In this day and age where competition to reach the top is at a premium, you have to work very hard to stand out from the crowd and to earn promotions. For you, advancement might be about reaching the top of the corporate ladder, it could be about earning more, or it could be about being able to make more of a difference and exert more influence in your role. Whatever your motivations may be, standing out from the crowd and ensuring that you can get to where you want to go require some hard work and focus. In order to help put you onto the right path, here are a few things that will stand you in good stead.
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Always look to learn
You should always be taking on board new skills and knowledge. Be it learning from colleagues, attending conferences or reading important journals, you should always be looking to learn more. One of the best ways to do this is to study. Ask your bosses if they will sponsor your studies. This is useful in many ways. It will make you better at your job. It means you don’t need to pay for your studies, and you may well be given time off to learn. It means that you get a qualification which makes you more employable when you want to leave. Start with an online search for a phrase like ‘diploma project management’ and see what comes back. You don’t necessarily have to take the year off to study, you can do it online and upskill yourself very quickly.
Don’t miss deadlines
If you are assigned a task, make sure that you complete it. It might sound like a very simple thing to say, but if the goal is to try and stand out from the rest of the crowd, then you need to take the simplest opportunities to do so. If you can be relied on to do what you are asked to do, and to do it well then you will very quickly develop a solid reputation internally.
Play for the team
The best way to achieve is as part of a winning team. In a work environment it is almost never as an individual that you will stand out. Fostering unity, showing the ability to work together and sharing the credit is the way to go. If you alienate your fellow workers then, no matter how good you are, you will quickly find that you are being excluded from important discussions, that you are fighting against internal resistance to get things done and that everything that you want to do is harder to accomplish.
Get out and about
Advancing your career is not just about your internal connections, it is also about getting out and networking. Make sure that you develop a good network of contacts and that you position yourself as a leader, as a face of your company and a person who is doing good work. That way you are not just making yourself central to the success of your company, but you are also creating external options for advancement in the event that you want to leave.
About Carson Derrow
