Many people have been in the position of wanting to take the next step in their career. In fact, 43% of people value career growth and advancement as the most important thing when looking at opportunities. Whether it’s a title promotion or taking on more responsibility it can sometimes be challenging to get there. Often times you are overlooked for other people on your team and can be left wondering why. Through my experiences, I discovered some tricks on what changes you can make to get promoted.
Understand your situation
When looking at getting what you want it’s important to evaluate all possible aspects to ensure you give yourself a good chance at success. Here are some key factors that could play a role in your ability to advance your career. Who is the decision maker, this can at times be your manager but may also include other people like a lead or a director. Speak to the people currently performing the role to understand what they do and how they got there. Look into what problems can be solved within your team or company. Getting to know these things can help you overcome obstacles on your way toward your goal.
Build your plan
Once you understand where you want to go and what it will take to get there you need to build your plan. The goal is to have a detailed plan that can demonstrate why you are ready to take on more. For example, if the next role will have a people mentorship or training component. The best approach is to have a plan for mentoring 1 or 2 people on your team. Make sure to include metrics on how you can show their improvement. The best way to show you are ready for more is to create change in your organization.
Bring this plan to the person or people responsible with a timeline and metrics to evaluate you. This presentation should be more of a discussion and seeing what they might change or add in order to best evaluate your readiness. This way they are bought into your plan and your goals and will help push you towards them.
Make people aware
Now that you have your plan in place you should let your team and the people around you know. Communicating your goals to the people around you does two things to help you. First, it allows those people to get on board and support you. You’ll be surprised how many people want to see you win and what they will do to make it happen. Second, it will hold you more accountable to hitting your targets if your team knows what you’re trying to achieve. It’s harder to quit on a task if everyone knows what you’re trying to accomplish.
Be a leader
For most promotions or advancement, it involves some sort of leadership component. This is why it’s important to demonstrate your ability to be a leader while trying to get there. For me leadership comes in the small actions that might get overlooked most of the time. It means staying late to help someone with a problem who isn’t on your team. Checking in with a new team member to see how they are adjusting. Working a little later than everyone else while trying to deliver a project so that they can leave the office early. It is going the extra mile to make things easier for the people around you.
By doing these small things your team will notice and they will get behind you. They will no doubt sing your praises to the people that matter which will go a long way. Having your team behind you pushing for your promotion will be helpful to get that next role.
Another aspect is taking on the initiatives of your manager and helping them drive it. By supporting them and pushing the team to get on board you will show your leadership ability while making their life easier. Both are important in helping you get where you want to be.
Advocate for yourself
This is one area I have struggled with throughout my career as I’m usually not the type of person to highlight my own success. For many people they don’t want to make it seem like they are full of themselves, so they stay quiet. However, being able to show you were successful not just to those who matter but everyone around you will be key to your cause. I was given advice on how to overcome this conundrum that I found very useful. The concept is simple in that when you are successful it is typically involving a team. Instead of saying how great a job you did, you just praise the team to the organization. This has 2 effects, in that your team will feel appreciated and work harder to help you accomplish your goals. While others will understand that as the leader of that initiative or project their success is your success.
Track your success
In your plan you should have listed metrics to determine if you are successful in your approach. Making sure you track those metrics each week and report back to your supervisor to show them your engaged. This will also help you adjust your plan and approach as you go. No plan ever goes perfectly so being able to adjust and adapt will help you meet your goals. Your supervisor will also see your effort and can help you with any challenges you might face.
Attitude
The most important piece of advice I can give is having the right attitude. That means being engaged in the office. Small things such as being punctual might not seem that important at times but can hurt your chances of promotion. Bringing your best each day will once again show your commitment and readiness for that next role.
In any situation the key to getting more responsibility and moving up within the organization is being consistent. People want leaders they can rely on to deliver results for the team and organization. I hope this gives you a general basis of what changes you can make to get promoted.
How avansai can help
Corey and I are always free for a conversation around what you can do to take that next step in your career. If all this fails and your organization isn’t one that promotes career growth then you can fill out our Candidate Profile and we will connect you with an organization that does.
