8

MOVING UP IN THE WORLD

There may be no greater challenge in business than getting promoted. For every factor you can control (such as your skills and attitude), there are at least two that you can’t (such as the economy and your organization’s infrastructure). In this era of streamlined organizations, companies have been flattened and downsized, so there are fewer middle-management positions for twenty-somethings to be promoted into. Also, a “do more with less” mentality often translates into increases in responsibilities without additional compensation or acknowledgment. This scenario is changing with baby boomer retirement, but it might not be fast enough for you.

For some, a job in the business world is just a pit stop on the way to a career in another field, such as entertainment. These individuals might define success as a check that pays for their true passion rather than a promotion that moves them to the next level. Unfortunately, there are many twenty-somethings struggling to build careers at their current places of employment. Competition for promotion opportunities has become so intense that doing all of the right things might not necessarily get you the recognition you deserve.

If you’re in the latter category, giving up is not an option. You have no choice but to ensure your promotability. If you don’t move ahead now while you’re young and unencumbered, you may never manage it at all. Instead, you could end up stuck at or near the bottom rung with bosses who are younger and less experienced than you. Also, your resume will look suspicious to potential new employers.

The good news is that you are much more likely to be promoted in your twenties because, as a newbie, the whole world is open to you and you have nowhere to go but up. Everything I’ve discussed so far—from setting and achieving goals to maintaining strong communication and interpersonal skills—will better your chances of landing a promotion. In this chapter, I’ll go into more specifics, and will also talk about how to troubleshoot an antipromotion situation and how to cope when your quest for reward and recognition takes an unfavorable turn.

Acing Performance Reviews

Most people roll their eyes when it comes time for performance reviews. This is because the review is, by nature, an uncomfortable and contrived process. In many organizations, reviews happen once or twice a year. Every employee is forced to sit in a room with his boss and talk turkey about how he progressed and how he screwed up. Performance review documentation is notorious for being generic and vague, complete with ratings that are totally subjective and impossible to measure. Unfortunately, many reviews also take place in a vacuum: the items discussed are often not mentioned again until the next review.

Twenty-somethings may perceive reviews as yet another bureaucratic exercise that wastes valuable time and need not be taken seriously. However, despite a new emphasis on real-time feedback, the traditional performance review is the only door to promotion inside much of the business world, so you must take advantage of it if you want to get ahead.

If you don’t care about your review, no one else will. The worst thing you can do for your career is to go through the process passively. Whether your review cycle takes place annually or semiannually, your preparation should start weeks before. Think of your review as an opportunity to sell your manager on your value to the company. If you mapped out clear career goals (see Chapter 4), and you and your boss have discussed them on an ongoing basis, you already have a great head start. Look at your last review, including the goals and/or action steps outlined last time around, and gather facts to support how you’ve progressed in each area. Make a list of concrete examples that illustrate outstanding performance, and practice communicating them so they’re on the tip of your tongue. Then make a list of all the things you would like to cover in the review meeting, independent of your manager’s agenda. Your objectives will probably include soliciting feedback on your progress, identifying new goals and growth opportunities, and hammering out a long-term promotion plan. This last item is particularly important. Although you can’t reasonably expect to be promoted after every review, you should at least leave with an understanding of where your current responsibilities are leading.

When it comes time for the review, make sure your boss schedules it. This may sound ridiculous, but you’d be surprised how many organizations allow managers to get away with skipping the review process entirely. After all, bosses are busy, and employee reviews are not on the top of their list of priorities. Remember, it’s your right to request a timely appraisal. During the meeting itself, maintain a good balance between listening to what your manager has to say and playing an active role in the conversation. Just because your boss offers constructive criticism doesn’t mean you won’t get a promotion or a raise, so keep your defensiveness to a minimum. Even though a casual chitchat session might be more comfortable and fun than a serious conversation about your career aspirations, insist on getting through your objectives for the meeting. To paraphrase author Harry Chambers, your performance review is your best—if not your only—opportunity to get a clear understanding of how you are perceived and what you need to do to ensure your future success.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions about your boss’s feedback, and make sure you read over your written review carefully before signing it. Once the cycle is complete, your manager might be happy to forget about your performance for the next five or eleven months. Don’t let her. Be proactive about setting up regular meetings to review your progress, address potential problems, and incorporate new responsibilities and priorities into the master plan. If you keep the lines of communication open, nothing that comes up in your next review will be a surprise. Who knows, maybe you’ll even look forward to it!

As we move further into the twenty-first century, some organizations are placing less emphasis on semiannual or annual reviews and more emphasis on just-in-time, electronic feedback that’s given by a variety of managers throughout the course of individual assignments. This is called “agile performance management,” and it’s actually a good thing. Be vigilant about collecting and responding to this type of feedback. It could very well help you move ahead sooner rather than later.

Asking for a Raise

If you are going to ask your boss for a raise, make sure you have a good reason—needing the money doesn’t count! Your organization doesn’t care if you are drowning in student loans, can’t make your rent, or have to finance a wedding this year. As with everything else in the business world, the money you get paid is all about the value you add to the company. Before you sit down with your manager, prepare a list of contributions that have positively impacted the bottom line. As you’re putting together your case, be hard on yourself. Look at the situation from your organization’s point of view. Have you honestly acquired such valuable skills, performed at such a high level, and exceeded expectations to such a degree that your organization should shell out more assets to keep you?

You also have to look at the big picture. Check out websites such as salary.com or payscale.comto determine how your salary compares to what other local twenty-somethings in your position are making. Don’t forget to take into account other financial incentives you may receive from your company, including bonuses, stock options, insurance packages, 401(k) contributions, and tuition reimbursement.

You also have to get real and evaluate your request in the context of the current economic conditions, your company’s financial status, and internal policies regarding raises. Also, some organizations have grades, or fixed salary ranges, that prevent managers from increasing compensation beyond the amount predetermined by your level or title. Still others may place the authority to decide compensation in the hands of a few individuals—and your boss may not be one of them. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress if you find out about such things ahead of time.

A good time to ask for a raise is right after a strong performance review in which your boss acknowledged your accomplishments because he will probably expect you to broach the subject of money. If you have just taken on a new role or your management has raised the bar for your performance, it is perfectly legitimate to ask for an appointment to discuss “compensation commensurate with new responsibilities.”

When you schedule the meeting, pick a time when your boss’s stress level and workload are manageable, and tell him what you want to talk about so that he’s prepared. An informal setting such as lunch often works best because it allows you to relate to your manager on a personal level. Before you meet face to face, decide on a number that you would be satisfied with, and think about how you’ll respond if you don’t get it. You may want to practice your tone on a family member or friend prior to the meeting because there is a fine line separating the assertive/sincere and arrogant/entitled approaches.

Now, on to the big conversation itself. If you’re underpaid and you know it, refrain from bitching. Acting bitter or angry will only put your manager on the defensive. Instead, remain calm, positive, and professional. Tell your boss how much you enjoy working for the company. Talk about your performance in a factual manner and provide concrete examples of how you add value to the organization. When it comes time to broach the topic, use the word “compensation” rather than “raise” or “money.” In the event that your boss declines your raise, don’t close your ears to the rest of the discussion. He may be willing to offer you other perks instead, such as extra vacation time, flexible hours, or a nice dinner with your significant other on the company. These concessions may not be as valuable as cash, but they can come in handy for a twenty-something struggling to afford the good life outside of work.

Despite your best efforts, you may not get the compensation you’ve earned. This is not an unusual scenario for twenty-somethings. Sometimes, the only way to get a serious pay increase is to switch jobs (see Chapter 10). But if you are not willing or ready to do this, swallow your negativity, ask your boss what you need to do to receive an increase, and find out if it’s possible to revisit this issue in a few months. Do not give an ultimatum unless you are prepared to walk out the door right then and there. Remember, even if you have another job offer in hand that pays more, you cannot assume that your current manager will make a counteroffer.

Your boss may say that he wants to give you a raise but his hands are tied. If this is the case, ask him if the two of you can schedule a meeting with the higher-up responsible for the decision. Do not go over his head without his knowledge, and make sure he is kept in the loop on all matters concerning your compensation.

Compensation discussions are never easy for either party, and if your boss is the passive-aggressive type, he may tell you what you want to hear simply to get you out of his office. Make sure that you follow up appropriately on any vocal promises he makes, and, if possible, secure an effective date for your increase. The issue is not closed until you see the change in your paycheck.

Pleasing the Promotion Gods

In case this wasn’t obvious already, you need to do more than just master the performance review process if you want to get promoted. According to Harry Chambers, author of Getting Promoted: Real Strategies for Advancing Your Career, factors that affect promotion include:

1. Yourself (your skills, your abilities, and your willingness to do what is needed to get ahead).
2. Your visibility in the organization and people’s perceptions of you.
3. Opportunities within the organization to move up the ladder.

Intentionally moving your career in the right direction means successfully controlling Factor #1, influencing Factor #2, and assessing Factor #3. Chambers suggests that people who want to be promoted do the following:

Executive Presence = Promotability

According to a study from the Center for Talent Innovation, 268 senior executives cited executive presence, or being perceived as leadership material, as an essential component to getting ahead. In fact, executive presence accounted for, on average, 25 percent of what it takes to get promoted. The three areas that comprise executive presence are:

1. Gravitas: The ability to project confidence, poise under pressure, and decisiveness. Sixty-seven percent of senior executives surveyed cited gravitas as the core characteristic of executive presence.
2. Communication: Includes excellent speaking skills, assertiveness, and the ability to read an audience or situation. Twenty-eight percent of surveyed executives felt that good communication telegraphs that you’re leadership material.
3. Appearance: How you look and dress does affect your executive presence, but it’s not as critical as the first two factors.

Sounding educated is critical if you want to ascend to the next level. Nearly 60 percent of executives felt that unprofessional, uninformed speech detracts from executive presence. You will also enhance your executive presence and chances at a promotion if you hone your global competence, or the ability to understand how business is done in different countries and how to work effectively with culturally diverse teams.

When you receive feedback on your executive presence, listen and take it seriously. If the comments aren’t universally positive, don’t get offended. Recognize that the person is only trying to help and that your promotability will be enhanced in the long run. No one is perfect, but the most successful leaders learn as they go.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of relationships in this process. In Chapter 3, I talked about how networking can increase your visibility and establish personal connections that will help you move forward. At this stage in your career, you should jump at any opportunity to interact with higher-ups, such as attending your company’s social events, sitting in the right place in the cafeteria, volunteering to work on special projects, and serving on office committees. In these situations, don’t be afraid to strut your stuff. Just be sure you know what you’re talking about!

It also doesn’t hurt to be assertive in determining your own destiny. Just like asking for a raise, bringing up the topic of promotion with your manager is appropriate and legitimate, provided you’ve earned the right to move to the next level. Rather than accosting your boss in the hall during a moment of extraordinary stress and blurting out, “I want a promotion,” give the matter a great deal of thought before initiating a conversation. Develop a bulletproof case for why you are entitled to advance. Make a list of the weekly hours you spend doing tasks inside your job description and the weekly hours you spend doing tasks at the next level. The goal of this exercise is to show that you accomplish much more than you were originally hired to do. If you’re doing the work of more than one full-time employee, note that as well. Then, as you talk to your boss, point out that your efficiency saves him money because he only has to pay one person instead of two.

Be prepared to compromise. No matter how valuable you are, chances are your boss is not going to promote you right then and there, so discuss time frames and how you can ensure that you perform at a level that will warrant a promotion in three to six months. Once you and your boss agree on a promotion plan, remember to get it in writing.

At some point in your early career, it’s inevitable that you will be denied advancement. Maybe you will ask your manager for a promotion and she will turn you down outright. Perhaps a higher-level position will open up and one of your colleagues will be slated for it instead of you. It’s also possible that your performance review or promotion plan says you are due for advancement, but your boss thinks you still have some work to do before moving ahead. In any case, being denied a promotion can be disappointing and hurtful. However, it does not mean that your boss doesn’t like you, or that the company doesn’t recognize your contributions. Often, promotion decisions have more to do with the politics of the organization than with you as an individual. It’s vital that you don’t demonstrate your displeasure, because the “powers that be” might watch to see how you react. Instead, take an honest look at the reasons behind the decision. Work to overcome real and perceived weaknesses so that your next opportunity will be successful.

The “Unofficial” Promotion

It happens all the time: you’re one of the top performers in your department, but your boss doesn’t promote you. Here are some suggestions for handling some of the more mystifying scenarios.

Your boss keeps giving you new responsibilities, and everyone recognizes that you are operating at a higher level. Maybe your boss doesn’t have the authority to promote you, or maybe she is at the next rung on the ladder so there’s nowhere for you to advance. It’s also possible that your boss doesn’t feel a sense of urgency when it comes to your career growth. Talk to your boss about a promotion or compensation appropriate for your new level of responsibility (see “Asking for a Raise” on page 183). If that doesn’t work, use the visibility tactics described in Chapter 4 to alert the higher-ups to how well you’re doing.

Really stuck? You may have to roll the political dice and go above your boss and ask for a meeting with your department head. Just make sure that you frame the conversation in terms of your career development rather than the promotion you want, and also ensure that you keep your boss informed.

You have mastered all of the responsibilities in your job description. A job well done in the professional world is not like an excellent standardized test score—it doesn’t necessarily predict future success. To get promoted these days, you have to master the skills associated with your current position and, to a great extent, the responsibilities of the next level. In other words, you have to prove that you can add value to a higher-level job before your company will pay you for doing it. If you don’t know what is required to take your skills and responsibilities up a notch, ask someone in your desired position to act as your mentor and ask if you can shadow him for a bit. Don’t just observe; you’ll learn more quickly by actively participating and trying things on your own. As you grow more confident, start acting as though you’ve already been promoted. If you play your cards right, official recognition will be a natural conclusion.

You are so good at your job that you’re the only person who can do it justice. It’s easy for a driven twenty-something to get stuck in this trap. If you make yourself irreplaceable, how can the company afford to lose you to a new role? Get out of this one by handpicking a junior member of your team to take your place, either officially or unofficially. Training someone else to do your job as well as you serves two purposes: you’ll convince your boss that your job will be left in good hands, and you’ll show her that you’re management material.

In the last few review cycles, you were promoted like clockwork. Maybe you’ve been lucky so far and were appropriately rewarded for stellar performance. Remember that each time you take on a new position, you start from scratch. Just because you were promoted last year and have a great reputation, does not mean you have the right combination of skill, visibility, and opportunity to succeed at the next level. Harry Chambers reminds us that we are not entitled to anything and that dues are never paid in full. Rather, we must campaign for reelection through tangible achievement every day.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Because you’re reading this book, chances are you are the type of person who can’t get promoted soon enough. You probably think you’re ready for the next level right now, and you might be frustrated that your management fails to recognize this. The truth is, though, if people were promoted every time they thought they deserved it, everyone would be a VP by the age of thirty. We have to learn that the world doesn’t work that way. The sooner we do, the happier we’ll be with the way our careers are progressing.

A high school teacher of mine once said, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” In your twenties, you don’t realize that, smart as you are and quickly as you catch on, you don’t have the wisdom or experience to handle the more complicated responsibilities of middle managers in the business world. It took me time to learn this, but bosses who make you wait a year or two to get to the next level are usually doing you a favor. When it comes to promotion, you have to be careful what you wish for. I’ve seen young employees move up until they are in way over their heads. The same “lucky” individuals who make you so jealous often fail outright or self-destruct from the stress of avoiding failure.

At the end of the day you have to ask, “What’s the rush?” Of course you want to get to the next level, but is your career really going to fall to pieces if it doesn’t happen tomorrow? You’ll probably be in the workforce until you’re in your seventies, so you have the next fifty years to cope with the anxiety of answering to the big guns, being a slave to your devices, and sitting on top of a team of people who depend on you for their job satisfaction and financial livelihood. Rather than demand that your career move at the speed of light, why not relax your grip and concentrate on learning everything you can at your current level so that you’ll be better prepared for the next? And while you’re at it, enjoy having zero decision-making power, relatively normal working hours, and the freedom to go to the bathroom without affecting the company’s bottom line. Once you become a high-ranking superstar, you’ll give anything to have these days back.

Handling Setbacks

If you chose a career in business, you will inevitably experience some type of setback. You’ll be moving along, making great progress, and growing by leaps and bounds every day, and then, suddenly, you’ll be dealt a blow. And whether your pet project is canceled, your performance review is a bust, you get turned down for a promotion, or you’re asked to leave the company, setbacks hurt big time. You’re demotivated, disillusioned, and pissed as hell. You might not feel like doing anything for a few days except watching Netflix, munching on Doritos, and wallowing in self-pity. This response is both normal and appropriate, provided it’s short lived. In his book Emotional Intelligence at Work, Hendrie Weisinger tells us that resiliency, or the ability to bounce back, is what differentiates people who deal with setbacks effectively from those who don’t. Everyone goes through career setbacks, but some people handle them in creative, positive, and rewarding ways, whereas others sulk, become bitter, and give up on their big-picture goals. As you can imagine, the former individuals are happier overall, and they have more successful careers too.

When you’re lying on the ground and your job is stomping all over you, it can be pretty hard to pick yourself up and get moving again. Nevertheless, if you start to think of yourself as a victim or allow yourself to lapse into prolonged negativity, you won’t hurt anyone except yourself. Worrying until you get sick, abusing alcohol or drugs, or denying that you’ve reached an impasse won’t help either. The best strategy for making a comeback is to recognize the reality of the situation, acknowledge your feelings, and find a way to cope productively. Here are some tips that have gotten me through my darkest career days.

What I Wish I’d Known

Take-Home Points