Simply Master These 4 Areas To Get Promoted!

In this series, we’ll look at the four areas you should master on your way to promotion. To get promoted, you’ll want to focus on each of these elements. All of which can be broken down into specific concentrations which I will do with subsequent articles to be released weekly in succession. The four key components to procuring your career advancement are:

1. Your Relationships

2. Your Data

3. Your Self

4. Your Actionability

Let’s break these down a bit more. Consider the following a roadmap for the content to come. In the meantime, get an idea of each section with the descriptions below.

Relationships

One of the most important aspects of succeeding at work, is one’s ability to build relationships. It’s the very premise of ‘society’ and the foundation of that ubiquitous and sought after ‘team player’ job skill. Make no mistake, your relation to the people around you is a key factor in your success and happiness.

Don’t worry if relationship-building isn’t your strong suit or you’re the introverted type, there is still hope! You don’t have to be a life-of-the-party, center-of-attention type to succeed in this area. In fact, you can use that to your advantage! We’ll discuss how in the following articles.

Let me also be clear that this section isn’t about how you should play office-politics or blame your lack of promotion on the distinction of others. Sure nepotism can be a thing and it’s easy to believe failure-to-get-promoted may be because you’re not “connected” to the decision-makers. But that is exactly why developing positive, genuine, and mutually beneficial relationships with colleagues is an extremely important part of the promotion-puzzle.

Below are several indispensable ways Relationships should be leveraged to get promoted, discussed with detail in the following articles.

*Article yet to be released

Data

Data is the common denominator in every business. It is the universal truth and the unarguable constant. Smart businesses will allow everything they do to be informed by data. You need to be able to tap into the power both on a personal level and company-wide scope. It doesn’t mean you need to be mathematician, coder, or data scientist. Data, as with wielding it, comes in all types of forms.

No matter what role you have with the company you have access to data, even if its only your own. Understanding, tracking, interpreting, and reporting such makes you a value employee and develops critical thinking skills. It also prepares you for leveling up as you’ll soon begin to grasp the bigger picture of company objectives and processes.

By mastering the use and importance of data within your role, you will be primed for promotion. Below are a few areas we’ll discuss in detail.

How & Why to Quantify Your Efforts*
Rainbows, Beer Bongs, and Data Visualization
Money Maker Data*
Capture & Conquer*
TBA

*Article yet to be released

Self

This one should easily make sense. From your behavior, to your attitude, professionalism, and responsibility, if you want to get promoted, you gotta be your best self. In this section we’ll look at the following:

Attitude As a Skill*
Personal Professional Development*
Effort & Ownership*
Working Independently & The Value of Self Reliance
From Smile to CEO*
TBA

*Article yet to be released

Actionability

I define ‘actionability’ as Aptitude + Initiative and mastering these things will quickly set you apart from the herd. I’ve met far too many individuals that never developed their actionability, much less perfect it. These co-workers are usually the ones wondering why they’ve been passed over for promotion or complain they never get the ‘fun’ projects. If you want to be the object of their envy, focus on your own Actionability.

Aptitude is your competence and capacity to perform. You must be able to complete the tasks before you (and beyond), if you want to get in the promo conversation. In fact, that alone isn’t good enough. You need to demonstrate that you know more the just your job and how to do it. You need to be exceptional.

Initiative captures your willingness to engage and the results of your follow-through. Initiative is one of the top qualities I look for when hiring an employee, no matter what the position is! Consistent displays of initiative, no matter how small, will build your reputation as a reliable and proactive asset to the company and team.

We’ll break down each of these qualities and how to exercise them in the articles below.