Let Your Results do the Talking!

By Belle DuCharme, Dental Training Consultant, Director of PACE/CE

The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.  Author Unknown

Recently I attended a project meeting to observe the process of a friend’s business strategy.  There was an open discussion and assignment of tasks. The people in attendance included the CEO, Tom, and ten members of the team.   There were two people (Beth and Mary) NOT REAL NAMES IN THIS ARTICLE– assigned to divide one task and were asked to collaborate for the fastest results.  Mary quickly piped up that she would have her end of the work completed two weeks prior to the deadline to which accolades and “you are amazing” went around the room.   Beth remained silent because she knew that the complexities of the task may take longer than expected to complete.  She left the meeting feeling a bit deflated because she was being honest and not braggadocious.

Beth reached out to Mary to collaborate on the project only to have Mary unavailable and then more excuses followed as her husband was sick and then she was sick.   Beth did not hesitate but continued to work on the project until she had finished it. Mary reached out to Beth to say she wanted to help but this time she was too busy and could they both present the work as a collaboration?

The CEO(Tom) knew Beth’s work habits.  He knew that she always completed her work on time and it was consistently good to excellent.  Mary was a newer hire and had come with a good recommendation. He was looking forward to seeing what their collaboration would produce.

Upon receipt of the work he congratulated both Beth and Mary for work well done.  He decided to give Mary her own project as a reward.

Tom gave Mary a deadline and Beth was released to pursue another project.  Two days later, Mary emailed Beth to ask for her help and expertise. Beth agreed to help Mary but decided to check with the CEO to make sure she wasn’t overstepping her boundaries.

Tom, the CEO said to Beth, “I really do appreciate your wanting to help Mary, but this is not a collaborative assignment.  By the way, I know that was all your work on the last assignment.”

“How did you know?”, Beth responded.

“Because I asked Mary which of you did the research and which of you wrote the document?

She said you both did but she said it with such hesitation that I knew she wasn’t telling the truth especially when I asked her what she used to research the subject. She drew a blank.”

Following quote from The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)

“Generally, the louder a person has to talk, the more a person has to brag or self-promoter, the less they actually have going on in the results department,” said Cord Himelstein, vice president of marketing and communications for HALO Recognition, an employee rewards and incentives company based in Long Island City, N.Y. “Regardless of how well-spoken or articulate they are, this basic ratio always holds true. We all have to engage in some level of self-promotion in our work, but the difference between a poser and a pro is the pro shows up and gives you results. High-performing individuals confident in their skill sets know they can do the walk, so they let their results do the talking.”

Many people with strong work ethics prefer to work alone for just the reason and example given above.

To establish true team work that is results driven, a project manager, that is engaged with the team must be involved and be aware of who is doing what at any given time.   The project manager must keep an eye on the deadlines and support the team to meet the deadlines successfully making sure to give credit where credit is due.

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