Former Community – We Moved
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Workplace power moves - Answer to the director's question
"How would you have answered the director’s question?
If you want to take a guess, write it in the forum and I will give you my feedback on it."
Director: “Oh, cool, so you’re good at presenting and communication?”.
You: "Well, I am nowhere close to the level of expertise you acquire, but I am slowly but surely improving. And that is all thanks to the amazing feedback I am receiving from all of you. It is truly an incredible experience to work with you all, thank you for this opportunity.
Now, I must mention that I could've misunderstood the whole dynamic, but that is my take on a good response. Pulling it off in person is a completely different thing though..
I look forward to your enlightening feedback :)
Hello Zeph!
Not bad.
- It avoids falling in the biggest trap, the bait to brag: so you avoid losing any (further) points
- You take some points back from what I had previously lost: I was probably selling too hard, and your reply adds humbleness to make up for that
- Builds people up: It also uses humbleness to indirectly compliment the person who is supposed to vote and rate you, which is a great way of ingratiating him without being too obvious about it -most people in the room would probably think "that was a bit of a flattery power move", but it's still cushioned enough that you don't come across as too brown-nosing-.
What's missing there though is:
- The opportunity for you to shine: You build them up, great. But that's also a situation where you need to sell yourself. There is not much in that reply that makes people realize how awesome Zeph is.
- The WIIFT: When you are working in an organization, or for a boss, you always want to stress what they are going to get if they give you something. You discuss about learning for yourself, OK... But what's in it for them if they give you that opportunity? Without the WIIFT it sounds too self-referential and self-absorbed.
In short, you avoid the pitfall with that reply, but you also don't take the opportunity for shining.
Check Anon's attempt here, and in the same thread you can see my own reply to come out winning from that trap question:
