Can’t understand why you haven’t been promoted? It may help to make yourself redundant. Carsales’ CIO Ajay Bhatia provides 10 tips on how to fast-track your next promotion.
1. Act as if you have already been promoted
Focusing on the bigger picture will get you noticed by your manager. Think about how your manager would react to a certain situation or solve a particular problem.
A software developer will focus on how to write the best code but someone who is leading a development team will think about how they can resource a project efficiently to make sure it’s delivered on time.
2. Work towards making yourself redundant
The irony here is by making yourself redundant, you are less likely to lose your job and more likely to get promoted. For instance, if you are smart enough to automate the tasks of your job to an extent that you are no longer needed, the company will do everything possible to keep you, as you have demonstrated you could repeatedly do this in the future.
3. Have a succession plan
As a manager, ensure you have a person who is ‘second in charge’. When the company promotes you, they want to know there is someone else who can do your old job. It’s also important that your manager trusts you to hold the fort when he or she takes a business trip or holiday.
4. Employ people who are better than you
Your skills are not the only thing that is valuable to your company. You are also judged by the performance of your team. People who employ staff with lesser skills than themselves become bottlenecks in organisations and tend to stay in the same role for a very long time.
5. Be an extension of your boss
Make your boss’ life easier, by taking tasks away from him or her. But, it is important not to just impress your immediate manager. Your peers and reports (if any) are equally important.
6. Be confident in yourself
Sir Richard Branson once said: “If you are lucky enough that someone gives you an opportunity take it, learn it and prove your worth.”
Above all be confident and perform without fear; if you have the skills to get promoted you have the skills to find another job.
7. Chase more responsibility, not money
The money will always follow as market forces come into action. Just going after more money can cloud your judgement and derail your original career goals.
8. Find a good company and stay longer
While some people find they can get more money elsewhere, most find it easier to get promoted internally; as the people in the company know your skills better than an external organisation.
If you hop from job to job every year it will be more difficult for you to ever attain a more senior position.
9. Connect with people and be likeable
In August 2013, Harvard Business Review researched the topic: Is it better to be loved or feared?
Being ‘liked’ came out as a very important factor in being an effective leader.
They found that there’s a 1 in 2,000 chance that a manager who is strongly disliked will be considered a good leader. If you want to be promoted, it is important that you are widely known and liked.
Command and control will get you nowhere in this century. Being connected with people will take you places.
10. Have a vision of where you want to be
Lastly and importantly, have a vision of where you want to be, this will help you take the right decisions at critical times.
You can then always ask yourself the question: Does this decision get me closer to my long term vision or is it just a short term feel good decision?
Click here for a high resolution version
Ajay Bhatia is the CIO of Carsales.com. Follow Ajay on Twitter:@AjayAus
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.