The Truth About Getting Ahead at Work
Author: Nicky J. Davies |
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Categories: Career Reset
You are in the office and you look around you and suddenly realise that, once again, you have been overlooked for promotion. It has gone to your colleague. You are angry - you’ve got far more experience than them, why have they been promoted? You may be wondering what you are doing wrong.
If you are the kind of person who focused on learning every detail of your job and doing it perfectly then you have probably missed some vital opportunities to demonstrate you are promotion ready. Sounds crazy? Well, the truth is you may have overvalued expertise and not put enough emphasis on the soft skills needed to succeed. Being a perfectionist can serve you well early on in your career. You are seen as someone who can be relied upon to get things done at a high standard. But it often gets in the way of progressing your career. Your insistence that everything must be perfect might stress your team out, and you may have a tough time delegating to them too!
Let me give you an example, I was asked by a Telecoms company to work with a newly promoted senior manager to try and iron out some problems he was having early on in his new role. What had got him into this senior position was his expertise and high standards. Now he was expected to manage two teams and delegate responsibility for production to them. He was struggling to do this. In his words he couldn’t find anyone in his teams “that can produce to the same high standards as me”. He spent hours “fixing” what had been produced by others to meet his perfect standards. His direct reports were starting to lose confidence in their own abilities and weren’t happy either.
Through coaching he learned to let go of his perfectionism and in the process, he learned a valuable lesson too - his way was not the only way to achieve significant results. Now he is more relaxed, trusts his team and has more time to build allies within the company, getting more done and being more visible to leaders. His direct reports are happier too!
It’s important to know when something is good enough. Yes, get feedback from others and think about how something can be improved. But if you are already at an 8.5 out of 10, invest the time and energy you would put into making it a 9 or 10 into the things that matter for the next, more senior role you are looking for.
Also, don’t rely on people seeing you do a great job. They are often busy with their own stuff so you need to be able to market yourself.
Think about the following:
- How you can position yourself to be seen as ready for the next role?
- Who would be a useful mentor (and advocate) to help you develop skills needed for the next role?
- Where can you create opportunities to present more to leaders within the organisation?
- If you were in a lift / elevator with the CEO of the company and they asked you so what do you do? How would you answer? Practice a two-minute answer that reflects how you use your special talents.
And take action before you feel ready! Why? Because this is how you push through fear, and you will learn so much, can course correct and keep going.
So remember...
1. It’s important to know when something is good enough - free up energy to focus on building allies, getting more done, and being more visible to leaders.
2. Become your own marketer - don't rely on people seeing you do a great job.
Taking these two points on board will bring a shift in your thinking, and as you take action others will notice a difference too.
Deep down we all want to be seen as the talented individuals we are with the potential to do so much more, and live a more meaningful and inspiring life. CLICK HERE to book a FREE Online Career Breakthrough Session with Nicky. We'll:
- Clarify what you want to achieve in the next 18 months
- Uncover obstacles that are holding you back
- Come up with a 3 point action plan to get you there
Nicky works with managers who are looking to progress their careers, helping them make the career change needed to fall back in love with their lives.
CLICK HERE to book a FREE Online Career Breakthrough Session with Nicky.