Another approach would be to offer to write a monthly column about your department and its people for a company publication. A number of people from our network of offices contribute such columns to Half-Times, an in-house monthly publication that goes to everyone in the organization. Not only does this bring them to the attention of their peers, but the thoughts and ideas expressed in their columns provide useful information to others performing the same job.
There's another benefit, besides exposure, to becoming involved with company publications, and that's the opportunity to sharpen your written-communication skills. If they are woefully lacking, it might be an incentive to take a course in clear, expository writing, which you'll use to advantage throughout your working life. Being able to distinctly express an idea or process on paper is one of the most valuable tools anyone seeking success can possess.
Offer to Help
No matter how familiar with personal computers just about everyone in business is today, there is a tendency on the part of those not directly related to data processing to be suspicious of it and at times scornful of its role. Why? We tend to distrust anything we don't understand.
When I asked in a Burke study what complaints top management had about their DP departments, these were some actual responses:
"They think they're a cure-all."
"Too aloof."
"The inability to communicate in everyday language."
"They are not aware and don't focus on the company's mission. The focus is on data processing and not what the company is doing."
"Inability to see issues from a top management perspective."
"Data processors are not in the mainstream."
"DP people think that the computer is more important than the company itself."
"Not relating to people and interacting with people."
What these attitudes create for you, a data processor, is the opportunity to turn them around through education. Once you have established yourself in your job, you might offer to hold a once-a-week evening seminar on computers and their contribution to the company. Another approach you could take is to offer the same sort of evening class on how computers work, particularly personal computers and how they can contribute to every person's daily life. Obviously, there are other subjects you could cover on a volunteer basis in such a class. Your involvement in offering and conducting such seminars not only provides a service to others in the company, but also accomplishes what you've set out to do- gain wider exposure for yourself outside your immediate department and outside your company.
Another possible activity along these lines occurs when a department within the company is about to have a new or improved computer system installed. Again, the prevailing attitude on the part of non-computer people is to resist the change. This resistance stems from not knowing much about computers and having been denied access to that knowledge because of the tendency of data-processing people to surround it with technical jargon and mystique. If your department is engaged in implementing a new computer system for, let's say, the records department of a hospital, you can offer to act as liaison between your technical people and those who will be end users-the record-keeping clerks. You can offer to hold meetings with them at which the new system and how they will ultimately benefit from it are explained in lay terms.
An important word of advice here about these kinds of activities: explain the computer system in understandable language and concepts. I remember once speaking to an experienced private pilot who was angry at the tendency of other pilots to show off when they took up for a ride someone who was not experienced in aviation, and who was naturally apprehensive about flying in a small plane. Instead of allaying their fears by giving them a smooth, uneventful flight, these pilots would deliberately put the plane through its paces in order to impress their passenger. Of course, the exact opposite effect was the result.
The same idea holds true when communicating your technical expertise to those outside the data processing field. Keep it simple, and leave the technical phrases and words back in the DP department. Following that bit of advice could enhance your career potential, according to another study we conducted in data processing. We asked DP management and top management whether, in their judgment, data processors who communicate and articulate well find it much easier to get ahead. The response was a resounding "Yes!" Ninety-six percent of the respondents agreed, with only 1 percent disagreeing, and 3 percent remaining neutral.
