8 Ways to Get Work You Love

Maybe this has happened to you; you’re producing excellent results at work and yet your boss keeps giving the really interesting assignments to your colleague.
 
What’s up with that?
 
It’s not necessarily anything you’re doing; it could be what you’re NOT doing.  You see, your boss is looking for results, and when they know someone delivers, they often keep sending the work their way.  It means your boss is human and running on habit (we all do it).  It’s up to you to provide them with the option of giving some of the good stuff to you.
 
This means making yourself more visible, which may be something you don’t know how to do well, or feel uncomfortable doing.  Would it help to know there are ways to do this that don’t involve your ego, or tooting your own horn?  Keep reading.
 
There are many compelling reasons why increasing your visibility at work is an important career move for you.  Your colleague (who is getting all the work right now) may be wondering when the rest of the team is going to start pulling their weight (help a team mate out).  Visibility (and the interesting work that comes with it) exposes you to different aspects of the work your team does, which is a great learning opportunity, setting you up for future successes.   You build more credibility and broaden what people know about your expertise when you’re more visible.  With higher visibility you’ll be considered for a more diverse set of work assignments, and that often leads to promotional opportunities.
 
Worth the risk to get more work you’ll love?  Oh yeah.
 
Sitting quietly on the sidelines hoping your boss (or other leaders at your organization) will send something juicy your way does not get this done.  You need to stick your head above the parapet, take a calculated risk, and get out in front.  
 
I promised you ways to do this that don't require bragging or other unsavoury behaviour that won’t align with your values (I got you).  Here are 8 ways to attract more work you’ll love (and still love yourself):

• Contribute in meetings.  Adding your voice through expertise meaningfully during meetings showcases your value-add in helpful ways.  Even if you are echoing the perspective of a team mate, you can do this in a way that allows you to stand out: “I like what Latif said about customer experience being our starting point, it aligns with our corporate objectives.” Of course, you can always stand out all on your own: “Have we considered approaching this from the customer’s point of view?  This is how our competition is finding innovative ways to solve problems, so let’s put it to work for us.”
• Get to know your boss.  Being comfortably visible is possible when you build professional relationships at work, which means getting to know your boss.  You can do this without feeling like a suck-up by expressing genuine curiosity. Do you know why your boss choose their profession?  Why did they come to work for this organization?  What is their approach to managing risk in their role? These are non-personal questions that open the door to getting to know one another better, empowering more empathy and awareness.  Don’t stop at your boss, who else can you get to know better at work?
• Ask.  This one is obvious – ask for the kind of work that interests you.  And yet a surprisingly HUGE number of professionals feel that if their work stands out, they’ll be recognized with cool work without having to ask.  Reality check – your boss is busy – you’ll have to ask to get the work you really want in the beginning.  After you get the ball rolling and showcase your strengths and expertise, more of the good stuff will come.
• Volunteer at work.  Many organizations need employees to serve on internal committees (employee experience, social, health and safety, etc.).  When your boss puts out the call for a volunteer, put your hand up and knock it out of the park.  Being on a committee can get you more air time in team meetings; giving an update once a month on what’s going on, making both the committee work, and you, more visible (while getting more exposure throughout the organization by being on a committee). 
• Invest in yourself.  Many organizations offer learning at work, from on-the-job training to on-line learning, etc.  Take advantage of what’s there, even if it’s not the developmental 3-day workshop you were hoping for.  Coming back to the team to let them know you finished a useful course in the on-line learning portal (and didn’t die of boredom) helps others to see your flexibility and appetite for something more.  Paying for something yourself outside of work?  Share what you are learning and get that investment working for you where you work today.
• Leverage your experience.  Hearing about the problems others are trying to solve is an opportunity when you connect your expertise or experience to it.  “You know we did something similar at my last employer.  I’d be happy to share the lessons we learned with you.”  Offering to share what you’ve learned (rather than what you did …although that gets shared along the way) makes you look helpful rather than boastful.
• Start a group.  You don’t need to wait for your employer to do it, if you see a need, jump in.  It can be anything that gets people excited to meet regularly from a mastermind group to one based on sharing expertise (think center of excellence).  Meeting at lunch, or another off-hours option, can net you more visibility.  You don’t have to chair every meeting, attend yes, but have the role of chair rotate so everyone in the group gets the chance to do it (which still nets you visibility and shows humility).
• Internal networking.  Curiosity is the best way to open doors and get to know others at work without the weirdness.  Start by using the same questions you’re planning to ask your boss.  Get to know others from many different parts of your organization to widening your perspective, gain a deeper understanding of the way things really work at work and sharing in return.  It’s a great investment and nets results that build over time.

 
Attracting the kind of work you love means you know what work that is.  Make a list of the work you do today and enjoy.  List the work you’d like to pass on when the opportunity presents itself and a list of the work you want to do, but haven’t had the chance yet.  This acts as a guiding “north star” for the types of learning experiences, networking connections and other engagements you invest in at work.
 
Plan yourself in and you’ll have more interesting work in no time.

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