3 Steps to Get Promoted at (or out of) Your Job

Three Steps to Getting Promoted

Hello team leaders and team members on the way up!  Want to get promoted?  Take on more responsibility?  In 90 seconds, here is how to do it.  Take three actions:

First, sink your teeth into the job you currently have.  Learn all you can and do thorough professional work.  In fact, get a reputation as the go-to person for that kind of work.

Second, set SMART goals with your supervisor and get feedback monthly. Not just quarterly or annually. Monthly. And closely track your own progress toward these goals weekly. If you hit a roadblock that you cannot overcome, analyze the problem and go back to your boss with several options, pros and cons, and a recommendation.

Third, volunteer for additional little crappy jobs, the ones that nobody else wants. Why take those jobs? Because this is where you can practice and perfect your own leadership skills. Most likely senior management won't be paying attention to the crappy little jobs so there won't be much management oversight.  So mistakes may go unnoticed by management!  And you can raise your emotional quotient or EQ in a kind of leadership sandbox of social experimentation, that you control.  Somewhat out of sight of your boss, work on the six gun of EQ: self awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

And then you and your little team need to knock that crappy little job out of the park!  That will get you noticed, and you will have acquired new team-leadership skills along the way.

If these three things do not get you promoted, start looking for a new job because you are in the wrong place!