I have been working on a project since August this year in a team of six people. In the beginning, none of us know each other since the project group was assigned by directors. So the first phase was getting to know each other. After two or three weeks of teamwork, we started to actually get to know each other's personality a little bit.
I started building my reputation as a good data analyst and presenter by getting my part of work done with high quality. So team members started to notice that my work were usually presented with concise and clear charts that demonstrate the result of my data analysis in a sharp way. Even though I did not know their thoughts back then, but I would guess that they started to deem me as a person who like play with data and charts, which was the first step of building a reputation.
As the project went on, I worked with one or two teammates on some tasks together where my ability to utilize certain data-processing software were observed closely and learned by one or two teammates. I started to gain trust. turned the data synthesizing part of our mutual tasks to me before he even try to do that because he know that I can do the job nicely. So in this phase, my ability was built up in the small circle in my team. Therefore, my reputation built up a little bit more than its in the beginning.
And most recently, when I work on some research for the project on my own, some of my teammates turned to me to solve some of their data-processing problems. So by now, my ability is recognized in this entire group. I reached the highest reputation level I can be.
I think what I did to built and maintain my reputation was merely three things: completing my tasks with high quality; Actively reaching out to help other team members with their problem; Answering questions and offering help when teammates turned to me with their questions.
For me, at least in this case, I never thought about abandon my reputation for anything. I think it is simply because I can not think of any possible payoff or gain for me to cash in my reputation. I think my reputation brings me joy and fulfillment.
Added on Nov/17:
The project was to find and justify the best practices a Fortune 1000 company should take in order to improve brand awareness among general public and recruiting performance. The consulting project is paid by the company. So this was a very meaningful and serious project. We have a very strict timeline to complete the project. So it is very organized. We have team meetings and client calls every week to make sure our direction of research is align with the client's need.
Having such reputation makes me able to take on more data analysis responsibilities that I am good at. I believe by giving tasks to the most suitable person is a great way to increase efficiency and effectiveness. And I look forward to being promoted to project manager in the future.
Added on Nov/17:
The project was to find and justify the best practices a Fortune 1000 company should take in order to improve brand awareness among general public and recruiting performance. The consulting project is paid by the company. So this was a very meaningful and serious project. We have a very strict timeline to complete the project. So it is very organized. We have team meetings and client calls every week to make sure our direction of research is align with the client's need.
Having such reputation makes me able to take on more data analysis responsibilities that I am good at. I believe by giving tasks to the most suitable person is a great way to increase efficiency and effectiveness. And I look forward to being promoted to project manager in the future.
This post was good on the describing the method of how you established your reputation. But it was hard for me to determine what value the reputation has in the case, because you didn't give much context at all for why you and the rest of your group were doing the project. Without being able to assess the worthiness of the project itself, it is difficult to see the value from being a pivotal member of the group in completing the project. So I would ask whether you can provide more context for why the project was being done.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean. Yes, I think I did not provide enough context, and it might be because we signed non-disclosure agreement and I am not sure how much information about the project I am allowed to talk about.
DeleteBut I added some informations about this project above after my original post.
I see your role in the group as more of the focused, productive member of the group. This is very similar to some of my experiences in some group projects when usually theres an individual who is the hardworking person, and then there are some more lazy members of the team. In addition, its very nice to see how people appreciate your hardwork and effort because at the end of the day that reputation you build will stay with you for as long as your at that organization, unless you have a change of heart and try to change your reputation. In addition, I feel that most of the times your reputation is similar because its based on your skill set, so if your the math person, your most likely going to have a similar reputation even if instead you were working on a group project.
ReplyDelete