Promotions Aren’t Just About Your Skills – They’re About Your Relationships

Find opportunities for feedback on how you appear to others. It will help you become aware of behaviours that may interfere with your effectiveness.

Shift your perspective from "me" to "we." Instead of being a lone achiever, it is important to involve your team, listening more, and talking less.

Jack Welch said: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

We learn best when we are teaching others. Your earliest opportunity to lead others comes from volunteering. Reach out to a person outside your business unit that would welcome your help. Then commit to helping them work on an issue they raise.

There are often people that we have greater difficulty working with than others. The sooner you can identify personality characteristics that you find challenging, the more time you have to develop strategies for working effectively with them.

When you take accountability for getting along with all kinds of coworkers, you eliminate friction and make it easy for management to promote you.

To advance and take on more responsibility does not mean you have to say yes to everything. However, you should learn how to delegate and know which things to say no to.

• Volunteer for cross-functional task forces and opportunities that broaden your network.
• Learn new skills outside your comfort zone.
• Earn support of other executives outside your direct reporting line.
• Aim for projects that are revenue-generating or strategic.
• Avoid purely social projects or those that lack takeoff.