.
Every Employee/Manager Wants To
Get Promoted
Well, all kinds of people exist on the
planet Earth, and they daily have different unique experiences
that make them take decisions which may appear curious to
others around them. So, I guess I could re-phrase the above
heading a bit by starting it with "Under Normal Circumstances".
By this I mean there is a possibility that someone, somewhere,
may NOT (for reasons best known to him/her) want to get promoted
from his/her current job position.
As for the rest of us, the phrase "Every
Employee/Manager Wants To Get Promoted", I am sure reasonably
reflects expectations that a career minded person is likely
to have - and many do actually have it. However, the challenge
for most people is often how to go about making their expectations
become reality - and whether they can apply the sustained
effort needed to succeed.
How does a supervisor or junior level
employee get promoted to manager's status? What will s/he
have to do to be considered competent, by decision makers,
for elevation to such a position in the organisation? What
will it take for YOU to get given that opportunity to relieve
or replace YOUR boss(e.g the Technical Director about to go
on leave or retire), having spent say the last ten years as
head of your department, on what now appears to be a plateau
in your career advancement path?
You, like any other person who aspires
for career advancement, must consider these questions against
the backdrop of information about the work to be done in the
position you have set your eyes on, and the results expected
to be delivered by the incumbent or post holder at any point
in time.
I Successfully Used The Ideas
Offered Here As An Employee - YOU Can Do The Same
This article offers very practical ideas,
and somewhat unconventional thinking, about how any willing
employee or manager can take personal action to regularly
create opportunities for him/herself to win high profile career
secondment opportunities and promotions in the workplace.
A lot of what I propose here is based
on what I did(sometimes initially purely on instinct, until
I made it a habit, having noticed the attendant benefits),
quite successfully during my time in paid employment, and
which I also observed others do equally - if not more - successfully.
It also contains useful insights obtained from studies of
the career lives of other persons who achieved significant
successes as executives in high profile corporate organisations.
Six Practical Steps You Can Take
To Get Favourably Noticed By Decision Makers
1. Forget
What They Teach You In (Management) Courses: Okay,
maybe you shouldn't "forget", but don't let it hold
you back at work. (Management) School studies present issues
in an orderly manner. Real-life situations often present themselves
in the EXACT opposite way, even as they demand YOUR prompt
action! I suggest you identify individuals you look forward
to relieving, and focus on studying what they do that makes
them competent to occupy their positions. Also, read books
based on real-life studies/true stories about successful career
persons. Apply what you learn.
2. Remind
Yourself Of Your Boss' Expectations/Act On Them & She
Will Tell Others: Ask yourself what role you need to
play to help him/her and the entire team, succeed. Do this
often enough and you will soon be thinking like him/her(i.e.
as it relates to getting the job done in line with legitimate
requirements), sharing his/her concerns - and taking appropriate
action to get the desired results.
It will only be a matter of time before
s/he stops "worrying" about following up with you
to be sure you're doing what s/he NEEDS you to do in order
that s/he might deliver the results management expects. Evidence
of this will reveal itself in how readily s/he leaves you
in charge - justifying doing so to superiors if necessary
- whenever there is a need for him/her to go away for long
periods(e.g on leave, unexpected temporary re-deployments
etc).
3. Demonstrate(And
Act Based On) Keen Awareness Of The Company's Priorities -
And You'll Get Noticed: If you can work hard enough
to understand WHAT is important to your boss/company, WHY
it is important, and HOW you can do YOUR own job to help achieve
those important goals, you WILL ALWAYS be a valuable member
of the team. Do this long enough, and s/he(plus "others"
who watch) will be unanimous in recommending you for assignments
or secondments to higher positions.
4. Master
Your Area Of Interest Or Intended Activity - And Word Will
Spread About You: Your demonstrated competence on the
job and proficiency in implementing related tasks will boost
your chances of doing well when you get the opportunity to
act in a higher position. This is why you MUST work HARD on
yourself - relentlessly. In addition, make it your number
one priority to gain as deep an understanding/insight as the
person you know to be BEST in each area you expect to be responsible
for, if/when you go on secondment.
For instance, if there is a particular
problematic machine whose performance determines how well
your department will perform in terms of output, you want
to find out ahead of time:
(1)
What is required to keep it working with minimal stoppages?
(2)
Who the best hand(s) is(are) to get it back in working order
if it does stop working?
(3)
What alternative options are available to you in the event
that it REFUSES to work despite efforts to revive it?
Pssst: Here's
a secret. Many times the old hands, usually in the
lower cadres or rungs of the ladder know the answers you seek.
Not because they have more education, but because they've
been around so long, and seen so much of it happen again and
again, with the benefit of also witnessing what solutions
worked and WHO came up with them. Get them on your side, and
they will open doors of insider information/pockets of wisdom
frequently inaccessible to persons unwilling to get down from
their high-horses.
5. Always
GTEM™(i.e. Go The Extra Mile): But Do It
Intelligently. Going the extra mile when necessary, specifically
to the extent that it helps achieve the organisation's goals
without incurring avoidable/unjustifiable losses or other
negative consequences, will set you apart from the crowd.
Majority of employees typically do about
enough to meet their obligations as employees. And I don't
just mean resuming at exactly 9.00am and closing at 5.00pm
sharp. GTEM™ goes beyond - or may not even include -
exceeding normal working hours(which some people exploit to
earn overtime pay, even though there was no reason to stay
that long!!), to things like say...following up the phone
call you made - 5 minutes to the close of YOUR shift - to
the laboratory technician about the beer tank sample which
needs to be IMMEDIATELY analysed so the bottling line does
not run out of beer, in another half hour.
In this regard, it could in fact mean
YOU stopping over at the laboratory, AFTER closing your shift/on
your way out of the brewery, to get the result(confirming
the beer is good for bottling) and reading it over the phone
to the bottling hall operator so s/he can connect the new
tank to the line and avert the impending line stoppage.
You would
do this because you KNOW it is important to do all
that YOU can to help the company team - which you are a part
of - do well by meeting the set target output. You would
not do it out of fear that you could be blamed if you
did not. (After all, technically speaking, it would not be
you ON DUTY, if the lines stopped bottling because the results
of the beer in the next tank for bottling are late in arriving!)
In otherwords, you would readily do
necessary work to move the company forward regardless of whether
you've closed for the day or not!
Your colleagues, reports and bosses will
notice this selfless, team oriented behaviour, and decision
makers will ultimately consider it a quality that gives you
potential to succeed in a higher leadership position.
6. Show That
You Are NOT Scared Of Taking Tough Decisions, Intelligent
Risks And/Or Initiating Change. Collin Powell once
said "Being responsible sometimes means pissing
people off." To convince decision makers that
you can hold important positions, you MUST show that you can
take needed decisions/actions - regardless of who is affected.(This
of course does not mean you would be insensitive to the needs
and feelings of others).
Also, you must not suppress your creative
instincts in doing the things outlined in 1 to 5 above. Successful
companies know their progress depends on periodically re-inventing
themselves internally and externally. That's why they value
people who DEMONSTRATE that they have the guts to break from
established traditions, to develop new ways of thinking and
doing things - which inevitably equip the company to better
pursue its goals.
Actively(and responsibly) explore opportunities
to introduce useful change. Sometimes your instincts will
tell you the recommended "way" will not yield the
best results, and a different solution would pop into your
head. If you have worked hard enough on yourself as suggested
above, you will KNOW when it would be right to follow YOUR
instincts. Anytime you feel that way, DO IT!
When you succeed, the news will get around.
Sometimes you may not succeed
:-). But that would not be bad. You would have learnt something
useful. If your boss is smart, s/he will acknowledge you for
taking a decision that required courage. Decision makers could
even take that to be evidence that you have the makings of
someone who can lead others/occupy higher positions(YOUR desired
goal)!
Summary
If you were to take all that I have said
here and summarise it in ONE single sentence, it could be
something along the following lines: If
you want decision makers to give you MORE frequent opportunities
for career advancement, work hard, but responsibly, to DO
THINGS that will GET YOU FAVOURABLY NOTICED by them.
By "thing", I mean what you
will do that helps the company move forward, even as it also
makes you look good, BUT
as much as possible, without deliberately making any other
person(s) look bad. If you can do that successfully, your
organisation's leaders will show their faith in you, by repeatedly
demonstrating (through choices they make) a preference for
you, over others who may otherwise be considered equally talented,
qualified or competent.
“All successful employers
are stalking people who will do the unusual, people who think,
people who attract attention by performing more than is expected
of them." -- Charles
M. Schwab
"'Luck
is when preparation meets opportunity"
- Anonymous
Powell's
Rules for Picking People: ” Look for
intelligence and judgment, and most critically, a capacity
to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty,
integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego, and the drive
to get things done". 
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