted them to step out into another area they would ask is another. Perhaps most difficult to overcome is the feeling that if you haven't been given more responsibility in an area, it is becasue your superiors do not see you as competent in that area.
There is a fairly well studied phenomena that highly skilled people don't necessarily feel that they are competent. Sometimes the fact that you have not be specifically asked to step into a roll is enough to confirm any suspicion that you may be less than competent in that role. Given that, it is very easy to fall into a "If they need me, they will ask" attitude.
I think a lot of it comes down to people just not knowing this is an option, not having many examples of how to go about it, or not having much success in trying. We are trained to stick to the job description, not to rock the boat, etc. and we are good at doing that but it tends to blind us to the bigger picture, and so we are not very good at taking initiative. However I would expect most people, even if they knew how, would not suddenly start asking for more responsibility - some just do not want that - but a small minority would and those are the ones you would want to focus on.
There are very few cases where it is not rewarding, if only from a personal development standpoint. Asking for, and receiving greater responsibility allows for accelerated personal growth and oftentimes gives you a great specific example to use in an interview if you ever change jobs.
I think there's almost always a reward, especially for people in the tech sector. Either you get a raise and/or promotion at your current company or you get a stronger resume and better relations with coworkers who may be looking for jobs elsewhere. Plus there are non-financial rewards that can range from increased job satisfaction to your manager stops yelling at you.
But the other thing I wanted to point out is that a lot of time taking the initiative makes your job easier. Granted in the story above I did read a 300+ page book over the weekend, but after that I was able to do more of the work I wanted to do in the same amount of time I'd already been giving.
I agree -- and I've personally tried to create those incentives, whereby those people who have gone out of their way to improve things get the promotions and raises, and I make sure everyone knows why they're getting paid more. They see it going to the quiet guy who just kept tackling things he saw needed to be fixed, and then asking for more, and it certainly helped open some eyes. But not as much as you might expect.
One thing I did recently was go on a two week vacation where I was barely reachable. When I got back my company was in better shape than when I'd left and all of the people working for me had stepped up to do the things I had been doing. It was really eye opening for all of us.
This seems to be a common experience. Felix Dennis mentioned the same thing in his book - earlier on in his career, he'd just 'flip out' and go somewhere remote for a couple weeks, without even telling people ahead of time (more quirky and unplanned than your vacation!). But the same thing happened; he found that rather than adding tremendous value every second he was there, the company did much better when he got out of their way.
"most of your peers wouldn’t even get into the game due to some unspoken belief that in a meritocracy, good things will come to those who wait. Perhaps if you have a union job based on seniority, but not in any startup I’ve ever seen."
Comments
Great comment. I often wonder why my own employees frequently don't do something like this. I can think of many examples where one of our reasonably intelligent employees could get way ahead by just asking me for more responsibility in some area where it's clear that we're lacking, instead of focusing on their precisely defined job. I try hard to give everyone developmental projects and new responsibilities, but regardless it is true that I would be very susceptible to giving new and additional growth opportunities to people who ask for it.
You have to have a very specific culture in order to enable employees to feel as if it is acceptable to ask for more responsibility. It may not seem counter intuitive to you, but to an employee receiving a paycheck for a specific set of responsibilities, the cognative leap can sometimes be pretty large.
There are a number of reasons for this. Not wanting to appear dissatisfied is one. The false understanding that if a manager wanted them to step out into another area they would ask is another. Perhaps most difficult to overcome is the feeling that if you haven't been given more responsibility in an area, it is becasue your superiors do not see you as competent in that area.
There is a fairly well studied phenomena that highly skilled people don't necessarily feel that they are competent. Sometimes the fact that you have not be specifically asked to step into a roll is enough to confirm any suspicion that you may be less than competent in that role. Given that, it is very easy to fall into a "If they need me, they will ask" attitude.
I think a lot of it comes down to people just not knowing this is an option, not having many examples of how to go about it, or not having much success in trying. We are trained to stick to the job description, not to rock the boat, etc. and we are good at doing that but it tends to blind us to the bigger picture, and so we are not very good at taking initiative. However I would expect most people, even if they knew how, would not suddenly start asking for more responsibility - some just do not want that - but a small minority would and those are the ones you would want to focus on.
A lot of people know it's an option, but there is no reward for doing so.
Why make my job harder without getting anything for it? Only management benefits from it.
There are very few cases where it is not rewarding, if only from a personal development standpoint. Asking for, and receiving greater responsibility allows for accelerated personal growth and oftentimes gives you a great specific example to use in an interview if you ever change jobs.
I think there's almost always a reward, especially for people in the tech sector. Either you get a raise and/or promotion at your current company or you get a stronger resume and better relations with coworkers who may be looking for jobs elsewhere. Plus there are non-financial rewards that can range from increased job satisfaction to your manager stops yelling at you.
But the other thing I wanted to point out is that a lot of time taking the initiative makes your job easier. Granted in the story above I did read a 300+ page book over the weekend, but after that I was able to do more of the work I wanted to do in the same amount of time I'd already been giving.
I agree -- and I've personally tried to create those incentives, whereby those people who have gone out of their way to improve things get the promotions and raises, and I make sure everyone knows why they're getting paid more. They see it going to the quiet guy who just kept tackling things he saw needed to be fixed, and then asking for more, and it certainly helped open some eyes. But not as much as you might expect.
One thing I did recently was go on a two week vacation where I was barely reachable. When I got back my company was in better shape than when I'd left and all of the people working for me had stepped up to do the things I had been doing. It was really eye opening for all of us.
This seems to be a common experience. Felix Dennis mentioned the same thing in his book - earlier on in his career, he'd just 'flip out' and go somewhere remote for a couple weeks, without even telling people ahead of time (more quirky and unplanned than your vacation!). But the same thing happened; he found that rather than adding tremendous value every second he was there, the company did much better when he got out of their way.
It's probably a good thing to do.
There's a great quote from the article:
"most of your peers wouldn’t even get into the game due to some unspoken belief that in a meritocracy, good things will come to those who wait. Perhaps if you have a union job based on seniority, but not in any startup I’ve ever seen."