Unwritten Rules: Why Doing a Good Job Might Not Be Enough
Advancing in today’s business world is often as much about learning and playing by the rules as it is about talent and results. Some rules are explicitly stated in organizational handbooks, performance review procedures, or by senior leadership. But other rules are left implicit—unwritten—for employees to decipher on their own. Those who do not have the tools to access this maze of “unwritten rules” and the important knowledge the rules provide remain left out, no matter how competent they are.
Catalyst’s first report in this series surveyed sixty-five women and men about the unwritten rules to advancement. This second report asks whether the strategies to career success identified in the first report apply equally to a larger sample of respondents and for women and men of different backgrounds. Based on the responses of 700 survey participants, Unwritten Rules: Why Doing a Good Job Might Not Be Enough finds that:
- Regardless of gender and ethnicity, unwritten rules play a major role in career advancement.
- Career strategies involving communication and feedback, performance, career planning, increasing visibility, and relationship-building were viewed as particularly important to career advancement.
- When it comes to learning about advancement strategies in the workplace, observation, seeking out mentors, and soliciting feedback emerged as the most effective ways to learn about unwritten rules for advancement.
Mentor Circle: Deloitte LLP, Dupont, IBM Corporation, Time Warner Inc.
Contributing Sponsors: Campbell Soup Company, Key Foundation, Xerox Corporation
