smartbooks.com Author Article
Getting Promoted:
How to Win the Rat Race -- Without Being a Rat
By Landy Chase, MBA, CSP
Author of Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think,
and Out-Sell to Win Every Time
The biggest mistake that most employees make with regards to promotion opportunities is to consider them an entitlement. In other words, they assume that if they reasonably meet their employer's productivity expectations, then they are "entitled" to a promotion. Making such an assumption is probably the worst career mistake you can make, because in most cases it simply doesn't work that way.
Doing a good job does not "entitle" you to advancement. Instead, it qualifies you for consideration for advancement. Once you become qualified for consideration, a nasty little word creeps into the equation that, like it or not, plays a significant role in promotion decisions. That nasty little word is, of course, politics. Collectively, I define 'politics' as the other, subjective factors not directly related to job performance that either work for you or against you -- and, like it or not, they can be a significant determining factor in promotion decisions. How does one learn to play -- and win -- at the game of promotional politics? Listed below are they most important political factors that come into play when evaluating a person for promotion:
1) Are you dependable? Next to loyalty, dependability is the most desirable attribute that an employee can have. For example, when your boss asks you to do something, does it always get done -- on time, every time? Or do you have to be repeatedly asked, over and over, to get a task completed? All things being equal, the employee who has demonstrated dependability has a huge advantage over their peers when promotions become available.As a final point, never forget that the most important job that you have is to please the person that you work for, because no one has a more direct impact on your career advancement than your supervisor. Too many employees forget this simple but important point. Don't be one of them.
2) Do you get along well with others? I once had a sales person on our team whose customers loved her and who was our top producer -- and was a walking, talking nightmare to every other department in our office. Guess who, in spite of their sales performance, was always at the bottom of the list for promotions? I rest my case.
3) Are you a problem-solver? Companies today place a premium value on take-charge, motivated employees who confront problems in an organization and make a positive impact. Conversely, negativity is simply not tolerated, and for good reason.
4) Do you demonstrate leadership within the office? Are you looked at as a "go-to" source by the others who work with you? Do peers come to you for advice and counsel? Are you willing to take risks, even when the chance of failure exists? Are you fair and ethical in your dealing with your peers?
5) Is you workspace well-organized? My rule of thumb for promoting an employee into management is to take whatever is on their desk, multiply it by a factor of 10, and use this new figure to arrive at a reasonable estimate of what their desk will look like with the new responsibilities. How would your work-space measure up?
© 2010 Landy Chase, author of Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time
Author Bio
Landy Chase, author of Competitive Selling: Out-Plan,
Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time, founded his own sales
training and consulting firm in 1993 and has clients in more than sixty
industries on five different continents. He has delivered more than two
thousand paid presentations as a professional speaker and holds the
Certified Speaking Professional (CPS) designation from the National
Speakers Association, the highest earned level of excellence in the
industry. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
