The secret to getting promoted

Talented employees are eager for upward mobility. They want to try new things, learn new skills, and gain greater influence. Yet, the potential pathways up a career ladder are often unclear or obscure.

?Some people seem to inherently know when the next opportunity is coming up and position themselves perfectly. How do they do it? ?What and who do they know that helps them get ahead? More importantly, what can you do to become more promotable?

According to my colleague, Amii Barnard-Bahn, a former Fortune Global 50 executive, the answer can be distilled to a few elements bolstered by the skills of emotional intelligence, leadership, and executive presence. These are learned elements, which means you can work to make yourself the person every leader wants to promote.

Barnard-Bahn shares that to move up the corporate latter quickly and efficiently, you need to score highly in the following five characteristics:

1. Self-awareness. Have the ability to be introspective, reflect on your behaviors, emotions, and attitudes, and recognize how others view them.
2. External awareness. Understand how your words and behaviors land on others and what impressions you leave on people.
3. Strategic thinking. The ability to identify, analyze and crystalize divergent data points from varying sources and be innovative in presenting the different ideas.
4. Executive presence. When people see you, do you inspire confidence? Conversely, do you always seem disorganized, hurried, or chasing the latest shiny toy? Barnard-Bahn summarizes that your executive presence is made up of three components:

• Presentation skills (both written and spoken, in-person and virtual)
• Gravitas (calm, solution-oriented, confident, in control)
• Professional appearance (clothing choices aligned with company culture)

5. Thought leadership. What are you known for? What expertise are you approached for by others? How do people view you as adding value to an organization? You need to be known for something, or you are not considered an expert in anything and therefore expendable.

While we all might think we excel at these five elements, Bahn's free assessment can help you identify your areas of strength and growth. Her book, The PI Guidebook, brings to the forefront the qualities and behaviors for which leaders are searching and offers worksheets so that you can develop the skills in your needed areas.

JOIN ME ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23RD AT 1:00 PM ET WHEN AMII BARNARD-BAHN WILL BE MY GUEST IN THE CAREER LAB WHEN AMII AND I WILL DISCUSS HOW TO GET PROMOTED. STAY TUNED FOR THE LINK.

DO YOU HAVE AN INNER CRITIC THAT CONTINUOUSLY TELLS YOU YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH? MY BOOK, DITCH YOUR INNER CRITIC AT WORK, WILL GIVE YOU STRATEGIES TO QUIET YOUR INNER SABOTEUR. YOU CAN ORDER IT HERE.