3 ROCK SOLID WAYS TO GET PROMOTED INTO LEADERSHIP
Who wants to be a millionaire?
Who wants a promotion into leadership?
Different questions, each usually answered with “Of course - but how?”
How indeed? When I’m helping my clients identify their future leaders there are a few attributes that stand out. Then when I’m helping my coaching clients get promoted, I emphasise the attributes organisations notice.
Get ahead!
Most leaders start at an operational level. In operations, you’re busy creating outputs and things are usually predictable - even if they can be hectic. You’re learning good technical skills that make you valuable to a company and will allow you to tackle more complex problems. Working hard, avoiding conflict and saying yes are all seemingly good attributes that will make you successful.
Frustrated much? If I'm doing these good things, then why am I constantly overlooked when a promotion comes around?”....
There’s also a sense of entitlement. “I am good at producing outputs. I am reliable. I contribute to the company. I should be promoted.”
It’s unfortunate when people get promoted from here. Even if you’ve become technically brilliant and have some management experience you may not have developed leadership skills or mentality. That’s not good for you or your team. Without focused support failure is almost a guarantee. That’s rough.
It's about them that stuckness creeps in. Work becomes dull. Resentment creeps in as other people get given the more interesting work. It’s then that people leave the organisation to seek a role in another company that ‘has more opportunities’ without recognising their part in their lacklustre growth.
In my consulting and coaching work, I’ve seen this from both sides:
Why are we losing good people?
Why am I getting overlooked?
Well f**k that.
Here are the top 3 strategic behaviours that will stop you from getting overlooked, and showcase your leadership behaviours.
Don’t get stuck making tea and doing low-value jobs***
***Unless that cup of tea is going straight to a 1:1 with an influential person, and includes a red-hot conversation.
This one usually raises an eyebrow… We’re taught to be humble and agreeable, so refusing these tasks may make you feel like an arsehole and not a team player.
The ugly truth is that these jobs go unnoticed, drain your energy and suck your self-esteem:
ordering lunch, and making coffee/tea
office housekeeping tasks
organising social activities
anything that will get you tagged as being the person who always does these tasks
or puts you in the spiral as being recognised for being so capable of doing the un-promotable work
People pleasers struggle here. But setting boundaries around your value is critical if you want to be seen as having potential and being promotable. It doesn’t mean never rolling your sleeves up, just be strategic with how you spend your time. Great leaders are brilliant at setting boundaries - and now is always an excellent time to grow this skill!
Consider these approaches:
collaborate to do these tasks (which also builds relationships and a collaborative culture)
do the task, but suggest that a better long-term solution would be to rotate it amongst the team
say you’re focused on a higher-priority task and suggest that we pull in someone else to do the lower-priority work
clearly say that you’re not the right person for that task
2. Understand the difference between performance and relationships as critical currencies
Both of these are organisational currencies. Technical skills are performance-related and tend to diminish over time. Early in your career, you might be rewarded for learning new skills. As a result, people tend to consider their worth to a company in terms of their operational contribution. For example, you perform successful surgeries, write useful code or process claims efficiently.
To level up you need to develop your relationship currency. If that sounds a bit dirty, or political, get over it!
Invest in getting to know people, connecting with coworkers and growing your network. This doesn’t mean sucking up to senior leaders, it means getting to know them and increasing your visibility.
Get to know more about them, and listen for what they value. Rather than only talking about current work, ask about their leadership process and style. Ask about their approach to allocating work, and how you fit into that. Be curious about their perspective on organisational challenges and strategy. Demonstrate that you have more on your mind than your immediate tasks.
There are plenty of ways you can do this. For example:
seek a mentor
arrive early to meetings and connect then
speak up, asking questions is a good way to do this
don’t be overly agreeable
be authentic and trustworthy. Trust is key
3. Ask for more of the work that you want
The first step here is to get used to promoting your work and the value that you’re making. This is essential to your growth.
Sounds a bit yucky! No one likes someone who brags and talks themselves up all the time. FIGJAM anyone? Self-promotion can be uncomfortable for lots of reasons.
Try these instead:
be open about being proud of the work that you’re doing (rather than saying how good you are)
highlight team accomplishments and shared wins, and talk about the contributions you made that were the most meaningful for you and what you learned
talk about the support others have given you, for example, “I couldn’t have got this work done under budget without the support of Rita and Ben”.
Secondly, waiting for your annual review won’t cut it. Build a strong relationship with your leader and others who will advocate for you. This is where you can really leverage the currency of a relationship.
Make it crystal clear that you have goals and aspirations. Don’t assume that everyone knows you want a leadership role, you need to speak up.
I have a bias towards leadership. It’s my expert-level interest and where I spend my time. I know that not everyone wants to be in leadership, and never assume it's a career end goal.
And, if you want to rise into leadership, remember that hard work alone won’t cut it to get the promotion. It’s your strategic ability to play a long game, find allies and build relationships that will help you stand out and get ahead.
