Blog: This is how you get that job promotion!

To be blindsided by a war, rising fuel prices, a pandemic or a Porsche! All this on a year when Roger was due for his promotion!

It is definitely not the kind of luck any of us want. To get promoted when due and to get pay raises at par with the responsibilities is what most employees hope as the outcome for all the effort and commitment they put into their careers. In this age of stiff competition, you have to do better than the best and beat all adversities to achieve what you want…. And to be promoted in spite of the evil Porsche!

They say that people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. A boss who denies fair treatment at work on a day-to-day basis as well as in respect of career growth is the worst of fortunes that can befall a person. A good boss would ensure that you are mentored and groomed to be ready to take on better roles and more responsibilities.

However, there is equal or more responsibility in your hands to equip yourself to that dream role and be a worthy candidate for the upward move.

Compiled here are some pointers to give you that nudge in your preparations to embrace growth:

Aligning yourself to the organizational goals – As an employee a keen awareness of the company’s vision, mission, short-term and long-term goals makes your work more meaningful. Your achievements become noteworthy and ‘seen’ by decision makers. Being seen for the right reasons and being never out of radar ensures top of the mind recall when promotion season arrives
Working towards getting your boss to trust you – Your primary means to gain a promotion is undoubtedly through a happy boss. Hence your first task is also to make her implicitly trust you to do a job well. When you do a job well, indirectly you make her job easier and that is what everyone wants. Even your boss. To have an easy work day where her team members ensure it to be smooth and goof-up free! This makes her trust you enough to give more responsibilities and makes you an indispensable ammunition for her own growth.
Empowering juniors – This is a natural requirement for you to be successful in the previous task. Only if you trust your reporting line and team, and mentor and groom them well can you take up additional responsibilities. With a good system of checks and balances in place you can delegate efficiently and your team can play a big role in propelling you on your growth trajectory.
Learning to take criticism in the right spirit and not become defensive – Decades ago I remember on the day of my farewell party from a job, to my absolute delight, my soon-to- be ex-boss told the gathering that what he liked most about me was that I took criticism on my stride and endeavored to work on the drawbacks identified. This is by no means an advice to accept unfair treatment lying down, but of using negative feedback as a prop to help in your growth.
Having proof of your achievements – We as humans rely a lot on our memory to help us at crucial moments in life. But research shows that within one hour people tend to forget an average of 70 percent of new information and within 24 hours an average of 70 percent and within a 90%, all of it. This tells us the importance of meticulous documenting of all markers of achievement. Any effort you put into your job should have a visible effect and hence learning to quantify them is vital. It could be an impact on sales numbers or bottom lines or it could also be instances of your contribution in resolution of a work conflict. Whatever be the achievement, WRITE IT DOWN! Why else did Bill Gates create Excel, Word and PPT for us?
Take appraisals seriously and prepare well ahead – You should submit your appraisals form in time and spend time filling it up conscientiously. Preparation for appraisal discussions is equally important. Knowing clearly how you have rated yourself and how to defend your requested rating makes you come across as an employee who takes his job seriously. Most promotions are never based on isolated instances of glory but as a reward for consistent and recorded good performance over a longer period of time. It is all about being steady and consistent and about not fleeting displays of brilliance.
Showing commitment for end-to-end ownership of projects /tasks– There is this story about a busy barber that I am reminded of in this context. He doesn’t want to lose his clientele during morning busy hours to the barber in the shop next-door. So, he went on to cut people’s hair and trim beards half way through and complete the job later. This ensured that all of them waited for him. An approach like this might have worked for the barber. But this kind of work ethic is death knell in corporate life. There is no better way to become unpopular than by being a deserter with many half-done projects to your credit. It shows a clear lack of determination and will power to push through and achieve goals.
Seeking feedback at regular intervals and aligning yourself better to the expectations – Course correction if done early can save you a lot of time and heartache. At work it’s important to seek feedback and understand the expectations of superiors at right intervals to realign yourself to the larger goals of the organization.
Being humble about your achievements, but not self-effacing – Self-effacing people are quite valuable to have as personal friends. But to grow in your career, this quality will not help much. You have to exercise your right to express and ask for things you wish to get. If you have worked for it, it is well within your right to ask for your raise or promotion. In this age of massive competition and huge caches of human resources available with organizations, it is important to be vocal. When there are fewer opportunities and more people in the fray to grab them, expressing keenness for getting promotions or new roles is a basic survival skill.
Being careful about whom to trust and confide in – Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer is what they say. This is not to say your colleagues are your enemies. They are certainly competition and it is pure common sense not to confide or engage in the ‘watercooler gossip’ with your colleagues unless you are absolutely sure of their integrity and trustworthiness. As you go higher up the organizational ladder anything that you said or did earlier could come back to haunt you, if you are not careful.
Being remarkable – Go the extra mile and prove to be an invaluable asset in your organization. Whenever internal job roles open up, your aim must be to be the first choice that springs up in your boss’s mind. Dressing well, being punctual, positive and participative and not being the one to shirk responsibilities all are what goes into making you the alpha at work.
Working on your communication skills – This is of vital importance. Learning and honing your skills in communication, responding after deliberation and not reacting to emails or calls in a knee jerk manner are necessary skills to nurture. Very often proper communication skills pay better than mind numbing hours of slogging at work.

If you are looking for some help in preparing your team or equipping them to the reach for the next level in their careers or hoping to offer any kind of coaching services to upgrade their soft skills, do write to us at harish@harishrao.world to know how we can help you with it. We would love to work with you on this or any other business coaching needs you may have!