In the tough world of work, we all need to do a little self-promotion every now and then.
But it’s a difficult balance to publicize our successes without appearing unsympathetic.
Now a study has found the answer: highlight the accomplishments of your coworkers while shining a light on yourself.
Researchers say this “double promotion” tactic is the perfect way to ensure we are perceived as competent while exuding “warmth.”
“We show that individuals can exude both warmth and competence by simultaneously promoting others – describing others’ achievements and qualities – and promoting themselves – describing one’s own achievements and qualities,” the researchers said.
In the tough world of work, we all need to do a little self-promotion every now and then. But it’s a difficult balance to publicize our successes without appearing unsympathetic. Now a study has found the answer: highlight the successes of your work colleagues and at the same time shine a light on yourself (archive image)
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The team from Vanderbilt University, George Mason University and the University of Pennsylvania distinguished double promotion from ingratiation, in which a person says something positive about someone to their face or in their presence, which leaves the person receiving the promotion reeling. Praise leaves a good impression.
Dual promotion is when one person highlights the accomplishments of others, even when those other people are not around.
For example, a person could use the double promotion at a job interview where none of their colleagues were present.
“The double promotion is not directly about improving relationships with the person to whom the compliment is being paid, but rather about showing a third party that you care about that other person, thus showing your warmth and To demonstrate competence,” said Dr. Eric Van Epps. one of the authors of the study.
However, he said most people don’t try for a double promotion in situations like a job interview.
In a pilot study, they surveyed hiring managers who said that the majority of candidates they surveyed (69.1 percent) only promoted themselves, while only 12.6 percent sought a double promotion.
“It seems like right now people are either not thinking about speaking positively about others or they’re worried that they’ll look worse in comparison,” Dr. VanEpps, associate professor of marketing at Vanderbilt University.
“But we always find that it’s good to pay your colleagues a compliment, especially – that’s the ‘double’ part of the double promotion – in addition to recognizing your own skills and achievements.”
Researchers say this ‘double promotion’ tactic is the perfect way to ensure we are perceived as competent while exuding ‘warmth’ (stock image)
For the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers conducted seven experiments with 1,488 participants.
Observers evaluated individuals who engaged in dual promotion compared to other “impression management strategies” in various contexts.
In one of the experiments, 200 human resources managers were asked to read about two colleagues who completed a joint project and rate themselves.
The colleague who used the dual doctorate wrote: “This project was successful thanks to our teamwork.”
“I took care of all the financial analysis, technical processes and backend design.” Alex really impressed me with how he handled our customer communications.
“We both took responsibility for what we do best and that led to a great result.”
The other colleague who used “self-promotion” wrote: “This project was successful because of the efficient technical details.”
“My skills were a perfect fit for this project, so I took care of all the financial analysis, technical processes and backend design.”
“I took responsibility for what I do best and that led to a great result.”
Managers rated the two candidates’ competence almost equally, but the dual-promotion candidate was rated significantly higher in warmth, scoring an average of 5.65 on a seven-point scale, compared to 4.14 for the self-promotion candidate.
In addition, the managers had a more positive overall impression of the dual promotion candidate, with a score of 5.83 on a seven-point scale, than of the self-promotion candidate, who scored 4.67 points.
The research team said that previous studies have identified “so many behaviors” that people engage in around self-promotion that, while they successfully convey a good impression on one dimension, they end up changing people’s minds on another dimension about them affect that scientists have coined the term “self-promotion dilemma.”
They concluded: “In this work, we identify a novel approach to solving the self-promotion dilemma, which we call “double advertising.”