How to get ahead by getting noticed (not forgetting the hard graft)

Meet Simona Stanynaite, a project manager at Transport for London whose appetite for taking on extra projects has helped her to raise her profile. She has worked on a diverse portfolio, from the £1bn Silvertown Tunnel to the Central Line Improvement Programme, and still found time to train as a triathlete.

James Marriott of The Times recently wrote a piece on the triumph of hard workers. “The most misleading idea I picked up over the course of my education was that success is the result of intelligence,” he wrote. “It’s not: success is the result of doing things.” Just look at Winston Churchill, he argued, a man who churned out 2,000 words a day as a journalist, worked furiously as a politician, dictated notes in bed and even rehearsed his facial expressions in a mirror. Poet Philip Larkin cranked out his fourth novel aged 18. Hard workers earn more and even live longer.

The power of ambition and indefatigable energy

The virtue of combining talent with graft is personified by Simona Stanynaite, a project manager at Transport for London (TfL). A modest character, she nevertheless gave away the secret of her success many times over the course of our interview. A decade ago, she arrived in England from her native Lithuania to attend the University of York, bursting with ambition but also a bit short of cash. “It was my decision to come to the UK,” says Stanynaite. “I really love the UK education system, how it focuses on critical thinking. But my parents are not rich, so could not afford my housing. So, on my first Thursday here I started work at Pret a Manger. In my second year I worked a 32-hour week at Pret. I ran the front of house. It was not the easiest time,” she says.

Just three days a week were left for university. Still, she managed to be fully involved, including participation in numerous societies – and she achieved a 2:1 in politics and international relations. One wonders if her fully funded university friends at York had the faintest notion of her double life.

Make yourself known beyond your day job

After York she soon joined TfL’s graduate scheme, and again her sheer capacity to outwork her peers shone through. “I started as a project coordinator. At first, I focused on my job, which was getting development consent orders for the Silvertown vehicle tunnel under the Thames to the Greenwich peninsula. I needed to make myself known outside my team, so I made the effort to volunteer on other teams and projects outside my role. This really helped my career. Today I talk to as many people as I can, so I’m known as widely as possible,” she explains.

Her day job is in the renewals and enhancement division of TfL, finding commercial space for retailers such as coffee shops: “It brings in additional revenue, but also makes the customer journey more wholesome if they can buy something lovely for lunch.” But her personal portfolio is broad. She’s involved in improving safety. “We launched an app last year to make it easier to report incidents. The greater the number of colleagues who report events, the bigger the improvement in safety,” she says. Mental health is being addressed: “We organise events such as resilience sessions, a walking club and coffee roulette to bring people together.” Stanynaite is also part of a project to improve the status of her division within TfL.

In an organisation as huge as TfL, there’s a danger of being forgotten by the panjandrums at the top. So Stanynaite and her colleagues are working on a plan to fix that. “We are creating our own brand at renewals and enhancements,” she says. “It is important for us to have a clear image. We are branding everything on our projects and sites. We are putting up posters and asking people to share their success stories on the Yammer social media network we use at TfL. We’ll put their stories on TV screens in our office. This way everyone at TfL will know who we are and what we do.”

She’s not finished yet. She’s also involved in the Great Place to Work scheme. “We try to improve how we are as a place to work. We look at concerns in our offices, at upskilling staff and recognition. We nominate people for industry awards. Line managers are encouraged to put their staff forward.” And finally, there’s one more item on her CV: “I am involved in the Optimum Delivery Model campaign. We want to see if there are ways to improve project management at TfL. The idea is to use data on past projects to find lessons. We will look at what kind of contracts were used to build a project, our composition of teams and if we are using the right internal and external consultants.”

Volunteer, volunteer and volunteer some more

Her philosophy of hard work is to do more than the basic job description. “I take my own advice!” she says. “You need to volunteer for things to get noticed.” The ideal formula, she says, is to seek out challenges, then let the results speak for you. “When you are on the younger side you can feel insecure,” she says. “When you walk into a room and it’s full of male people older than you, you can feel out of place. Slightly intimidating! The best way to get them on your side is to deliver on your promises. It will build your credibility. Over time your achievements build your name.”

Now aged 28, she’s in a job she loves and has been recognised as a high achiever. The campaign group We are the City profiled her as a star of the sector. Her next role at TfL is helping to set up and run the new renewals and enhancements 2021 portfolio of projects. Does she get a moment off? “Last year I completed two Olympic triathlons, and did two marathons and half-marathons. I fell in love with swimming, which is much more difficult than I thought. I love endurance!” She adds, as though it’s just occurred to her: “It must say something about my character.”

Simona’s top five tips for project managers

Go for difficult jobs

Early in your career don’t shy away from difficult projects or bad placements. You learn far more working on a project with issues. When you deal with difficult stakeholders you learn how to communicate and negotiate. In time you’ll move on, and you’ll have learned so much more. When you face problems next time, you’ll use that experience.

Networking is optional

There’s nothing more loved and hated than networking. Clearly it can bring benefits, but I believe there is no better way to network than doing your job well. People will recognise a job well done and remember you. That increases your network, and does it with people you are likely to see again and work with. So if, like me, you don’t enjoy traditional networking, bear this in mind!

Don’t dwell on failures

We all make mistakes. It is natural and inevitable. My advice is to take the lesson, work out how you will prevent it happening again and move on. As your career progresses, you’ll realise the mistakes you thought were so big were in fact quite trivial. And the same applies to colleagues. If they make mistakes, work out what to do but don’t dwell on them unnecessarily. Learn and move on.

Face-to-face is irreplaceable

Lockdown was a rollercoaster. It taught us a lot. For some jobs a video call is quick and does what you need. But you still need face-to-face meetings to keep relationships going. I’m a fan of having a quick chat in person, even over a coffee. It’s a time to keep in touch and identify when someone is under pressure.

Avoid burnout

Would I recommend other young people do what I did, and work two jobs at university? And keep pushing yourself? Actually it isn’t something I’d recommend to everyone. The truth is we all have our limits. You can go too far. So even though I am a hard worker I am trying to be smarter with my time and appreciate life outside work. You need to find a balance.

Simona Stanynaite

Current job: Project manager at Transport for London

Education: University of York, 2:1 politics with international relations; Jeronimas Ralys school, Jonava, Lithuania

Hobbies: Swimming, triathlon, book club. “I read a lot. We recently read Anna Karenina, and the last book was The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. It’s... different. You need to read it a few times to get the gist,” she says.