Take up big
roles on your own to win promotions at work
Ability To
Lead, High Performance Will Help Produce Impact
It’s often
after the performance appraisal cycle that I’ve heard comments like “I’m not
the one they’d promote anyway”, or “they didn’t promote me even this year”.
I’ve sometimes engaged in counselling on why it didn’t happen, and more often
than not I realised that the responses have always been the same.
We are culturally wired to view a
promotion as a reward. We fail to distinguish between an increment, a bonus,
and a promotion. We expect that a good performance must essentially be rewarded
with a promotion every few years. And some of us even plan our careers based on
what we establish these ‘few years’ to be. When this flawed plan falls apart,
we end up crestfallen, with a feeling of being wronged and not recognised.
Almost instantly follows our search for recruitment consultants, who seem to be
the only ones who can help us find the right position that we deserve, in
another company of course! No wonder an executive search consultant gets the
highest number of calls from candidates soon after the appraisal cycles have
sealed their fates.
While an increment or a bonus are dependent and directly proportional to one’s
individual and organisational performance, a promotion is not. Therein lies the
challenge.
We all seem to know what
translates into high performance in our respective areas of work, but we do not
know what makes us promotable. We look at just-promoted peers with either awe
or disdain, and deny ourselves the ability to see what they did differently.
I’ve had bright people argue with me, citing their impeccable qualifications,
their tenure, their industry, where they came from and where their peers were.
And each time I’ve had to break their hearts by saying that these were factors
that aid the decision to promote, not determine it.
What determines promotion is
‘promotability’. I define this as the ability to take on larger
responsibilities and deliver at a higher level to produce a superior impact.
It’s important to remember that great performance and other factors described
above may precede a promotion, but will rarely determine it.
Simply said, promotability is a
behaviour of reaching beyond and doing larger things than what your
existing
job demands of you. If you are the regional sales manager (RSM) and want to be
the VP of sales, then start doing what he does. For example, the VP
strategises, segments his market, optimises his team’s efforts, promotes safe
behaviour, coaches people, focuses on cost, doesn’t say ‘me’ too often, doesn’t
cry hoarse against the operations guys if a delivery goes wrong but works with
them cohesively to fix it, and so on. Don’t wait for a promotion to start this
behaviour, but start leading differently. Identify the skills that you need,
record them in your development plan, and own its actions.
Remember, it is what you are now
that will determine where you will go. Help your colleagues who are not as
bright as you are. Spread ease and joy in the workplace, not stress. Work with
other departments towards the larger goal. Be the first one to offer help. If
something works well for you, share it and let others benefit from it. Stay
away from politics and bad-mouthing — you’ll be surprised how immediately
you’ll feel the difference. And when you’ve succeeded in doing some of these
and more, in addition to sustaining your great performance, simply get ready
for the magic to enter your life. Happy promotion to you!
Source | Times of India | 31st January 2018
Regards
Prof. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library &
Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
