Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Self Promotion: The 7 Vital Ingredients (Part 3 of 3)




We continue our exploration of tools to help you raise your profile at work - here is our last instalment covering:

Foundation 6: Taking ownership
Foundation 7: Career planning


Foundation 6: Taking Ownership

Our penultimate foundation is more of an attitude.

Let me share a story: Debbie sits down at the beginning of the year to consider what her 3 top professional objectives are for the next 12 months. Mary on the other hand drifts through her life, turning up to work every day without knowing how it fits into the big picture.

- Which of these women is more likely to enjoy fulfilment and success at work?
- Who has greater direction?
- Who will find it easier to raise awareness of her proile?

It's up to you to take ownership of your own career and how you spend your time. Are you working towards an objective or merely drifting along? If you're currently a 'drifter' ask what that is costing you weekly, monthly, annually?


Foundation 7: Career Planning

With the right attitudes in place you can become methodical about planning how your career will pan out. Think about the projects you want to work on this year. Think about the people you want to get to know. Think about key decision makers who would be useful to you and your career. Think about the reviews you need to schedule in.

There's no point in waiting for anyone else to do any of this for you - it is absolutely up to you to plan you own career and then take action...

... and then you can relish all your successes!

-RW

Self Promotion: The 7 Vital Ingredients (Part 2 of 3)




Why does self-promotion matter? Because without it you are allowing professional opportunities to pass you by, whether in terms of projects you could be working on or promotion opportunities.

Missing opportunities costs.

If in 12 months’ time you find yourself in the same position you are in today...
- What might that cost you financially?
- What would you be missing out on in terms of a larger monthly salary?
- What would the cumulative annual cost be?
- And how might that affect your confidence longer term?

Here we continue our exploration of the core foundations needed to raise your profile at work, with greater success.

Foundation 4: Identify key stakeholders
Foundation 5: Confidently sell you and your value


Foundation 4: Identify Key Stakeholders and Build Relationships
It’s vital that you pinpoint who the key decision makers and stakeholders are in your organisation. These are the people who can help you progress your career and will be different for everyone.

In some cases key HR personnel are the ones to target. If you have a good manager or someone in the senior staff, who believes in your development then s/he will be a good person to target. Clients can also be good people to build relationships with. Think about it: if a delighted client were to talk about you to your manager, how do you think that could help your chances of future promotion?

Create a strategy to network regularly with these people: maybe you take your client for lunch every 2-3 months; perhaps you schedule a monthly meeting with your manager to fill her in on your recent successes; maybe you identify where these stakeholders network and network there too! And it needn't be complicated: a coffee chat is just as good!

Continue and read about the 5th vital Foundation here!