Top 5 Steps to Gain Traction for Climbing the Corporate Ladder!

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In this article, I am highlighting top 5 steps to gain traction for climbing the corporate ladder. It’s a dream for many! How about you? You can read further. ?

Of course, getting a job is highly essential in life, but moving to the higher position or getting promotion will also be an ambitious drive of deserved people.

There is a proverb to refresh:

“First deserve then desire.”

It flashes a lot of meanings. The above proverb gives a meaningful insight one should look at it.

Oh. It has immense meaning but most of us ignore it for no reason. Unknowingly ignoring it also a major reason.

It is better to invest your little time to get a meaningful insight, so that what do you want to do in career growth has an impact.

Before desiring or dreaming of what you wish to do, it is important one should deserve it. It is important to make you worthy of what you wish and desire in life.

It is known, there is never have been dearth of appreciators but surely dearth of deserving candidates. This statement makes you to think deeply to understand the intricacies faced in the market generally. Why such dearth of deserving candidates? The reasons are many. You can read further.

Those people are, ?

Who think to grow.

Who think to achieve.

Who think to self-review.

Who prepares to master their ASK (Attitude, Skills & Knowledge) could make a meaningful life both personally and officially.

The boss finds in his team who are having a self-initiative skill. This skill becomes prominent when you have a thirsty to grow.

"Fire in your belly"

is an idiom that means?someone has a strong determination to succeed, or a strong drive, passion, or motivation towards a goal or cause. It can also be a related to a person who are energetic, enthusiastic and perseverance. For example, you can say, a person who wants to grow has a fire in his belly to claim the ambitious ladder in a corporate world or perform a career impact.

That gives a strong feeling for him every day to do what he needs to do to grow and not just to do what is needed.

Let us look at the top five important steps to grow.

You need to be a visionary. Then, set your “VISION.” first.

1.???? Be a Master of Your Domain:

Becoming a master of domain needs lot of insights to look at. Let us break down those ideas for an easy catch and fill.

• Deepen your expertise in your core function. Your core expertise becomes an asset to invest the efforts and time to lay the foundation strongly and drive it with zeal.
• Take advantage of training programs, attend industry conferences, and network with Subject Matter Experts (SME). This is an area where unknown becomes known i.e. your acquaintance at first instant would be the business associates at a later stage. Your knowledge grows when you attend training programs, industry conferences. It gives a way for networking with SMEs. It drives your desire higher and higher day by day, then it becomes your habit.
• Cultivate a reputation for exceptional work. Look for always exceptional way of doing the works and not just doing the works as it will not differentiate yourself from others. Be unique in whatever work you do. Here, I fresh the attitude of an eagle.
• Deliver high-quality results consistently, exceeding expectations whenever possible.
• Anticipate industry trends and keep your knowledge up to date. It is my favourite phrase, Never Stop Learning. Look at NEWS. It drives all four directions such as North, East, West and South. All four-direction become important to gather various information in and around the world. The word news is coined in that way.
• Demonstrate a forward-thinking approach and an ability to adapt to change.
• Become a resource for colleagues. Share your knowledge by mentoring junior team members and offering guidance to peers.

2. Build Strategic Relationships:

• Identify key decision-makers within your company and cultivate relationships with them. Understand their priorities and goals and find ways to contribute to their success. The decision-making process is not that simple. It is a process that reminds a person to stand like “cat on a wall.” Those are the fence sitters and never be decisive on their side. It is not a right attitude. One should learn what action or decision is needed at a particular situation. This is one of the leaders’ skills.
• Network both internally and externally. Build strong relationships with colleagues across departments and industry professionals. Your interpersonal skill plays a significant role in networking aspect both internally and externally. Relationship building with colleagues are also major source of getting involved in the system as well as understanding human philosophy to work with everyone in the company.
• Be a team player. Collaborate effectively with others, fostering a supportive and productive work environment. What you love you should do it. When involved in the job, it is better to be a team player rather than a solo player as it won’t help a collective and collaborative result. Your mind and soul become part of what you do and create a happiest environment.
• Advocate for your colleagues' accomplishments and celebrate team wins. Show case the collaborative spirit that is crucial for leadership. When colleagues win, then you should appreciate and celebrate success. Celebrating every success of colleagues will boost the team playing role. When you win, team win. Similarly, when team win, you also win.

3. Identify and Solve Problems:

• Develop a strong analytical mindset. Be able to identify problems within your area of expertise and propose solutions. You should be a solution provide rather than reacting on any issue. There is no place where problems will not disappear. It is a continuous phenomenon where solving the challenges make you to win a confident in career growth. I have seen, most of the people who are afraid of problems will not know how to get a solution. They react and passing the blames to others. Don’t be a lame duck. Strong analytical mindset is highly essential to swim through the struggles being faced time to time. Then you become a warrior.
• Think creatively. Do not be afraid to challenge the status quo and propose innovative approaches that drive improvement.

I mention here a quote to refresh:

“A creative life is an amplified life. It is a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.

-?????? Elizabeth Gilbert

Be creative and do not wait for inspiration. It pulls automatically. You need to be creative and get inspired. Creativity is one of the complex processes of human being, but it brings a life and beauty in you.

?How to be inspired?

You stay inspired by surrounding yourselves with right people, knowledge, places, and resources. Reading others’ insight on creativity gives a pleasure of being inspired.

If you want to understand the world as well as yourself, then nurture the skill of creativity.

“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.

-?????? Albert Einstein ?????????

• Quantify the impact of your solutions. Measure the results of your work and highlight how it contributes to the company's bottom line or strategic goals.

It is advisable to think, why?

Before diving into metrics, you should understand the specific goals your solutions aim to achieve. It may be many things such as efficiency enhancement, customers satisfaction improvement, to reduce the cost, or drive a revenue growth etc.

The number speaks volume for above metrics.

-?????? For efficiency enhancement: measure time saved, or tasks completed, or throughput increased.

-?????? For customers satisfaction: Monitor surveys, getting feedback and its scores, customers retention rates.

-?????? For reducing cost or cost saving solution: Track resource utilization or percentage reduction in expenses.

-?????? For driving a revenue growth/ revenue generation solution: Quantify sales growth, look at market share increase, or new customers acquisition.

• Be proactive in predicting potential challenges and develop contingency plans.

It is a crucial aspect of navigating the corporate landscape. It involves anticipating future roadblocks, formulating courses of action to address them, and mitigating potential risks before they escalate into full-blown problems.

The 3 steps involved are

a.???? Identify Potential Changes.

b.??? Assess the likelihood and impacts.

c.???? Develop Contingency Plan.

By being proactive and planning ahead, you can significantly reduce the likelihood and impact of potential challenges. This demonstrates your foresight, problem-solving abilities, and commitment to achieving success within the organization.

4. Develop Your Communication Skills:

• Hone your written and verbal communication skills. Articulate your ideas clearly and concisely, both in one-on-one interactions and presentations.

Communication is key for every person. None can run a successful business without communicating in a proper way. The quote to refresh is

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.

-?????? Peter Drucker

• Learn to tailor your communication style to your audience. Be able to effectively communicate complex ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences. There is an art involved for deserving candidates to explain the complex solution in a simple way for non-technical candidates also to understand it.

It is always expected to adapt an uncomplicated way of communication. Miscommunication or a wrong communication leads to a total confusion, and nothing could lead to meaningful end. So, beware of importance of communication.

” Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.”

-?????? Nat Turner

• Practice active listening. Pay close attention to the needs and concerns of others and demonstrate empathy in your communication.

Listen, listen, and listen!

It is an art to practice every day.

It is missing everywhere else. It is difficult to find a person who listen carefully and empathetically. I don’t understand why people either ignore or don’t understand listening impact? ?

If want to be different and stay strong in communication, be a keen listener and show empathy.

“The only healthy communication style is assertive communication.”

-?????? Jim Rohn

5. Build Your Personal Brand:

• Deliver compelling presentations that engage your audience and inspire action
• Cultivate a professional image. Dress appropriately, maintain a positive attitude, and demonstrate strong work ethic.
• Take initiative and volunteer for leadership opportunities. Step outside your comfort zone and demonstrate your ability to take charge.

Leadership quality begins with self-demonstration of positive attitude and work ethics.

• Seek out opportunities to present your work to senior management.

It is important to notify your good works to your boss and to management. Self- amplification of best works done should be shared at a proper time. Do not even think, others will notify and amplify your good works to boss and senior management. It is only you!

• Become known yourself as a reliable, results-oriented individual who consistently delivers value and contributes to the company's success.

Your success lies with what you say and act. The reality of a person is what he speaks and act accordingly. There shouldn’t be a dual face for anyone who wants to grow.

As per Japanese terms, a person has three faces:

a.???? One he shows to the world,

b.??? Second one he shows to loved ones, relatives, and friends.

c.???? Third one he shows to none other than himself.

I would also like to give a closing dose of reminding you to do the best in career growth. The below quotes are anonymous.

“Do one thing every day that scares you”.

?“The one who are crazy enough to think they can?? change the world are the ones that do.”

?Do always remember, I am doing the best. I am the best.

If you want to become a dependable, result oriented personality, then be strong in nurturing best attitudes and ethics. Then, you become a beehive for others to get attracted.

I hope it gives a meaningful insight of what you see yourself and finetune it regularly. Then claiming a corporate ladder become easy to achieve. ?