When I was a kid, I played the very famous Snake & Ladder board game with my friends. It was fun that who get to the 100 that says as ‘home’ is a winner. I still can remember that myself, Mike, King Kong & Bonnie played it at my house just at the pavement with joy. Each of us put a counter on the start & take turn to roll the dice & move the counter forward the number shown on the dice. If the counter lands at the bottom of a ladder, you can move up to the top of the ladder. If your counter lands on the head of a snake, you must slide down to the bottom of the snake. Who will win in a game is perfectly unpredictable & I should say it is purely based on luck of that moment. And it is just a game during my childhood.
Let’s me use the snake & ladder game as an analogy mimic it to the corporate world game.
Snake are things that might knock you back to miss the promotion, the ladder here is refer to the corporate ladder that advance your career. Just imaging you are in the game! haha! How will you play differently this time when it associated with your career destiny?
The best advice so far I collected in doing a great job in corporate that worth sharing here,
“Always do the best with whatever level of responsibility that I was afforded, and to take less desirable assignments that others might not want”
How to fast track your way up the corporate ladder? Let me try to list down several keys here.
1. Networking
– Leverage your networking to get the best starting point & utilize all your resources to get into the corporate world.
The more people you know, and who know you, and like you, the better. The quality of the contact is far more important than quantity in most of the cases. You also need to always act as a bridge to connect them to each other. You don’t under-estimate the power of networking that can change your life.
2. Career Plan
– You need to think hard which focuses on where you want to arrive at the pinnacle of the career, define the interim steps in order to get there. In another word, you going to need a long-term career plan.
3. Work Hard & Work Smart
– Plan carefully how you going to spend your hours in day. Do more than most people & work harder, focus on productivity.
Treat everything with urgency, volunteer for high visibility projects. Seek to contribute more, get-it-done person. Bring the result!
4. Initiator not but just executor
– Most of the employee are executor, about 90% if to estimate. Only 10% who are not only executor but also the initiator, they do things that they are not asked to, most like they are those who move up the ladder.
5. Aware of broader company goals & events
– Know which projects are being funded, who is in charge of those projects, what priorities are high, which ones are low. Align yourself with the people and projects at the highest levels of attention & expectation. This will give you visibility & chance to shine more quickly.
6. Express appreciation
– Articulate & express gratitude for the opportunities & guidance extended to you from senior leader. E.g thanks to CEO for his weekly voicemail that he intended to be informative & encouraging to the workforce. You should thank him personally on his effort.
7,8,9,10….. & more….(You may have experienced the other factors worth sharing with me?)
There are several points you might need to extra careful,
I can assured you that in corporate world there are some unwritten rules might be a threat (snake) disguised as ladder in your corporate game!
- Honest & saying as it is or it should be. Always tell the truth. (it gets you into a trouble)
- Work smart & determine your own list of priorities for success in the job, instead of just pleasing people and doing what they say. (people might see you lack of commitment, such a problematic employee that do not respect the rank)
- Put ethical & moral aspects in business decision. (it costs deals to fail)
- Taking minority position when you think it is right, detached view & disagree with other or team decision. (others see you as outside the team)
- Taking responsibility for the mistakes or your team mistakes made (it get you noticed for the wrong reasons)
- Doing a great job quietly without looking for the boss’s eye, without deliver boss’s expectation, without blow your trumpet. (this will make your achievement go unnoticed)
- Bringing attention to the problems others have not seen in a decision-making process. (people may think you jealous and want to hijack the situation)
- Having a balanced life outside the work. (you should do what others do, others may see you not putting enough effort in your work)
- Saying “no” when you have a different priority list. (it will potentially isolate you from the group or team)
- Commitment to your colleagues and team. Give in your time to them. (Waste time, you need to move and mingle with the star performers)
- Giving comment on what should be done & how can be better. (People think that you want to show off & start to bad mouth your credibility)
- Giving sincere advise & teaching other how to do the job. (The first thing people will look for you when they have problem, either to get easy way out solution by just asking or want to test your ability to proof you are not perfect)
Happy Holiday & Selamat Hari Raya!
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