Book 1,001 Ways to Get Promoted

Promoting Yourself

Your success depends on how well you promote yourself. Nobody can do it for you. These seven strategies incorporate critical promotional actions that will take you to the top:

1. Organizing everything you do for success.
2. Selling your ideas to get ahead.
3. Motivating everyone, including yourself.
4. Communicating with power and influence.
5. Networking to develop strategic contacts.
6. Teaming up with winners to promote your ideas.
7. Managing your way through any roadblocks.

“If you look at top performers in any field, including business, they aren’t good at everything they do. They’re usually great at a few things, which gets them to the top of the corporate ladder.”

By promoting yourself, you become someone whom the boss wants to promote to a higher, better-paying position. Promoting yourself involves strategies that you can learn to employ. Each of the seven strategies stands on its own, but they all interact to form a cohesive, interactive master plan. Beginning with the first, each one must be mastered before progressing to the next. With each step you will expand your sphere of influence and your future possibilities.

Step One: Organizing

First, you must decide where you want to go. To get promoted, you have to create a solid strategy with an implementation plan. You must be well-organized to get this - or anything else - done. Set your objectives, listing where you want to go or what you want to accomplish in the long run. Then determine your goals, the steps that take you to your objective. This is the foundation of organizing yourself and your plans.

“Show me a person who says they’ve never failed, and it will be someone who has never taken a risk.”

Part of this basic organizational approach includes living the old adages: "Be the best you can be," "develop your potential," "develop self-esteem," "be an optimist," think positively," "keep your priorities straight," "don’t lose your peripheral vision," "hold on to your integrity," "rely on your intuition," "create a vision," "protect your reputation," "learn to love mistakes," "think big," "never give up," "get passionate," "take risks, not chances," "fight to win," and "love what you’re doing." All of these are tried and true, and without their wisdom, you won’t get where you want to go.

Step Two: Selling

Successful people are excellent at selling themselves and their ideas. According to Fortune Magazine, more than 50% of U.S. presidents graduated in the lower half of their class. If terrific academic performance doesn’t measure future success, what does? Successful CEO’s are often the best salesmen and saleswomen in their organizations - the best at selling themselves and their ideas.

“Frame yourself. Decide what you want to be known for. What matters to you most and where you want to have the greatest impact? It will give people a frame of reference of who you are and what you’re good at doing.”

Business is a selling game at all times. You can’t promote yourself if you don’t try to sell yourself and your ideas every day. When you present yourself, be armed with the facts, figures and whatever else will support your ideas. Outline everything you’ve done for the company that justifies your promotion.

“Nobody learns how to make decisions without making mistakes.”

Selling yourself and your ideas relies upon having the self-confidence to develop and use specific skills, including negotiating ability, mastery of every situation so you can make it advantageous, the ability to make a great first impression, and tactics for selling your ideas. When you try to persuade others that they should implement your great idea, always stress the idea’s benefits, explore the reasons for any disagreement and back up your sales pitch. This requires self-confidence, so build that skill, too.

Step Three: Motivating

Find ongoing ways to motivate yourself as you continuously implement your self-promotion plan. You need reasons to stay motivated. Your objectives must have personal value to you, and you must believe that your goals are attainable. Think like a winner, commit yourself, believe in yourself, be determined and remember, "You’ll never win a game all at once." If you can trust yourself and conquer your fears, your motivation will shine through.

Step Four: Communicating

The ability to communicate with power and influence can promote your growth and development and help you direct other people’s behavior. You are in the communication business, no matter how you make a living. From clear one-on-one communication to effective public speaking, whether to a large group or a small one, this skill is essential. Communication is also about listening and understanding when others speak or write to you. Public speaking is performing and should be approached as such. Most successful executives are terrific public speakers. That’s partly because engaging communicators make exceptionally favorable impressions upon management and are most likely to be promoted.

“When you play the promotion game, you will need to make rapid, complex moves if you want to win.”

When making any kind of presentation, you need to exercise the following skills: control, knowledge, awareness, tactfulness, responsiveness, persuasiveness, enthusiasm, directness and flexibility. When you are talking to people, be conscious of your body language because it shows that you are thinking and alert, indicates whether you agree or disagree, and provides onlookers with many other subtle and overt clues.

Step Five: Networking

Like most everything else in business, your ability to get promoted at work will depend on your contacts and connections. Therefore, you must create a reliable network of supporters and decision makers. The ideal network includes people who can help you expand your sphere of influence and support you personally. Those in your network will know what they can do to help you and what you can do to help them. Don’t aim low when you begin creating your network; include influential people from the start.

“Business is one giant corporate game that you play to win. That advice, however, does not give you a license to win at all costs. Any player who will double-deal and cheat to win has no place in the game. Although it is possible to get promoted by playing this way, you will lose over the long-term.”

The three basic types of network relationships are:

1. Sinking relationships will drag you down, hold you back or sink you. End these relationships as fast as you can.
2. Floating relationships act like a life raft, ready to save you if you fall into the water. These relationships are with people you trust and confide in, people who are there for you when you commiserate with them. These people may have minimal direct influence over your promotion, but they provide an escape valve for emotions that you wouldn’t want to display to anyone who directly influences your promotion.
3. Power relationships provide the power that will help you climb the corporate or organizational ladder. People in a power relationship drive each other’s inspiration, brainstorm and invent together, and act as conduits for each other’s creativity. Whether you’re in a personal or professional relationship, these people bring out the best in you.

“Your vision can’t be forced, because if it is, you won’t follow it.”

As you build your network, be sure to:

• Create a diverse network so that you can learn from people who have different views.
• Treat everyone as equal.
• Value high credibility more than high profile.
• Always give more back to your network than you receive.
• Answer your calls.
• Remember the value of the personal touch. Say "please" and "thank you."
• Be inclusive. Don’t assume that a junior person isn’t worthy of being in your network.
• Don’t believe everything. Learn to tell the difference between information and gossip.

Step Six: Teaming

To launch yourself to the top, demonstrate that you’re a terrific team player. Organizations use teams because:

• It’s easier for team members to identify with the company’s goals if they are part of implementing those goals.
• Team members feel as if they have more control over their lives, which frees them from fearing a boss’s arbitrary use of his or her power.
• Team members learn from each other.
• Teams break down walls between members and management, which then creates more open communication.
• The combined resources of a team of thinkers can lead to better decisions.

“Your daily accomplishments are what you must do to achieve the goals you’ve set in place to assure your future.”

All teams need leaders who have vision, can see the big picture, can make innovative decisions, can remain focused on the mission, can be emotionally balanced, can handle pressure, can teach others and can get everyone involved. Developing and exercising these team leadership traits will lead to the promotion you want.

Step Seven: Managing

To become an effective leader, you must be able to manage your way through business obstacles and people problems. Developing and showing your management skills and potential is the culmination of your efforts to land a promotion. Studies show that a good leader has these characteristics:

• A leader listens, understands, is willing to discuss problems and is open to new ideas.
• A leader offers support and help, and can be counted on.
• A leader knows how to use the team approach to solving problems.
• A leader knows how to facilitate cooperation.
• A leader isn’t afraid to delegate authority.
• A leader doesn’t micromanage or over-supervise.
• A leader doesn’t dictate or rule "by the book."
• A leader communicates openly and honestly and can be trusted.
• A leader brings out the best in people.
• A leader is in constant touch.
• A leader always looks for ways to increase productivity, reduce costs and increase profits.
• A leader knows how to plan and set goals that people can relate to productively.

“The greatest motivational challenge you have as your maneuver your way up the corporate ladder is keeping yourself motivated, even under adverse conditions.”

To become a leader and to get promoted, you also must become deft at dealing with "a boss who’s a real jerk," with back stabbers at any level, with incompetent bosses and co-workers, and with other toxic people. Study conflict management, business etiquette, executive encounters, meeting strategy and other leadership skills. Learn how to welcome new ideas, make decisions, "take the heat," manage failure, embrace change and fire employees. Be on the lookout for "know-it-alls," delegate everything you can and learn how to think like a manager. These skills are all important if you want to move into a higher position.

“If you ever think you’re down and out, make sure you put things in their proper perspective.”

As you climb the corporate ladder or organizational ladder, "find the niche and be the best you can be at filling that niche." Continue to network, because the higher you climb the ladder, the more you’ll need your network of supporters. Build on your strengths, work on your weak points and don’t forget to have fun in the process.