Secrets to Accelerating Your Executive Promotion!

Tweet: To secure an executive promotion you must first understand the rules of the game. No one tells you what they are; here is that secret list.

We judge ourselves by what we are capable of doing; Others judge us by what we have already done!Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the reasons clients come to me for career advise and coaching is when they feel stuck in their current role and see no direct path to their next promotion, even though that promotion is palpable to them. They see their boss doing what they do and saying to themselves, I can do a better job than that; why am I not getting promoted?

Hmmmm!

There are various problems with this mindset: For one, merely performing well in your current role is not a sufficient reason for your next executive promotion, although it may be a necessary one. As you move up in hierarchy there are fewer and fewer positions available or needed and with the current trend of flatter organizations, making a case for a higher title, especially as you move up in the management ranks is getting increasingly challenging. This is so, not just in the technology verticals, but even in the traditional verticals like banking, insurance, and manufacturing.

In the early stages of ones career, promotions are relatively easy and are more performance based. But, as one secures higher positions in an organization other factors take more important role in a promotion, and your job performance becomes mere table stakes. If you judge what your boss is doing as something within your reach and capabilities, then you are merely looking at the tip of an iceberg; there is much more to what your boss is actually doing that you do not or cannot see!

Often, too, those seeking executive promotion ask their superiors what it takes to move for them to the next level in their own organization. Some are careful enough in responding to this important question with a specific plan of action and promising their subordinate the possibility for their next promotion when they met those objectives. In many such instances, when the role involves higher-level management titlesDirector and abovethese objectives become moving targets, frustrating many wannabes to start looking for outside options to seek what they desire. This strategy also has its limits, leaving these goals illusory for most, who are pursuing them.

So, what are some of the secrets for securing your next-level promotion, especially as you navigate your career through the management and executive rungs? Here is my list:
1.Once you cross the Director-level promotion (and in many cases even to the Director-level role) the rules change and not all rules are made known to the hoi polloi! So, to someone at the lower level a Director (or higher) job description may appear within their reach, but the hidden requirements of that job may prevent them from ever crossing that Rubicon. See my iceberg metaphor above.
2.So, when you feel ready to throw your hat in the ring for your next promotion, especially at these levels, first have an exploratory discussion with your immediate boss and get their assessment of your readiness for that promotion. In all my years of practice working with many such clients yearning for such promotions, responsible executives are not usually forthcoming about all aspects of your performance that pushes you to the promotion you are seeking. In my own corporate career, when I was raring for my own Director-level promotion, I found this to be true; I had to go and suss out those expectations on my own. So, here you must observe the inner workings of those who already play in those circles and make an inventory of gaps that you must address in addition to what your own boss told you in your discussion with them.

The following paragraphs list some of those secrets.

3.Make yourself increasingly more visible in the circles of influence within your company. So, ask your boss for an opportunity to make a presentation to the C-level execs during one of the marquee events. Make sure you understand the gravity of such opportunities and get ALL the help you can to ace this chance and make a mark on everyone in that room, even though your airtime may be just a few minutes.
4.If your boss is not willing or ready to put you in front of the C-levels for some air time, there are other ways to make yourself more visible at those levels. In the order of increasing difficulty and importance these avenues are: Responding to an internal email/memo circulating among these players and breaking in with your own perspective on how you can further the reach of what is presented in that memo; writing a white paper on a topic that is a burning platform for the company and getting comments on it from those in the C-suite; volunteering for a task that has high visibility in the context of your companys priorities and making a contribution that makes an impact. These are just few of the suggestions to improve your visibility; there are other creative ways to augment this list.
5.One of the key factors in being seen as someone ready for your next executive promotion is to start acting as if you already are in that role. For this to work effectively you must first master the behaviors of those who are effective in such roles; practicing their behaviors even before you are promoted to their level can be a catalyst in accelerating your timeline. One of the barriers to being considered as a candidate ready for promotion to that circle is the concern of those if they can see you as one of them. So, by embracing the overt behaviors of those in that club you have made that barrier less of a concern for them.
6.Some of the more common factors that get in the way of such promotions include Executive Presence, Communication, and Influence. There is no mystery that surrounds any one of these factors as they can be mastered with awareness, practice, and diligence.
7.As one seeks higher-level promotions in the executive ranks Emotional Intelligence (EQ) becomes a major factor. EQ has five components: Awareness of Self, Self Control, Motivation, Empathy, and Communication. Again, each of these factors can be a learned skill. When it comes to Communication one of the key factors is your ability to present your thoughts in a concise and compelling language. Executives speak (and write) differently from everyday folks and learning how to master that skill requires effort. So, focusing on EQ and learning how to project your presence are some of the major areas of focus when you are seeking an executive promotion.

So, if this list of recommendations in this blog appears daunting to you, consider yourself not ready for your next executive promotion. But, if you are willing to understand what goes into such a promotion then working on these suggestions will make your efforts worthwhile.

Good luck!

About Author

Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader.

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