What Do Your Trophies Mean For Your Career?
Going home to your parents house after moving out is always kind of eerie, especially when “your” room is still full of your stuff. I had that eerie experience earlier this week when went to my parents house and realized that the majority of things left in my room not only define me, they define my entire generation.
As many may be guessing that stuff is my collection of trophies from growing up. I have trophies, medals, and awards for everything. I have a soccer trophies, baseball trophies, pinewood derby trophies, a medal from a poetry contest, and tons of certificates and ribbons. It’s really quite an impressive collection, until you look closely and realize that most of them say “competitor,” and none of them say “1st place.” When I came to this realization I just started to laugh because it finally hit me. I really did get a trophy for everything I did, and I never even won anything! (OK, my high school swim team won the national championship, but I assure you I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I was an “alternate” so I could go on the trip).
I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I have to wonder, what do these trophies mean for my career?
At this point in my career, I’d have to say, not a good thing because the real world has already smacked me in the face for having an expectation of a big shining trophy (metaphorically).
After my first 10 months of working I had my first formal review in which I learned what my raise would be. My boss started out praising my performance and telling me I had done a good job, and then he got around to telling me what my raise would be. I was on the edge of my seat, “My first raise!” I thought, ” I wonder what my promotion will be, Sr. Analyst!?, either way I’m taking Mary out tonight to celebrate!”
That’s about the time when my daydream came to a screeching halt as my thoughts were interrupted with ”2.7.”
“2.7 Percent?” I asked, knowing that I must have heard wrong.
“Yes”
At that point I must have given him the look of death.
“You’re not happy” he said, as I was biting a hole through my lip and trying to keep my composure.
“Well, I don’t know what you were expecting” he said in a calm, business like voice, but “I gave you the max HR would allow.”
That comment stopped me dead in my tracks, “what was I expecting?” I couldn’t answer it. I really had no idea what to expect, all I knew was that I was that I deserved praise, an awesome reward, and hopefully a pizza party afterward. At least I got the praise.
I look at that situation now and I realize that I was subconsciously expecting some sort of championship trophy (in this case more than a 2.7% raise, and hopefully a promotion) when I didn’t get it, I reacted poorly and threw my own little version of a tantrum in which I went on to pretty much tell him that if I wasn’t going to be paid what I was worth, I would find a place that would pay me what I was worth.
Lucky for me I had a really cool boss and when I called later that evening to apologize for being an idiot he laughed, and understood that I was flying blind and had nothing to base any expectations on. In hindsight yes, my reaction was EXTREMELY stupid, and I really don’t know why I was expecting more, especially when I had already survived a layoff that year.
This experience has caused me to pump the brakes a bit on my expectation for praise and rewards, I still work to the best of my ability, and I still want a trophy, I just don’t expect one anymore.
What do you think being part of the “Trophy Generation” will mean for your career?
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July 10th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Very telling story, and almost assuredly something that our generation faces often. Unfortunately, unlike you most people completely ignore the dose of reality. If we face facts, and there are exceptions to the rule, most of our generation do fall into the ‘entitlement’ approach.
Is this recession a wake up call? If not, what will it take?
R
July 10th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Talk about the stuff they don’t teach you in college- For all the people whose merit increases were frozen this year, 2.7% is a lot. Congrats!
July 11th, 2009 at 10:27 am
That’s a good story and I do agree with the ‘entitlement’ mentality I see in a lot of kids just getting into the workforce. I had a similar story to yours though, where after my first annual review I was praised on my achievements, had exceeded the goals and requirements set out at the beginning of our year for a performance bonus, but was told I would be receiving the standard bonus or less. I was also told that because of HR / financial reasons I could not get more, and mentioned that kind of sucked for us… to which my boss replied that he actually got the max bonus. Needless to say I had my own little temper tantrum and eventually quit. Now working on my own I’m the one responsible for my bonuses, so nobody can screw me out of what I earned… and if I don’t make extra money, then I only have myself to blame. And that’s the way I like it.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
That’s a good story and I do agree with the ‘entitlement’ mentality I see in a lot of kids just getting into the workforce. I had a similar story to yours though, where after my first annual review I was praised on my achievements, had exceeded the goals and requirements set out at the beginning of our year for a performance bonus, but was told I would be receiving the standard bonus or less. I was also told that because of HR / financial reasons I could not get more, and mentioned that kind of sucked for us… to which my boss replied that he actually got the max bonus. Needless to say I had my own little temper tantrum and eventually quit. Now working on my own I’m the one responsible for my bonuses, so nobody can screw me out of what I earned… and if I don’t make extra money, then I only have myself to blame. And that’s the way I like it.