The Dependability Quotient (DQ)
Sometimes the best mentors are your peers.
While cutting my teeth at my first ‘real job,’ I had a friend who constantly dwelled upon his Dependability Quotient (DQ). His take was that he was only as good an employee as his word. He was a freelance consultant so the need for a high DQ was more obvious than for all of us securely employed at Big Co., USA.
But, the need for a high DQ is the same regardless.
Work is all about trust.
Every interaction, even those with people with whom you are (supposedly) on the same team, is about trust.
In his case, the more people trusted him the more work he would get, the more money he would make and the more often he’d be recommended to others.
Even so, it holds true for all of us corporate monkeys as well. The more often we successfully follow through on our word the more access to big opportunities we get. The more we can be leaned upon to help senior executives. And the more we are entrusted to do what’s right for the organization and we don’t waste as much time being mired in office ‘politics.’
While my friend and I never explicitly talked about how to quantify DQ, I’d guess his mental equation went something like this:
DQ = 0.75*(# of completed commitments) – 1,000*(# of failed commitments)
While that’s likely overstating it, you’ve heard the old pearls of wisdom that say it takes 10 happy customers to make up for one pissed off one. Or ten positive remarks to cover the sting on one negative. DQ would follow an amplified form of those.
We work interdependently these days. There are very few things that one person accomplishes solo. So in order for you to look good you need your manager, peers or subordinates to follow through on the items they committed to do for you. And vice versa.
To get ahead, take the long view. Worry less about the petty politics and work on establishing your DQ. Only one of those will follow you for your entire career.
Think about who you’d love to work with again. My guess is that they were the ones you trusted implicitly after hundreds of repeated actions where they followed through and made you look good.
Thanks for reading. I’m off to tackle something I’ve promised to do for our team. Chalk another 3/4 of a point up to my DQ.
No related posts.
