The Promotion Trap: Focus on This instead!
“How can I be promoted faster ? What I need to do to get that promotion in short time ? I have delivered so much, then Why I am not getting a raise?” this are some of the questions that I have faced countless time in my career as Engineering leader.
I get it why people are so focused on promotions. I empathize with their thought process and understand the positive impact it will bring to their career and bank balance. My first response to all those questions has always been:
“Promotion or Salary raises are the outcome and not the end result. They are outcome of you developing yourself and learning new skills”
Through this article, I want my readers to reevaluate their priorities and shift their focus towards something more meaningful and fulfilling.
Promotion: The One Trick Pony
Getting promoted is an exhausting process and is outside your control. It is a decision made by others based on factors that may have little to do with your efforts and performance. Many professionals work extra hard to get promoted and think that life will be chill after that. But after getting promoted they realize that they have more work, more stress, tasks which they don’t enjoy, and often they are dealing with office politics which they hated. The relentless pursuit of promotions can leave you burnt out, and frankly, unsatisfied.
Become a Unicorn, Not a Workhorse
I have mentored more than 100 professionals in my career so far, and the process of enabling others have helped me to learn alot as well. Below are the 5 key areas I ask my every mentee to focus on instead of promotions:
Become a Master of Your Craft: As your career progresses, you should always focus on improving your skills and often becoming a subject matter expert. You should be “the guy” your peers and managers think of when they want to solve a problem specific to your domain. Continuous learning will keep you always relevant in and outside your organization.
Take stretch goals: Taking projects outside your comfort zone enables you to solve problems which you would have not encountered otherwise. Your thought process evolves and you become confident in solving complex issues.
Build Relationships: Build a strong network of professionals, this will open multiple new doors for you. Do not think networking as a numbers game, but a genuine attempt to connect with smart individuals. Find mentors and take their help to identify and bridge your gaps.
Foster your well-being: Do NOT compromise with your physical, mental and emotional health. Take enough vacations, work will always be there. Rat-race will only lead to exhaustion. Sometimes you need projects and work which bring happiness and sense of fullfillment. Such work may not help your career goal but it will re-charge you to take next big challenge.
Learn to let go: Life is not always fair. You may be in an organization which is not valuing your efforts and skills. Maybe you are not the right fit for the role you are looking for. In such situations, it’s better to remove yourself from such situation and find a new opportunity where you can truly shine. It’s hard to let go specially when you have put lot of efforts but the “sunken cost fallacy” will only bring you down further.
But what about the outcome ???
At this point you must be thinking about the outcome of all the work you did so far. Well, I am working on a follow-up article about having promo conversations and key actions required. It will be up in few days.
Closing Remarks:
I have build large teams and hired hundreds of professionals in my career so far. People with skills, compassion and drive will always find the right opportunity. Sometimes it may be tough due to external circumstances e.g. today’s economic situation. But keep faith in yourself. Only thing you can control is to become a better version of yourself, so keep improving.
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P.S. I provide mentoring to aspiring professionals free of cost. And I am always happy to connect and share experiences with other leaders. Feel free to connect me via linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharmakris/