How Do You Tell People About Your “Difference”?

No matter what sort of business you work in, I’ll bet it’s pretty competitive out there. No matter where you sit in the pecking order, I’ll bet you want to take that next step on the ladder. No matter how carefully you plan your career, I’ll bet that various spanners are thrown in the works that cause a rethink.

Sitting in a corner quietly getting on with things isn’t going to get you noticed in all that noise. Shouting from the rooftops about your amazing achievements is likely to result in people ignoring  you. In both cases, you won’t have an audience, and if you don’t have an audience at work, you don’t have any “fans.”

You will need “fans” in your business if you want to make friends and influence people. This is one fabled route to the top – becoming an influential voice within your business.

But if you shouldn’t be timid and it is a bad idea to be boastful, how do you convey to the world what difference you are making?

There are many strategies, and everyone has varying approaches. However, one school of thought says that if you want to demonstrate to someone that you are making a difference, your “difference” has to have an effect on their “difference”. What I mean to say is that you can only truly influence someone if what you are doing is personally meaningful for them.

To understand what is meaningful, you have to know the people you work with. You have to understand their goals, their ambitions and dreams. When you work out what they are shooting for, you can align your activities with theirs and when the two meet, you are influencing them. They notice your “difference” because it has a direct impact on their life.

Let me give you an example.

If you know that a colleague has a passion for design and takes art classes outside of work, why not get them on board for the creative part of your next project? They may not be a fit for the other parts of the project, but they would be thrilled to be able to use their outside interests at work. They would feel a part of the wider project and would immediately become your advocate. You are giving them a chance to shine, and you are demonstrating to them the value that you can add to the business. They notice because they are involved.

The more people that you can “involve” during your working day, the closer relationships you will forge, and the wider the message about your “difference” will spread. You don’t tell people about your “difference”, you involve them in it. That is how true influencing works.