Set yourself in the lead for career advancement

    Career advancement embraces everything you engage in from the time you begin your career to the time you superannuate. For some people, it could mean simply mean moving up the career ladder to a position of ultimate status and authority. There are others who feel that working hard and performing well; and getting due acknowledgement for your efforts and dedication are important.

As things stand today, there has been a relative decline in the promotion rates in most organisations. It is not that there is no scope of advancement because the effects of recession are fast fading away. But going by the trends being predicted, the competition for top level posts in the corporate setup will intensify in the next couple of years, largely because of the build-up necessitated on account of the previous slowdown.

The above imposes upon executives seeking to gain ascendancy the need to place themselves in a state where they are easily identifiable for promotions whenever suitable openings come up.

Considering the harsh reality of conventional career paths having become obsolete, career paths being adopted by people are devoid of signposts en route that can indicate direction. There are very few organisations that pay attention to succession planning and development, but their efforts are generally directed on selected people in the top hierarchy. The outcome is that middle-rung aspirants are generally without a clue of what they ought to be doing to move up on the career ladder. They continue to do hard slog and suffer from four major fallacies as under:

· If you continue to work hard in your present position, you are bound to be rewarded with a promotion. Working hard may not be adequate; you need to demonstrate increased productivity on a continual basis.

· Your boss will offer you tips and counselling at the time of your annual appraisal. This expectation is unsound because most performance reviews dwell on how you acquitted in your current role and do not offer any tips on what you need to do to move up. Moreover, your immediate boss may not be fully in picture about how you are perceived by the higher management and hence is unlikely to not involve himself in giving any guidelines pertinent to getting promoted.

· Promotions are contingent on who you know. In fact, they are all about who knows you well and if the senior management perceives in you a capability to shoulder higher responsibilities.

· Issues like how noticeable you are in that your dressing sense, demeanour and other allied aspects are critical for gaining a promotion. Yes, they may matter but only to a limited extent. In fact, most organisations lay great stress on your capacity to handle crisis and volatile situations – these generally manifest and come into play at senior levels only.

You simply cannot place yourself on a pedestal and claim a promotion. You get a promotion only if your demonstrated performance over the years has been consistently above average. It is also dependent on the headship attributes and their potential displayed by you. If your track record has been unfailingly good over the last couple of years, you need to focus hard on the following actions to be in the reckoning for a promotion:

· You need to discern various factors that are considered by the company management in promoting people to senior positions. In the light of these factors and in the context of skills sought by them, how are you viewed by it? While most companies bring out a catalogue of leadership skills, most of them are imprecisely and indefinitely addressed; and cannot in any way, help guide individuals. Resultantly, you are at a loss to envision how your top management sees you and hence are unable to decide specific areas that need to be your focus of efforts.

· You also need to find out if your current role places you in a favourable position to exhibit your capabilities or whether you need to another suitable appointment. You have to position yourself so that you are able to demonstrate your strategic skills and aptitudes. To some extent, your boss can help you do that, but eventually it is your responsibility.

· You should also make serious efforts to know where you actually stand. Aspects related to your ability to work well under stress and strain as also take decisions in crisis situations should be delved into. The impression that you have created on your suitability to shoulder higher responsibilities will matter and should be known to you.

Most middle-level employees do not obtain any such feedback, but yet pass time submissively with acute optimism of being picked up for promotions. Such a disposition does not, in any manner, manifest any confirmation with regard to their promotions. You need to display positive initiative to put on show your leadership qualities. This will make you better poised to clench any promotion opportunity.