Every manager I've had in the last 26 years has given me the same 'advice'. My performance at work is considered excellent but I'm forever being told that I should 'raise my profile' or some other similar load of bobbins. Apparently it's not enough to be good at your job, you also need to be on first name terms with senior management as well. To me this is one step away from the kind of sucking up to the boss that happened in 70s sitcoms. I've always fought against playing the game in order to get on at work. I just want to do my job and take pride in doing it well.

Whenever possible I put talented people in front of the customer. Invariably it's an encounter that is fruitful for all parties. The customer marvels at the skills and abilities of the employee and appreciates the value of what they are paying for even more, the employee sees the value of what they do, free from the niggling doubt that praise is simply bullshit or a token gesture from "the boss" and my life is made easier because I know that my company has a greater chance of getting more work from that customer and therefore that employee has more chance of earning more and developing their abilities even further.

Being seen to do a good job is really about communicating effectively the value and benefit of what you do. But it is fundamentally dependent on both parties (employee and employer) seeing that value and benefit on the same terms. You can only achieve that common ground if the environment at work is conducive and if everyone in the company sees what they do in terms of benefitting the customer

... "don't hide your light under a bushel" - it's one thing to be good at your job, it's another to have a reputation for being good at your job, even amongst those your don't directly work with (or for.)

This can manifest in many ways, and your mileage may vary on your comfort level of (say) e-mailing everyone when a project goes well, making sure everyone knows you volunteered to do a particular job, overtly taking credit for success (when it's due of course!) and so on.

Me, I'm more at the "heads down, just get on with it" end of the scale, and loathe schmoozing, but in my time have seen enough lesser-talented people get promoted over their abilities through their "office politics" skills to recognise when to step up, rather than shrink back...

Or, put yourself in your boss/manager's shoes - when the time comes to recommend you for a promotion and/or raise, wouldn't it be great if the people signing off knew who you are and how good you are in advance, rather than having to ask "Who?"

...on the kind of job you do.

Anyone who works in a remotely technical job knows that this is nonsense. When, say, the computers are running perfectly nobody says 'Wow! The IT department are doing a hell of a good job today!' The more problems you solve, and the better you solve them, the less anyone notices.

Company politics are about perception, it's not enough apparently to get on with your job and do it well, you have to advertise that you're doing all and more that you can.

So in my job it's important when I achieve anything to let anybody else involved - in writing - what I've done and cc absolutely everybody they work for and I work for. I don't like doing it, but it makes my bosses very happy because it scores points everytime it's done.

You're not really doing it for yourself, you're doing it for your department, for your boss. It's all PR and pre-emptive striking, just in case your department comes under attack for any reason, there is a clear line of achievement and gold stars which can serve politically as a flak jacket.

I hate it personally, and am currently trying to avoid an unwanted promotion (position only, no money increase...meh)simply because it will put me right in the line of fire politically speaking.

*just look at the amount of 'war' language above, that should tell you how I think about company politics*

It's not enough to do a good job...

Sounds depressingly familiar. The kind of crap managers are trained to speak in order to 'motivate' their underlings. The mantra of the modern world. The truth is that nothing is ever 'enough.' Bollocks to to it, say I.

to be doing your job...

...I've witnessed this at work.

It's always the the people who do things in the the least efficient but most noticeable way that seem to get on, walking around with lots of bits of paper looking important and faxing a reply to someone when they can email it.

Generate a paper trail to show just how productive you are. Apart from your internet usage no-one gives a monkey's about what's on your computer's hard drive. And never flinch at the chance to do a presentation. Even being a bit bolshie sometimes (don't take it too far, though) rather than meekly accepting whatever life and your bosses throw at you.

All complete bollix of course but it does keep you in the bosses' eye and off the list of the unnoticed that are the first to be dispensed with when times get tough...

I didn't get where I am today by just being a great boss, I've had to be seen to be a great boss.

I wouldn't hear that statement as advice, I'm afraid, I'd hear it as sad commentary on the bankruptcy of far too many organisational cultures in this country.

In certain sectors, you can secure a comfortably successful career by not doing your job as long as you're seen not to be doing your job. (I know. I was that man.) It's all about walking the walk. Or not.

why you should make sure your boss knows exactly what you do is to prevent someone else to take the credit for your work.
I've had this happen to me before, I found out by chance at least a year too late that a colleague of mine was telling the boss that he was doing a number of things that I actually was taking care of.
It came to the surface when that guy went on holiday and my boss started informing me on how to do those tasks and I said that I already knew how because I'd been doing them every day for a very long time.
My boss almost didn't believe me at first.
A little later that same year I went on my holiday and when I came back three weeks later all of my colleagues ( even the one taking credit for my work ) ran up to me to hug me and welcome me back to work. I'm popular, but not that popular so I wondered what was going on.
Apparently the place had been in total chaos when I had been away. Our boss was furious and the guy who had been taking credit for just about everything I did had been enjoying the sensation of having a new arsehole installed by the boss...
Not long after my wages were raised.

pull your ties slightly askew, put a pen behind your ear, fill your desk with papers and and voila ! You look busy

I've read about this distinction recently, in the way that people view work - either as an activity where good performance is recognised and rewarded for itself, or as a competition.

I don't think it's black and white and I'm certainly a mixture of the two, happy to compete for recognition for a job well done, but no interest in climbing the greasy pole and beating others to promotion.

However, I've seen so many people who are angry and frustrated at work and they are far more often purists than competitive pragmatists.

If you recognise that getting credit for what you do (or getting the job you want) is a game with unwritten rules by which others are playing, you can decide to

- play by the rules, whether you believe in them or not
- stick to your own values and find some sort of acceptance of the consequences
- stick to your own values and potentially end up cynical, depressed and feeling like an outsider
- get out!

If you don't like the idea of making sure others see you doing a good job, and you're OK with the outcome, that probably makes for a happy working life.

(That is, until redundancies loom, and you're not on everyone's list of "people we must keep", because too few people know you're doing a good job ...).

sorry.

is that the greasy pole of hierarchy has indeed fallen away, but the necessity of engaging and schmoozing most certainly hasn't. You do have to be seen to be doing a good job and you need to keep the customer satisfied on an ongoing basis, session to session in fact in adult education, thereby generating a good reputation and subsequent future business.

Soft skills are THE crucial factor.

The perception that you are doing important work, even if it is the most inane and pointless task you can imagine, is critical to convey. I can honestly say I have for years now done nothing to improve the human condition working from within the confines of the civil service, but this is considered 'success' if along the way I get someone of a higher classification to write a positive performance review.

...given to me by my mentor, way long ago, and they still are relevant today.
#1: "It's not how good you are at your job, it's how good your immediate boss (AKA line manager in todays speak) thinks you are at your job".
#2 "Never bullshit a bullshitter".
Sound advice.