Accelerate your promotion – Part 2

Last week, we discussed some of the techniques that you can use in order to accelerate your promotion at work. We looked at seven of the 12 techniques that you can use. To recap, we discussed: Need for a mentor, nurturing your relationship with your boss, thinking of your next job, producing measurable results, asking for more work, your visibility and need for continuous learning. Today, we will discuss the remaining five of the 12 techniques that you need to climb your career ladders faster.
8. Broaden your network: You need to broaden your network so that you improve your chance of grabbing great opportunities when they arise. Through your great network, you will learn a lot and therefore you will keep improving your competences. Through your expansive network, you will get to know of opportunities that can take your career to the higher levels. Your network will also be a base for your personal promotion – they will speak good of you in circles that matter regarding your career advancement.
9. Have a positive attitude: You may be a great performer but if you do not have the right attitude, you will be shocked to see those that do not perform as well going past you as they climb career ladders. If you have a positive attitude at work, you will be liked by everybody including your superiors. You will be respected by even those with authority over you and other senior people, in addition to your peers and those below you in rank. People who have the right attitude tend to be given more work because they accept to take on any challenge. As they do more work, the generically expand their role and later on, formality of promotion comes just to endorse and formalise your expanded role!
10. Be a team player: HR team together with the recruiting manager will analyse your team player characteristics when they consider you for promotion. To stand out, you need to be a clear team player. Be happy to work with any type of people. Be accommodating. Be glad to help or teach anyone at work. Be kind and sensitive to your peers and the rest of fellow employees. Avoid being judgemental and talking ill of others. Be the nice person to work with.
11. Be professional: As you climb your career ladders, those making decisions on your career will evaluate how professional you are. This includes how you dress. Do you dress as expected for not just the job you are doing right now but also for the next higher job? How good is your communication? As you climb higher in career, your communication skills become more and more important – it is both the oral and written communication. In most cases, I have advised managers reporting to me to seriously consider joining Toastmasters International to polish up on their oral communication in order to prepare themselves for more senior jobs where their communication skills will matter a lot as they attempt to rise into senior management as well as when they execute their role at that level. Even all your conduct, including manners, basically everything that you do must project a figure that is professionally aware and professionally trained.
12. Create your opportunities: Be inquisitive and creative. With such a mind, you may over time learn the art of giving yourself promotions. Look around the company and if you see opportunity for adding value to the business by proposing some role that can make a big impact on the organisation, your employers will be only happy to create the business line or the new section or department and entrust you to drive the new agenda. Will that not automatically mean promotion?
Good luck as you embark on a new journey – where you will be accelerating your path towards promotion at work. If you constantly practise the 12 techniques that we have discussed over the last two weeks, then over time, you will become the master of getting rapid promotions at work! Good luck as you rise and shine!