Five Proven Ways To Get Ahead At Work
Promotions are hard to come by. You can be the best employee with a productive lifestyle and still have your employer pass you over for numerous reasons: office politics, human resource quotas, company performance, etc. Certain factors are outside of your control. With that said, what you can control, you should. Your career trajectory will thank you for it. Below are five proven ways that have helped me get ahead at work. I am confident they can help you too, regardless of profession or industry.
1. Create Your Own Projects
Not getting the plum projects from the bosses? Create your own. One of the best ways to separate yourself from the masses – regardless of whether it’s at a small start-up or large multinational corporation – is to identify problems or inefficiencies and pitch solutions. Take the initiative. March into the office of decision makers and propose your idea. Articulate how you plan to implement and realize the idea. Before you pitch, make sure you have injected a reasonable dose of realism and pragmatism. You will lose credibility if your idea is unrealistic or if you fail to deliver results.
A realistic fact of any office environment is that some employees are favored more than others. A good example is the professional dynamics on the Netflix show, Selling Sunset, which focuses on a high-end real estate brokerage in Los Angeles. The main boss in the office always seems to kick the most lucrative properties to one broker in particular, Mary Fitzgerald. The boss sets her up to succeed, stirring jealousy with the other brokers in the office. But does that interplay stop them from hustling and creating their own projects? No. It may tempt them to leave the brokerage eventually, but while they are there, the likes of Christine Quinn would never let Mary’s advantage impede their own success.
You shouldn’t either. If you are capable and only missing opportunities to showcase your work, creating a platform for yourself is the only way to move ahead. Identify problems and pitch reasonable and realistic solutions. Then work your magic and prove yourself. Recognition will come.
2. Volunteer For Everything
In addition to pitching projects, volunteer. Constantly. If your boss or senior leads mention something that needs to get done, think of ways that you could make it happen. State how. New and important work does not go to the meek.
Volunteering for additional work and projects may add time to your day, increase stress, and go beyond the scope of your job description, but nobody should work within the confines of the job they have. You should work for the job you want. At big places you often hear the refrain, “That’s not my responsibility” or “That’s not my job.” While there is some risk that people could take advantage of a volunteering mindset, the potential benefits of the approach far outweigh the costs.
Managers want eager employees. They promote the proactive mentality far more than the reactive one. Volunteering for different work also affords you opportunities to interact with people you may not work with usually. In addition, it could give you the chance to learn something new and expand your existing skill set.
Most people in senior positions have diverse experiences. They typically have worked in different jobs or even industries throughout their careers. There is a reason. When perched at the top of an organization, a multitude of issues arrive on your desk daily. If your previous experience was limited to one specific area, you will likely lack the requisite knowledge and wisdom to handle them appropriately. Volunteering for everything will give you diverse experiences, equipping you with the tools to build your way into more senior positions.
3. Network Constantly
While creating your own projects and volunteering for work can help highlight your work product, interpersonal connections are crucial to getting ahead. Not many people who get promoted are widely disliked. If you are disliked, you better be indispensable. Not many of us are. If you are like most of us, you need to build a following at work, similar to how many of us try to build them on Twitter, Instagram, Medium, etc. Networking with your colleagues constantly can build this following in the office.
Never has internal networking been more important than now while many of us still work from home. The happenstance, serendipitous encounters in the office must now happen virtually. We need to make a point of connecting with colleagues. Otherwise the cultural fabric holding everyone together will inevitably unravel. So the next time you receive an email from someone you haven’t spoken to recently, instead of responding immediately over email, call or Zoom them, whichever works best.
Most people talk about networking externally, but developing and maintaining relationships with colleagues in your organization is arguably even more important. These are the people who may weigh in on year-end assessments, promotion decisions, or simply, “Who do I want on this project with me?” That small talk around the watercooler, whether in person or virtually, can expedite career development and mobility.
4. Organize E-Mails and To-Do Lists
You can have the best personal connections at the office, but if you are an unorganized slob, they will likely deteriorate quickly. People who advance and excel are typically masterful at organizing their work lives. They stay up on their emails and prioritize what needs to get done on to-do lists. Some are more mechanical about this than others, but the important point is to implement some system that works for you.
By not organizing your work life, you run the risk of missing or forgetting about important emails and not prioritizing tasks correctly. Early in my career, a colleague showed me how he moved every email that arrived in his inbox to a folder. His goal was an empty inbox. He also wanted to know exactly where to look in case he needed to retrieve an old email quickly. This method has worked wonders for me, provided that my folders have been generic enough (but not too generic!) so I can find an appropriate home for each message. For example, any email from a regulator goes directly into the “Regulatory Inquiries” folder and then I will separately add a to-do item in my Outlook task bar, reminding me I need to review and respond by “X” date.
Getting ahead requires organization. Missing emails or deadlines is a recipe for career failure. Staying on top of what emails come in and what tasks require completion is fundamental to progressing in your career. Your system can be as simple as categorizing messages in different colors or as complex as foldering messages in an elaborate tree of sub-folders. However you choose to track what needs to be done and when is up to you.
5. Remember: Your Work Product Represents Your Brand
The main theme that underpins points 1 through 4 above is that your work product is a reflection of you. Before you submit anything or give your opinion at work, remember that what you do and say represents your brand. Take pride. What do you want people to think of when they hear your name in a meeting, or when they see your name appear in their inbox?
One of my law school professors closed a semester long course with the following advice and it has stuck with me ever since.
“What I want you all to remember is that your work product means something. Take pride in putting your name on something and saying you did it. Whenever you submit work or answer a question, you should always feel confident that you gave it your all. When you put your name on it, you should feel no other way.”
Getting ahead at work is difficult regardless of industry or office culture. However, by creating your own projects, volunteering for others, networking, and staying organized, you can leapfrog most of the competition who are not willing to put in the time and effort. Most importantly, take pride in what you do and how you do it. With that mentality, advancement and success are bound to follow.
