Strategies for Active Career Advancement

Are you looking to be promoted?

If getting a promotion is important to you, then it is time to sit down and look at the external and internal factors that will influence your strategy of advancement.

Define Your Target

The very first and most important step in your career advancement strategy is to define what success is to you. From my observations, too many individuals choose a path that is somebody else's dream rather than their own. It's how you define moving up that really counts. It's also hard to be passionate about a direction that isn't your dream.

Do Your Part

The internal factors are all about you. This is where you exert the highest level of control. Are you being intentional about putting yourself in a position to be promoted? [Click to read more]

Survey Your Surroundings

If you are seeking to move to the next level within your organization, there are a few items that need to be explored:

• How has this organization historically handled promotions?
• Do they generally promote from within or seek externally?
• What is the general timeframe for people to get promoted within the organization?
• Is the person you report to going anywhere?
• Does the person you report to have a history of mentoring his/her direct reports?

I call these external factors because you can only influence them not control them. Your answers to these questions may suggest that the only way you're going to move up is to move out. If these external factors align with an internal promotion, then you have additional steps.

• Have I asked my immediate superior what it takes to get to the next position?
• Did their answer have enough specificity to suggest that they had thought about this possibility?
• Can I continue to gain clarity around the possibility of promotion? (If you cannot gain clarity, then more than likely that's not a real possibility.)

By defining your goals, developing a strategy, and become intentional about executing your plan, you can increase your chances of advancement immeasurably.

Here’s to Your Success-

Jim

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