I don’t care how many management courses you have attended : management is and will always be a predominantly hands-on activity, that can only be fully mastered by DOING.
In other words, no matter what you learn through formal courses, until you get into the actual PHYSICAL act of managing people, operations and processes by yourself, you will not be able to develop any reliable proficiency in delivering results that will prove you worthy of career advancement opportunities in your organisation.
This article is meant for managers or employees who want to become leaders in the organisations they work.
YOU can do this by creating frequent and repeated opportunities for yourself to get considered or noticed for secondment – even promotion.
If that sounds impossible, let me assure you it is NOT: You just need to know how to go about it, which is something this article can help you learn.
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(TM)(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(TM) 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”.
