Ambition. Some of us have more of it than others. For those highly motivated individuals out there, working hard to get themselves promoted, I offer a few (perhaps less than intuitive) thoughts that will increase your opportunity for advancement.

1.    To get yourself promoted, get your boss promoted.

fastest way to promotion is to clear your path to the next level in the organizational hierarchy. When your boss gets promoted, there is an already established and immediate organizational need. Naturally, when you have been a key part of your boss’s success, it makes sense that you will be identified as the “heir apparent” for the vacated position. Yet, most of us are too worried about our own immediate lanes of responsibility to look at the bigger picture. Pick your head up. Think bigger. How is your boss’s boss defining success? When you understand the priorities two levels up, you can exercise initiative without your boss’s direct guidance. This frees your boss up to focus their energy on creative and strategic initiatives that might garner them greater visibility, increasing their promotion potential—which increases your promotion potential.

2.    Make yourself redundant. 

Huh, won’t that get me fired, rather than promoted? This goes against our own thoughtson self-preservation! For many, the story goes something like this. If I train, coach, and mentor high potential members of my team in everything I know, they will one day take my place and I’ll be without a job. This is backwards thinking. Organizational succession is a dance of resource allocation. You want decision makers to be comfortable with replacing you. When they see the next generation of talent ready to step up, and they feel you are ready to do the same, it becomes a far easier decision to make. Thus, invest in your reports, promote their successes, and create “superstars” that will seamlessly take the reins when you are asked to take on bigger endeavors.

3.    Communicate your desires.

This seems so obvious. Yet, so many people go through their career paths waiting for others to open doors for them. Their default storyline is, as long as I do good work, others will definitely notice, and they will take care of me when promotion opportunities arise. Do you know where you want to be a year from now? How about 5 years from now? Are you communicating those thoughts to others? If not, you are doing yourself a disservice. When you have deliberate and focused career development conversations with powerful decision-makers well in advance, you are planting a seed. People will start looking at you differently, evaluating you against your intentions, and perhaps coaching you as well.

(David understands how effective leadership generates success. A U.S. Army combat veteran with corporate leadership experience, he is the Founder & Principal Consultant of The Leader Growth Group, a firm dedicated to creating self-aware leaders who inspire more engaged and productive workplaces.)

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