Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn't, and Why: 10 Things You'd Better Do if You Want to Get Ahead by Donald Asher

Author:Donald Asher
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Job Hunting, Motivational, Business & Economics, Careers, Strategic Planning
ISBN: 9780307797698
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 2011-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Being Honest about Skillsets

One of the hallmarks of emotional maturity is the ability to objectively assess and analyze yourself. It is important to be able to make a list of traits, strengths, and weaknesses that fairly accurately reflect what others would list as your traits, strengths, and weaknesses. It is invaluable for you to be able to see yourself objectively, the way others see you. Not everyone can do this.

In fact, there is some research that indicates that many incompetent people are completely and continuously self-deluded about their skills, abilities, and contributions. They actually believe they are doing a great job when they are woefully incompetent. They are usually a drag on everyone around them. If they were removed today, the organization would be better off tomorrow with no one in their place. Fortunately, they rarely rise very far in the ranks because they are not in charge of their own ascension. Unless nepotism is involved, their careers will consist of a series of laterals, moving on when they get fired or when it dawns on them that the people around them just don’t appreciate their awesomeness. It’s not surprising that similar research indicates that arrogant people do not realize that they are arrogant. They too are clueless.

So your job as a careerist is to prepare your skillset not so much to excel in your current assignment, but to get promoted to your next assignment. You have to anticipate the skills you need for possible promotions and seek to gain mastery or at least exposure to those functions. If you’re going to be in charge of staffing in your next assignment—write a job description, or get assigned to a search team for a critical new hire. If you’re going to be in a P&L role next—offer to provide part of the data collection and analysis that goes into financial reporting on your current business unit. If you’re going to be selling to Europe—study German or French language tapes at night, take your next vacation there, and drop by to meet some key people.

By the way, because you will be seeking a promotion, you also want to analyze the skills and deficiencies of the executive you will be seeking to replace. When the H.R. function plans for succession scenarios, they assess the skillsets needed to perform in each role. They do not do this in a vacuum, but within the context of the organization that exists today. Thus, they will look coldly at the deficiencies of incumbents and plan a wish list of improvements they will seek in the next person to hold that key assignment.

In some ways, they are like the newly divorced. They may not have a clear idea what positive attributes they are looking for in their next spouse, but they are absolutely sure what negative attributes they want to avoid next time. They are looking for new partners without the big deficiencies of the last incumbent. Because of this, trivial weaknesses can end up more important in a placement decision than important, critical strengths.

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