Why The Less Experienced Colleagues Are Promoted

Have you ever been in a situation where you're really good at your job, you've learned a lot, and you work hard, but you still see people who aren't as experienced as you getting ahead in their careers? Does that feel frustrating and unfair? Well, you're not alone – I've been there too, and so have many others.

In this video, I will explain why this happens and map out the 3 steps to moving forward in your career towards executive positions.

Stage 1: Personal Growth

When climbing the corporate ladder, the career journey can be divided into three stages.

The first stage is all about Personal Growth, where you lead yourself. Doing well primarily involves learning to manage and improve yourself. Success in this stage is largely determined by your ability to effectively handle projects and tasks for which you are responsible. You are evaluated based on your ability to deliver on time and on budget, follow established processes, and execute plans and strategies.

During this stage, promotions can be based on your individual performance, often involving handling more complex projects with reduced time and cost requirements. Approximately 80% of your time and focus are dedicated to self-improvement. You learn about emerging trends, understand how your work connects with others, gain insights into the company's major decisions, and grasp the reasons behind their chosen approaches.

Typically, excelling in individual roles may lead to offers to manage teams or large projects, marking your transition into middle management—the second stage of your career.

Promotions during this stage tend to be more straightforward and predictable.

Stage 2: Team Growth

The second stage is all about Team Growth, where you lead a team. It's the transition from working independently to leading a team. This stage centers on your ability to manage and influence teams. You may manage people directly or lead large programs with a matrixed team, without direct team members. Many companies are flattening their hierarchies to increase speed and efficiency, resulting in numerous individual contributors in middle management who wield significant influence over larger teams, even without direct management responsibilities.

During this stage, simply improving your ability to manage similar projects isn't sufficient. Your role undergoes a transformation as it becomes a blend of your own contributions and what your team achieves. In the first stage, you might have focused 80% on personal growth, but now the team's contributions take precedence.

What used to be effective may no longer work. One of the primary reasons some individuals experience career stagnation is that the skills that propelled them forward in the past no longer suffice. Exceptional individual contributors who struggle to leverage their team's strengths may find it challenging to delegate, develop others, or trust their team members. This can result in career slowdown, burnout, and other issues. Conversely, those who build teams, systems, and processes to tackle complex challenges can scale up without working longer hours or compromising quality and speed.

Key skills crucial at this stage include:

• Self-improvement: Learning time management, effective delegation (especially tasks aligned with your weaknesses), and team development to free up time for strategic work.
• Defining your team's purpose and aligning it with the organization's mission.
• Selecting the right individuals with complementary skills for your team.
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities to minimize overlap.
• Coaching your team and assisting them in building their dream team.
• Becoming comfortable with delegation and supporting your team in interacting with senior leaders and customers.
• Developing and optimizing your team's performance.
• Creating processes to streamline operations.
• Managing conflicts and maintaining team morale and culture.
• Cultivating a positive work environment and organizing team-building activities.

In addition to these skills, managing stakeholders and building strong connections are vital for your success. As you transition from an individual contributor to a team leader, your personal brand evolves. Over time, you'll allocate more time to team-related activities, and your team's success will become a major measure of your own success.

Many managers and directors remain in stage 2 until they retire, but only a very small percentage advance to stage 3 territory.

Stage 3: Organizational Growth

Stage 3 is all about Organizational Growth, where you lead a business. Here, you gain the ability to influence and potentially lead an entire organization, a business unit, or a function. You set the organization's priorities, which, depending on the company's size, can encompass regions, functions, or business units. Your decisions directly impact strategy, culture, personnel, organizational structure, revenue, capital allocation, cash flow, and other key metrics. Stage 3 leaders excel in managing their time and emotions even under pressure. They think not only cross-functionally but also across business units and beyond their own organization. They excel at attracting and retaining senior talent, building partnerships with other top leaders, and demonstrating humility. While they may not be equally strong in all these areas, they have a solid foundation in each and shine in one or more aspects, such as visionary leadership combined with effective people management.

The 80/20 rule flips here. Your success hinges largely on inspiring your team and influencing the organization. Therefore, it's crucial to focus most of your time on activities that impact the entire organization.

Exceling in stage 2 isn't sufficient for reaching stage 3; it requires a significant leap. You can't get promoted based solely on potential or excelling at the team level.

The business world has entered an era where agility, innovation, and digital technology are key drivers of competitiveness.

In this new world, the role of business leaders has shifted. It's no longer just about getting others to follow into the future; it's about inviting others to co-create the future with you.

Rather than being at the front of the stage, showing others the way, you must learn to set the stage and create an environment in which others are willing and able to contribute to innovation, growth, and change.

This requires emotional resilience, courage, and patience to amplify diversity of thought, navigate potential conflicts, experiment and iterate toward a path forward with many false starts and missteps, and keep options open so that even opposing ideas can be integrated creatively and effectively.

To succeed and sustain in an executive role, you must fulfill the ABC's of leadership:

• Architect: Your role is to build the culture and capabilities necessary for a diverse organization to collaborate effectively. Everyone in your organization possesses unique talents and passions, and your job is to unleash this diversity.
• Bridger: As a bridger, you must go beyond your organization to access the talent and tools necessary for growth and innovation. Collaboration extends beyond your boundaries to encompass different departments, divisions, and even external partners.
• Catalyst: In this role, you accelerate co-creation throughout the entire ecosystem. Your aim is to empower not only your organization but also governments, academia, or individuals outside your industry or sector. This requires exercising influence well beyond your formal authority, collaborating, experimenting, and learning with stakeholders both inside and outside your organization.

In stage 3, you need to get comfortable exercising influence well beyond your formal authority. It also means collaborating, experimenting, and learning with stakeholders inside and outside the organization.

Sign up for the free training: "6 Steps to Advance from Middle Management to Senior Leadership for Greater Impact and Income, even if you don't have the opportunity ".

You will learn the mistakes I made and the steps I took to advance from Director to Vice President in the two largest organizations in Sweden.

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