Envision the career of your dreams—performing the work that you love in a positive working environment. Great benefits and excellent pay are the icing on the cake. The reality is that even if you’re a valued employee, you can’t take for granted that it will happen on its own.
If you’re like me, you’re constantly thinking about what you can do to get promoted. Recently, I stumbled upon an excellent book that motivated me to get promoted fast. “Hack the Corporate Fast Track” by Erik Newton gave me some firm takeaways to put me on the fast track to a promotion. I’ll hit the highlights on how to work and think the way people on their way up the ladder do.
Developing a Mindset of Corporate Maturity
According to author, Erik Newton, “Maturity is the ability to reach and deal with situations in an effective way. Corporate maturity is the skill of being effective and popular inside the corporation, and that leads to being promoted.” Personal maturity is managing yourself. Corporate maturity is about allowing yourself to be managed when the time calls for it and be skilled enough to manage your boss 10-20% of the time.
Do you consider yourself easy to manage? Can you follow instructions and meet your deadlines?
Employees that are easy to manage make the boss’ job easy and that means you’re bound to find favor in your supervisor’s eyes. People that are difficult to manage won’t make the shortlist of promotion-ready employees.
Managing your boss doesn’t mean telling them what to do or how to do it. When you do excellent work, it reflects excellence in your boss. When your boss trusts you, it frees up time for your boss to focus on other projects that impress the next higher boss. Your performance reflects a culture of excellence and starts the chain that improves the company and gets you noticed.
How to Win People Over
Many well-intentioned people allow themselves to be side-lined when they encounter lazy or difficult peers along their path. Conflict is not your friend. Be smart in dealing with negative influences. Don’t alienate them or turn them against you. Your ultimate goal is to win them over by being smart in dealing with them. Talk to them nicely. Then follow up and hold them accountable. Remember that their performance is a reflection of them and maturity is your key to promotion.
Stand ready for an opportunity to be interviewed on the spot. Challenge yourself to keep learning about your job, people, and yourself. Read books. Be inquisitive. Seek answers. Learn about the latest trends and controversies in your industry. Working to improve yourself makes you a standout and an all-around interesting person to be around.
According to Live Career, if someone asked you about your skills, could you answer them today? What if they asked about the last book you read or asked you to give them three words to describe yourself?
Know yourself and be willing to share it at a moment’s notice.
Competitors are standouts which is why it’s important to be a competitor at the time that a promotion
comes up. Do you have competitiveness at the core of your character?
If we Google the word competitiveness, we find this definition:
-noun-
1. Possession of a strong desire to be more successful than others.
2. The quality of being as good as or better than others of a comparable nature.
Biking, running, and other sports are competitive in nature. How can you reveal your competitive nature at work?
Practice Your Leadership Skills
When the offer of a promotion comes, you’ll need leadership skills. Your boss may be already evaluating you to see if you have them. If you do, your peers will look up to you as a role model. Others will be inspired by you and raise the performance of others around you. Offer assistance as others need it and be careful not to step on them as you climb the ladder.
In my efforts to increase my expertise, I was reading Work It Daily, which made me think about how well I measure up to the “7 Points of Being a Leader.”
1. Take responsibility
2. Believe in Win- Win
3. Try new things
4. Make things happens
5. See opportunities everywhere
6. Propose new ideas
7. Be open to changes and feedback
Leaders aren’t whiners so check yourself to be sure you don’t come off as a chronic complainer. Complainers are childish and won’t reflect the maturity that leads to promotions. Remain positive, especially under stressful circumstances. The concept from Mr. Newton’s book that spoke to me the loudest was that companies hire us to resolve problems, not to complain about them.
Manage your boss by always saying yes, and then doing everything in your power to make it happen. Accept projects cheerfully and own them from start to finish. As Mr. Newton so eloquently stated, “People like respect, and promote people that say yes, and provide solutions. Solutions are what the company is paying you for.” Manage your boss by telling him or her that you’re ready for the next challenge and you’re interested in a promotion if it becomes available.
Finally, be your best self personally and professionally. Rise above office politics and gossip. Make a significant impact on clients or be the go-to person for answers. Take initiative; work independently; display commitment. Exceptional employees get promotions fast.