LI-3 - Moving up the ladder

This is one of the crucial part of the journey we call as our 'Career', if we do not put proper emphasis, it will turn from 'career' to 'carier' that we need to carry than the other way round :-).

Jokes apart, i am going to list down some things that has helped and still helping me to grow and hope that it helps someone out there as well.

Before i start, some very good piece of advice that one of my mentors have given me - "Focus on what you can", "Influence what you can", "Change what you can" and "Do what you can". The highlight here is not Focus, Influence, Change or Do, but YOU !!!

1. Align yourself to Organization - The first and foremost part is to align yourself to the organization's objective, vision and mission, your own vision or your objective needs to be aligned, it creates a synergy that will help organization achieve it's objective (in whatever small way) and in turn, your recognition will come. Let me try to give you an example, let's assume that you are an engineer and your department / organization vision is to create a value stream for clients, you should focus on the value that will be delivered in each requirement you complete, could be extra automation, could be an added feature, could be a new tech-learning which will help you deliver more
2. Your career, your life - It is your career and hence you should be in charge of it and you should plan your growth and advancement, organization can pave the way, however, it is you who need to decide whether you wish to move in that direction or not. You need to work on your own career growth and once you have a plan, you should go and have a crisp discussion with your manager, always keep in mind that out-of-turn promotions are usually un-heard of in a typical organiational setup (not generalizing here) and hence you plan accordingly
3. Positive discussion - when you have a plan, be prepared to present your case with facts, do not be aggresive, but be assertive. rather than comparing yourself to your peers on their work, package they are getting, band / designation they are in, focus on what you want to achieve and how organization can help you reach there. If by any chance, you feel that your manager is not agreeing with your self-assessment, ask where you are going wrong as per him/her and take corrective measures, if they think that you are not there yet, ask them what it will take, let them help you in preparing a plan
4. Your superior success is your success - This is the best advice i got from my american boss in my first job - "Skanda, if you want to be successful, ensure that your boss is successful and you do everything you can to ensure that you play a part in his success". i still follow this to the core. I always try to understand what are the pain points of my senior and how i could alleviate that. I am not asking here to do sycophancy, flattery, fawning or wheedling but be genuinly aware of and take necessary steps, trust me, even the smallest of efforts would be recognized at some point of time
5. Give yourself time and always have a back-up plan - Give yourself time in an organization, inorganic growth derived from job hopping is usually not long term, people still believe in loyalty, organizations by nature have a process and they also need time to test waters before they can fully bet on someone. IMHO, you will need minimum 3 years to have a fair assessment from both side. After 3 years also, if you are still stuck, even after having a 1-2-1 discussion with your superior with no fruits, then either the superior is not being honest with you in his / her feedback or they do not value you. Time to change either the boss or the organization !!! But before that, remember the previous points and do an honest introspection if you have done all of that.

Let me know your feedback via reactions or comments.