Our series of articles dealing with effective strategies for getting promoted to a better job with a higher salary continues today with a principle that should be obvious, yet is often neglected. To get ahead at work you need to take great care of your boss. We find this principle in Proverbs 27:18 where it says “He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored”.
Here is an important question. How do you view your boss? Do you think of your boss as a control freak, a manipulator, someone who tries to extract the maximum amount of work from you or as an all-around pain in the neck? If so, the hard fact is that you will have a very tough time getting promoted. Management tends not to give the best jobs to workers with this type of attitude.
This verse portrays bosses for exactly what they should be….a valuable source of prosperity which is given in exchange for diligent care. The illustration of a worker carefully tending a fig tree in exchange for figs is a great way of showing how the relationship is supposed to work.
Let’s assume for a moment that Mary and Jenny each had a fig tree in their backyards. Let’s also say that they each were interested in getting some figs from said fig trees.
Now, Mary approaches the care of her fig tree in very much the same manner as some employees in today’s workforce approach their jobs. She does the bare minimum amount of work required and spends the bare minimum amount of time doing it. She complains non-stop about how difficult the work is and takes every opportunity to avoid it altogether whenever possible.
Does this sound like anyone in your workplace? If you are thinking of someone in particular right now, the odds are very good that the individual you are thinking of is closer to the bottom of the corporate ladder than the top.
Since Mary does not put much effort into caring for her fig tree it is quite likely that she will not be getting very many figs from it. In fact, Mary will be lucky if her fig tree doesn’t dry up from the roots and croak!
Meanwhile, Jenny has a whole different approach. She makes sure to constantly water her tree. She prunes it as needed to insure maximum growth and she fertilizes her tree at regular intervals. In other words, Jenny pays careful attention to the needs of her tree and she works diligently to supply those needs.
Can you see how Jenny’s entire focus is different? Mary is sitting in her house focused on avoiding work (all the while wishing for lots of figs!). Jenny is concentrating on what is important to the fig tree and delivering that to the best of her ability.
The result should be rather easy to predict. Jenny’s tree is going to be stronger, larger and healthier than Mary’s. It will also produce a lot more figs.
It is the same with bosses. Your boss has certain needs. That is the reason you were hired in the first place. The better you get at identifying and filling those needs the better your chances for career advancement in the form of raises, promotions and recognition.
I work in the business world as a boss myself and I can tell you this from first hand experience. Every single day there are certain things I need to have done to satisfy the needs of the boss above me and the people on my team who do the best job at filling those needs are the ones who I promote the fastest. They are also the ones to whom I gave the biggest raises. In fact, I just about have to give those folks great raises and other financial incentives because I do not want to risk losing them to other employers who might be willing to pay higher salaries.
Now that we have defined the principle of looking after your boss, stay tuned for Part 2 where we will be exploring the best ways to apply this principle to your every day work life.
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October 28th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Good post.