10 things I learned at P&G and BAT to make me better professional

I’m incredibly grateful that I spent 8 years of my career working for two multinational corporations – P&G and British American Tobacco (BAT). Both are recognized as two of the best places to work because of their staunch commitment to develop leaders, promote the best talents and provide endless opportunities to grow within the company. The skills I learned and the experience I gained working in corporate environment has opened doors to many opportunities that I’ve had since leaving BAT last year. I would like to share 10 things I’ve learned at P&G and BAT that have made me a better professional and it is my hope that you’ll find them insightful.

1. You have to fish where the big fish is

As a former financial analyst of beauty care category at P&G and later commercial finance manager at BAT, I worked with multi-functional teams. One of my core responsibilities was to allocate and control more than $10mln budgets; also I had to analyze previous and future projects and provide a perspective regarding which ones had generated positive or negative ROI and which ones will generate the highest return for the company in the future. At every step, I dealt with limited resources such as budget, time, team member’s availability at etc. Therefore, it is important to focus on what’s important and prioritize effectively - to identify which projects have the biggest impact on the business and then allocate resources (money, time, people) upon those projects. It is necessary to take time to identify a “big fish” proactively and align expectations with all stakeholders. “Quality over quantity” approach, fully supported by your manager, will save you time and guarantees the highest value for both – the company and your career, because for transparency and promotion purposes it is better to do less projects but meaningful, rather than spend limited resources on many that add limited to no value.

2. P.I.E model works where performance is key

The basic concept is that by focusing on these tree pillars of P.I.E (Performance, Image and Exposure) in the right proportion you can accelerate your career and build a consistently strong personal brand within the organization. At the same time, P.I.E is the unwritten rule applied by senior managers when they make decisions about promotions and salary increases. If you start to use it proactively than you will position yourself for success.

Remember, the key element is “P” – Performance, it is a “ticket to entry” that occupies 60% of P.I.E. Without consistent high performance, Image and Exposure doesn’t help to achieve your long-term career goals. Focus on performance first, do your best to actually achieve results that bring value to the company and then communicate those results to the right career sponsors. “I” stands for Image, your reputation, including how others in your organization perceive you. The truth is that if you do not proactively shape your personal brand, others will shape it for you and you might not like the perception that is created. Make sure you shape positive image, because every conversation counts and you never know who can be your next boss. ‘E’ – exposure, visibility to those individuals that can influence your career. It’s not good when you demonstrate the outstanding performance, but no one knows who you are and what you are doing. Good managers can help you receive some exposure but you should take personal accountability, because you own your P.I.E. Make sure that while you’re delivering great results you’re also shaping the image of high performer and your potential is exposed to senior managers.

3. Effective presentation skills are important

Presenting information clearly, cohesively and coherently is a key skill you have to master in order to communicate effectively with your peers, clients, senior managers and other stakeholders. To present a complex data in a simple manner and build a story that informs and persuades your audience is not easy thing to do; thus in order to be good at public speaking you have to invest your time to practice it.

Learning to prepare and deliver an effective business presentation – an informative summary, recommendation or proposal – will allow you to influence decision makers, and to impress people with your convincing business results. The ability to stay firm when speaking publicly and to convert complicated matters into a simple and well-structured story is a useful skill in all areas of life, above and beyond the corporate world. The further you proceed in your career the more effective your communication skills must be, whether it is presentation skills, business writing or public speaking. Therefore, don’t be afraid to speak up and start to master your presentation skills as of day one. For example, you can start small – volunteer to represent your department at meetings, on regular monthly catch ups or on projects.

4. Crisis if motivation is inevitable

At P&G and BAT we changed assignment every two or three years, because this approach allows companies to constantly challenge its employees, maintain their high motivation, provide ongoing learning environment to them and enhance their skills. However, not every organization rotates people across different functions or give them a new assignment every three years. Without proper and timely rotation your motivation to contribute decreases significantly with time and you can get stacked at the comfort zone where you have solid skills and experience to do your job well but no enthusiasm.

I have learned that crises of motivation is inevitable and in order to avoid the one, it is important proactively prepare yourself for the next move. The new assignment, position, or - what is even better - promotion will drive motivation to its peak, while skills gained at the previous role will be synergized with the new ones making you stronger professional.

5. Energy management is as essential as time management

There are many books, articles and experts’ opinions available about how to manage your time effectively, but we very rarely think about how to manage our energy to perform at our best. In fact, the ability to manage both effectively – time and energy – allows us to achieve a full engagement, in other words, it means to be mentally and physically healthy with enough time and energy to work and live.

During my career I witnessed come to work at 8 a.m and leave the office at 5 p.m fully exhausted; also, I saw people who could work well from 8 a.m to 10 p.m, and go to gym everyday afterwards. Both are symptoms of bad and good energy management respectively, where bad energy management can lead to energy crisis: disengagement, suboptimal performance, deep fatigue, lower productivity, unsatisfying work-life balance, relationship conflicts and poor health. On the contrary, good energy management leads to high performance, stress resistance, creativity, opportunistic emotions and higher mental and physical capacity. The good thing is that energy management is a skill that we can learn and train. At P&G we had a two-day training called “Corporate Athlete” where I learned fundamentals about how to maintain high energy, expand its capacity and convert it into maximum performance in business and life. Read the book “The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal” written by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, follow advice and start practicing managing your energy, as a result you will constantly perform at your peak and be very productive.

6. Contribution to organization matters

This one is important because it can provide you a competitive advantage if you leverage it in a smart way. Undoubtedly, contribution to business is your top priority but taking care of organization is a big plus to your visibility in front of career sponsors and overall resume. During my 4.5 years at P&G I led or was a member of so called “solution teams” that had been created to improve a team spirit, enhance collaboration between departments and deal with people issues (e.g work and life balance, training and development, career and guidance, relationships with manager and etc) inside the organization. For example, I led the following solution teams: 1.Wellbeing Team (where we, as a team, organized offsite events for the entire organization; also promoted healthy lifestyle via trainings, seminars and team building activities); 2. Career and Guidance (where we as a team conducted career related surveys and prepared the action plan to fix the issues in order to make P&G the better place to work for); also I was a team member of Recruiting Team which presented Finance department on campuses, organized case studies competitions and worked closely with young talents to attract the best ones. When I joined BAT I reapplied the best practice from P&G and did my best to contribute to organization via establishing and leading “2Lead” and my efforts paid back very well for people working in the company and for me personally – I have enhanced my organizational skills, have become better speaker and more confident leader overall. My recommendation is to wake up every morning and think about what can you do better for the business of the company, its people and its culture – if you manage to maintain this mindset you will succeed in the corporate environment.

7. Constrictive feedback is powerful tool to accelerate career

Constructive feedback increases self-awareness, offers guidance and encourages development, so it is important to learn both to give it and to receive it. Constructive feedback does not mean only giving positive feedback. Critical feedback given skillfully can be very important and useful - it allows us to leverage strengths but also to identify opportunities areas. Top-performing employees are at the top because they search for ways to make their best even better.

At P&G and BAT a regular feedback was part of my monthly routine. Twice per month I sat down with my manager to discuss my performance, key priorities, opportunity areas, strengths and etc. That open and regular dialogue with the manger allows to avoid “surprises” at the end of the year when assessment process and performance evaluation begins. Moreover, it allows discussion of long-term career interests and proactively prepare yourself for the next role. I would like to emphasize that your direct manager is the one who is responsible to guide you and ultimately make you a better professional. However, the person who is responsible for your career is You, thus it is your responsibility to take charge of regular feedback sessions.

8. Stay in a "student mode"

At P&G and BAT I had access to the best-in-class trainings and workshops. I was responsible for my training and development plan and took ownership of my learning early on, making sure that I registered for the courses from which I could improve my skills and benefit in one way or another. However, it is very important to stay in a “student mode” constantly - to learn everyday and re-apply the best practice into the daily work. For example, my first bosses’ boss told me the following: “I’m 14 years in this company and I still learn everyday. Learning is everywhere, stay hungry for new knowledge and experience, ask questions be curious and never switch off the student mode”. I asked him to share how he approaches it and what he does to keep himself hungry for knowledge, he told me the following: “During every meeting I am fully engaged by asking questions and staying focused. I watch how people present and learn from good speakers regardless of their seniority and working experience. I learn from every employee no matter whether he is 21 years old newcomer or mature professional. I read quarterly and annual reports of our competitors, analyze their global performance as well as local one. I read macroeconomic statistics and read business related magazines in order to keep myself updated”. I found his advice extremely helpful and I have been trying to apply all of them in my career for the last eight years. Personal growth and development are top values for me so this was particularly important in my case, but really it is something that is important for everybody in professional and personal lives.

9. Treat company’s business as your own business

“Act like owner” and “Treat company’s assets as your own” – these are fundamental “Must Dos” that I learned at BAT and P&G respectively. Indeed, entrepreneurship mindset and high ownership are very important in the corporate world. Corporate folks who think and act as business owners have greater chances to succeed within the company than those who only care about their paycheck for the job done. Why? The answer is very simple. People who have a holistic entrepreneurial and commercial mindset make decisions in the best interest of business. They constantly look for ideas to eliminate inefficiencies in the value chain, save money for the company, and, eventually, grow the business. At the end of the day, those ideas are noticed by higher managers, and, if implemented successfully, they bring positive changes for the company as well as they guarantee promotion to the initiator.

We may have the wrong perception that only high seniority people like CEO or CFO has authority and responsibility to act like owners. In reality, regardless of the position every employee has a chance to demonstrate ownership and propose the brightest ideas that make a positive. For example, one of our corporate finance managers walked around the office and came up with an idea to change the layout of office space. As a result, he proposed to fit all employees from two floors in one floor. It saved tons of money and he was promoted for this idea. Yes, it squeezed a free space a little, but nobody felt uncomfortable.

10. You never know who will be your boss

In the corporate world things are rapidly changing and one thing you can’t foresee at all is who will be your boss. Yes, it is possible to predict your next manager in the short-term, but in the long-run I guarantee that you will be surprised to whom you will report to. I know people who climbed the corporate ladder fast and became bosses of their previous boss. Also, I know plenty of examples when individual reported to a person way younger than him. Therefore, every interaction matters – regardless of your disagreements with somebody or inner negative attitude to one person or another stay positive and respectful to every single individual in the organization. Avoid conflicts at any level and stay professional no matter what happens, because you never know who will influence your career.

#career #management #success