Something Holly has taken it upon herself to do at our office is make sure that we all stay current on popular culture lest we embarrass ourselves when we are out in the real world. So it went during a recent check-in when she let me know that “brat summer” was officially over. 

“Got it,” I said. 

But she was skeptical. “Did you even know it was brat summer?”

And I did because I had absolutely heard the term before. That said, I will cop to thinking it had something to do with grilling and was unaware that it was “an aesthetic trend defined by party animal antics, cool-girl style, and lime green everything.”

I guess you learn something every day. But I mention this here not to lament my missing out on the true brat summer, but rather as an example of someone in an organization adopting – and thriving at – an informal role. 

The way I think about it, if you work at an organization there is what you do at the office every day, which is your formal role, and then what you bring to the office every day, which is your informal role. And what’s interesting is that while most people are hired to fill a formal role, their longevity and trajectory inside of an organization is usually determined by their informal one. 

To wit, I was once witness to a hiring process for a quantitative analyst that ended up landing a technical expert with multiple advanced degrees from a rival firm. With regards to the formal role that needed to be filled by the hire, this was a no-brainer home run. But it didn’t take long for things to turn sour when this person adopted an informal role of being an instigator, a lone wolf and a fault-finder. And while the person’s work as an individual contributor was good, the cost borne by the organization with regards to overall productivity was too great. 

This isn’t to say that if you’re fun to hang out with you can loaf at your job (those people are eventually let go as well), but rather that the most successful professionals don’t just do what’s asked of them. Instead, they’re constantly looking for ways to share their talents, knowledge, and passions across an organization in order to make it stronger and more well-rounded. Further, it’s by making one’s talents, knowledge, and passions known and admired across an organization that one’s formal role will grow over time. 

An analog to this is that if you see a void in an organization, fill it. Because it may be the case that no one else in the organization even sees it yet.

-Tim

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