A guy I used to work with was a shamelessly consistent self-promoter.
When e-mailing our team his client projects (which I never did), he would cc company leaders. During meetings he’d always talk about what he was working on. He’d be the first to respond to a question in group e-mails or chats, usually with examples of his own work.
It drove me crazy, and others too.
And he kept getting promoted and promoted. Did he deserve it? Maybe, though I think his ideas weren’t as original as they were presented. But he made noise, a lot of it and to the right people.
I was the silent type, letting my work and client satisfaction levels speak for themselves. And I plateaued at that company. The position I left after over nine years was one I held for the entire second half of my tenure there.
I had to go to a different organization to get a promotion and a raise.
I thought of my former colleague and my own professional trajectory after the release of a report on the self-promotion gap between men and women. A study in the Harvard Business Review found men rated their performance 33% higher than equally performing women.
This affects all of us at work. As the report’s authors explain, “Since self-promotion is a pervasive part of work, those of us who do more self-promotion may have better chances of being hired, being promoted, and getting a raise or a bonus.”
This isn’t just theory. Workers who engaged in more self-promotion in the researchers’ study were more likely to be hired — and at higher pay.
Men consistently rated their work higher, giving themselves an average score of 61 out of 100, while women rated themselves a 46. And no matter how the researchers tweaked their study the gap remained. For instance, when they informed workers how their work actually stood up in comparison to others, the women still promoted themselves less than men. When the researchers made the self-evaluations private (meaning, they wouldn’t be seen by their employers) while both women and men engaged in less self-promotion, (because, theoretically, there was little to gain) men still promoted themselves more.
In the end, the researchers were not able to fully explain how or why this gap exists, or why it continued under varying conditions and circumstances. But their proof of the existence of this gap is important, and something for managers, employers and decision-makers at companies and organizations to remember: “Women may not talk about their work as favorably as men, but that doesn’t mean their performance is any worse.”
I wish the last word in that sentence was “different” instead of “worse,” as I think the point here is that women’s work is just as good as men’s, and that no one should get a promotion or raise simply because they talk about themselves more.
But welcome to the real world. Self-promotion is a thing, and it’s foolish and naïve to think otherwise.
My own reluctance to promote myself continues. You might think that someone who writes and posts on Medium would be comfortable sharing his work. But I don’t tell that many people about it, nor do I promote my writing to my Facebook friends, and really, all I do is set up the option to post a tweet when I publish here.
Self-promotion is just not something I’m comfortable with.
We had a saying in my former job, where I was on a team of consultants working in professional services. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, meaning we’d respond faster and with greater attention to those clients who were vocal and proactive about reaching out to us for help.
Whether we like it or not, self-promotion in office settings works. It pays, literally, to be visible. And to be heard.
It’s not just in the office, either. We live in a world where individuals are their own brands. Social media allows us (forces us?) to make ourselves be seen, frequently and by many.
It’s another example where perception is reality. Those with large social media followings have, to whatever degree in actuality, influence. The same is true on this very platform: writers with more followers get their work promoted more, creating a cycle. If you’re not promoting yourself, you’re falling behind.
Job coaching services offer potential employees on how to use LinkedIn — and it’s not just about updating your profile, but how to use it (submitting content, liking posts, following others) so you can be seen more and expand your profile, or reach, or visibility.
Inside the corporate walls, we know it can be far more treacherous. It’s fine if you, like me, prefer to keep your head down and get the job done.
But when the meetings that decide who gets promoted occur, the last thing you want to have happen is for the people in that room to not know who you are. Managers, rightly or wrongly, will lean towards name recognition: both people they know, and assume others do too.
To be front and center, you must self-promote.
Anyone who has worked in any environment can spot this, and can recall people who got moved up the food chain for lame reasons.
This study is just another example of the inherent challenges women face in the workplace. I don’t think it’s realistic or even wise to coach people not to self-promote. As the study proves, it works — and people will do what they need to in order to move up and get a raise.
We each own for ourselves the trajectory of our professional career. It’s wonderful to say to people, and maybe men in particular, consider saying kind words about your colleagues. Vouch for them, recognize them, share the spotlight with them. A little togetherness and camaraderie in the workplace might be a good thing.
So much of what has transpired from #MeToo is awareness: a light showing our world the way it is, a testimony of the world that women experience.
This new study is one more example. If your workplace has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative, this study can be a tool for helping managers better evaluate staff. Don’t just follow the noise — look at the work. Consider the individual — even, or especially, the quiet ones.
Know the reality about the differences on how men and women behave.
And then tell people about it.
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This post was previously published on Medium.com.
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