Taking Your Game to the Next Level

Hard work does not always guarantee reward.

Have you ever noticed that some people who don’t work as hard as you do or even deliver the results you do earn rewards that seem out of proportion to their contribution? What do they know that you don’t?

How can you grow your career more effectively?

This situation is so perplexing and so maddening.

Realize that strong performance in your current job is important but is no guarantee of getting ahead.

It often takes more than that.

Being strategic helps.

Together, we can partner to develop a strategy and help you gain the skills so that you can obtain the company recognition that you deserve.

Let me tell you a story about Mary*, one of my clients.

It starts with a conversation.

Take the case of Mary who was recognized as a star performer in her department but had been passed over for a promotion for the past two years.

She came to see me to figure out how to get ahead. I coached Mary on how to craft a conversation with her manager to get specific feedback regarding her strengths and areas for development for larger roles.

She was told that she was missing supervisory experience, tended to do all the work herself rather than delegating to others, and was much too quiet in meetings.

Building confidence comes next.

It turned out that Mary suffered from a lack of confidence and from being overly perfectionistic. She was reluctant to say anything at meetings unless she was certain that she was right. So, although she almost always had opinions and ideas (since she cared so much about her work), she kept most of them inside.

We worked together for a few months to address how to build confidence and stop censoring herself.

We discussed how to phrase her thoughts, so she could influence more effectively. Over time, I helped Mary to internalize that even her mediocre work was high quality, so she stopped belaboring every task.

Learning to delegate work is part of advancement.

As far as using her resources more effectively, I had Mary examine her reluctance to delegate work to others, even if the work was outside her scope.

She realized that she did not trust that others would do as good a job as she knew she would and believed that being busy would lead to greater rewards.

We discussed the fatal flaw in this thinking, and I ultimately coached Mary on how to delegate effectively and how to coach someone to deliver a good product.

Her mastery of the delegating skill gave Mary more time to get involved in higher value activities for her department.

Seek opportunities for growth.

Mary then asked her boss to be on the lookout for opportunities to lead teams, either within her department or across the company. She successfully lobbied to onboard new employees within her group and show them the ropes.

Networking is strategic.

And lastly, Mary learned how to “brag” about her contributions to key stakeholders in a way that was sincere and not overly political.

She looked for opportunities to build relationships with key stakeholders in various parts of the company and gained access to a mentor.

Happy ending to the story

You knew this was coming, right?

Mary was able to change her management’s perceptions and was viewed as having capabilities beyond the individual contributor level.

Next time around, she got the promotion she craved.

Always plan for the next opportunity.

And yet, even with that “win” in hand, Mary cannot rest on her laurels.

She needs to rethink her formula for being excellent in her new role and how to adapt what she has done in the past to her new context.

In the words of renowned leadership coach, Marshall Goldsmith, “What Got You Here Will Not Necessarily Get You There.”

Be like Mary.

Learn how to take care of your career, how to nurture and cultivate it so that your work can remain a vibrant source of fulfillment.

Take the first step and contact me at (215) 321-1331 so that we can talk about what will make a difference for YOU.