Unique Skills

I once met a woman at a book signing who was having trouble tracing her duties to corporate objectives. She wanted to ask for a raise, and wanted to justify it. (See Each of Us, chapter 5.) We talked about her tasks, and it was difficult to make a direct link to profitability or corporate mission. She was a member of a strong team, but wanted to call attention to her own achievements. She mentioned that much of her time was occupied with charity fund-raising activities. Apparently, she was good at this and no one else wanted to do it. While she saw this as a distraction from her "real" job, I suggested she use it as her bargaining chip.

Her efforts directly contributed to the corporate image as "community-oriented" and "charitable." I encouraged her to present this as an obviously desirable image, since she was so frequently assigned such duties. While her standard day-to-day assignments were harder to link to the corporate mission, this was not. In this extra area, she stood out.

Perhaps you have unique skills which you are called upon to exercise at work. You might be surprised how much these extra efforts mean to management. Don't let them go unappreciated. Awareness is the first step. Small adjustments make a big difference.