Who to Please at Work
Hey friends,
Life is a people business. Everything you’ll do in life will involve other people, and that’s especially true at work. People at your company or in your team can have the biggest impact on your career and it can sometimes feel daunting to please everyone. The truth is, you really can’t please everyone and make everyone happy; as I’ve said before:
If you find yourself in a situation where everyone loves you, start a religion.
So, who at work should you focus on and put effort towards and who should you ignore? Similar to the concept of product-market fit in startups, where founders and teams focus their efforts on “customers that matter”, in life, you should also focus on people and relationships that matter. Here’s how you should segment your co-workers:
Super-Fans - Effort Required: Medium - these are co-workers who love you no matter what. They appreciate your work, enjoy your company, and are always excited to have you on their team. Even if you make a mistake, they forgive you and provide constructive feedback because the want to see you succeed. These are your your Super-Fans. In a team of 10 for example, you wouldn’t have more than 2-3 super-fans. Look around you today and identify who these super-fans are, then, stop worrying too much about them. As they are already in your corner, just do your best to live up to their expectations as much as you can, and unless you make a catastrophic blunder, you’ll always have their support.
Spectators - Effort Required: High - these are co-workers who are on the fence; in politics you would call them swing voters. These are the co-workers who can swing things, such as promotions and bonuses, in your favor if you impress them. So, putting effort towards pleasing them and getting them to put their support behind you should be your main priority. In a team of 10 people, you would have 4-5 people who would fall in the spectator category. If you make mistakes, are not punctual, lack communication, bring bad attitude to the team, these co-workers will lean away from you and negatively impact your career. So, your best strategy should be to try to do as many projects or assignments with spectators and convert them into fans.
Haters - Effort Required: Zero! - yes, you read that right, zero. These co-workers just don’t like you, no matter what you do and how much you try to please them, they are not going to change their vote. Unfortunately, you cannot fix how they think. The reason the Haters don’t like you could actually be your fault, but because they have put you in a bucket in their heads and have a negative perception of you, they will always vote against you. One of my Managing Directors at Morgan Stanley once told me that “Feelings are real and are seldom changed”, these Haters feel a certain way and you’ll just have to move on. Any hard work or effort put towards them will fall on deaf ears and is better spent elsewhere (on the spectators, perhaps). In a team of 10, expect to have 1-2 haters and simply try your best to avoid them.
So, as you start a new week at work, first identify the Haters and cut them out of your life, then identify the Spectators and put most of your effort converting them to fans, and finally, identify the Super-Fans (you probably already know who they are) and keep them happy.
Hope this helps. Have a happy and smiling week my friends! 🤗
Sherjan
