Three Breakout Strategies for the Seriously Ambitious

I pried some valuable insight from Dorie Clark the author of a fantastic book called Stand Out How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It As a confidant to some of the most powerful executives in business today Dorie offered these three strategies to stand out at work get promoted and keep your career moving upward in a constantly changing businessamp8220Power mapamp8221 your organization Who are the decision makers who approves initiatives and programs and of most importance to whom do they listen This is the first step to understanding how one gets promoted in your organization Donamp8217t just assume thereamp8217s a tap on the shoulder and you become an anointed one It39s unlikely your boss can decide unilaterally to promote you And even if your boss is your champion youamp8217ll need political support within the organization so youamp8217re not stymied Sometimes there is a committee andor a hierarchy who can promote or block you understand who influences these decision makers and build allies for your cause Study your power map get to know the leadership help them understand what you do and keep them abreast of your contributionsGain prominence outside the organization to gain prominence inside Often the greatest challenge is to rise in an organization where you might be taken for granted However you can disproportionally advance your career rapidly by developing your external repute with what Dorie calls the amp8220advanced Jedi promotion tacticamp8221 Take a leadership role in a professional organization speak at a conference lead a charitable campaign thatamp8217s visible in the community offer to write an article for an industry publication amp160amp8220Youamp8217d be surprised how many professional organizations are hungry for members who will offer to take on leadership rolesamp8221 says Dorie amp8220Get yourself on an executive committee and rub elbows with the leaders even if youamp8217re just the secretary taking the minutes of the meetingamp8221 Look for roles that give you unlimited license to contact people And if thatamp8217s too much of a time commitment for you Dorie suggests simply forming a meetup group that organizes cocktails after work for young professionals amp160amp8220The idea is to establish that youamp8217re a leader youamp8217re an organizer youamp8217re a convener When your company leadership starts to hear your name outside of the office theyamp8217ll recognize youamp8217re something specialamp8221Start sharing your ideas publicly Develop your professional voice and make sure itamp8217s heard The leadership of your company will only trust you with a promotion once they feel like they know how you think In todayamp8217s business environment it is too risky to assume that other people are intelligent creative or capable of innovative thinking so take the guesswork out of the equation and make a concerted effort to bring your ideas into the world Start blogging on LinkedIn or on your companyamp8217s internal website and make it a point to speak up more in meetings Manifest your ideas so your leadership will note your ability and realize you are worthy of additional responsibility amp160amp8220Itamp8217s also important to network internally volunteer proactively for crossdepartmental initiativesamp8221 Dorie adds amp8220Youamp8217ll be exposed to more ideas gain a broader perspective and generate more opportunities to make yourself more indispensable to more peopleamp8221So what happens if youamp8217re rocking these three strategies and still canamp8217t get where you want to be Dorie says to ask for a promotion amp8220If you donamp8217t ask you almost certainly wonamp8217t get one but be judicious and prepared you canamp8217t ask precipitouslyamp8221amp160 Make a compelling argument to warrant the request amp8220If you don39t have the capital to be promoted youamp8217ll set yourself backamp8221 she explains amp8220Be ready to quantify your requestamp160 Keep track of the results of your efforts If you launched a product successfully if youamp8217ve led a team that exceeded goal you are justified to seek rewards in proportion to the benefits youamp8217re delivering If you39re really good nine out of 10 times it will be appreciatedamp8221If there is no mobility at your company because upper positions are locked in have a frank discussion with your boss and be open to other ways of collaborating to reach mutual goals amp8220Brainstorm other alternatives Can you get more money with the same title amp160Can you take on a new project that will make you more marketable Could the firm pay for your masteramp8217s degreeamp8221Finally Dorie offers this amp8220If your talents are not being recognized and youamp8217ve exhausted all options it might be time to move onamp8221Great advice but before you do that there are a lot more ideas for getting ahead in your career in Dorieamp8217s Stand Out Workbook which you can download for free hereThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Three Breakout Strategies for the Seriously Ambitious

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Kristi Faulkner

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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Three Breakout Strategies for the Seriously Ambitious

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Kristi Faulkner

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