Quietly Competent Doesn't Make Partner Nor Get You Promotions - Here's What Works

I remember it as though it was yesterday. A coaching client called to say that she was still an associate after being with the company for over a decade and couldn't understand why, when she had done such good work all these years, she had not been promoted. As we walked through her journey at the company a phrase she used brought the answer to us. "My dad taught me to work real hard and keep my head down." Those are valuable words but only half the story.

What happens when you work very hard and do a good job but forget to lift your head once in awhile and connect with the right people and network? You do invisible work and eventually become invisible yourself.

Four Competencies

There are four competencies that are critical success factors if you want to get to the top of your profession and make partner or managing director. They are your personal brand, your reputation, marketing, and your network.

Personal Brand

What is your personal brand? Do you have one? Can you articulate it? Have you built a reputation as an expert on significant issues in your industry? Have you built relationships with senior partners and other members of the executive team? Do you even know how? While this might seem like an impossible task to some of you, it can be done.

Reputation

Reputation is defined as a component of identity as defined by others. It is your overall quality or character as seen or judged by people, a place of esteem or regard, your good name. As Ernest Bramah said "A reputation for a thousand years may depend upon the conduct of a single moment."

So what is your reputation in the workplace? Do you make your deadlines? Have people said "I don't know what she does around here but she's always busy."

What about your online presence? Is there anything on You Tube that could potentially be embarrassing? If you have leftover posts from your college days there is a website that scrubs your reputation. Your reputation in the workplace encompasses more than just what you do at work.

Marketing

It is important to market yourself at work. Yes, you should raise your head every once in awhile and market yourself to senior management. Every company has strategic planning sessions where they look at the pipeline of available talent to determine who's ready for promotion. Is there anyone wearing your tee shirt and being an advocate for you during these sessions? If you have not marketed yourself and your contributions to the organizations, your name will not be raised during these meetings.

Networking

Do you have a network, or are you too busy / exhausted to create and maintain one? Do you volunteer and meet with the company's leaders? Do you leverage your contacts and network with alumni and other corporate associations? Are you on LinkedIn?

In today's social network driven society networking is not a nice to do, it's a must do. The Fortune 500 are there, are you?

Do you network across the departmental silos at your company? Do managers and leaders in other departments know of you and your work? Or are you still heads down, plugging away. Yes, it's important to meet deadlines and make budgets. Yes, it's also important to competently do a good job, but if no one is aware of you and your achievements, you'll never get to that next level. Instead all you will have is a ground down nose from keeping it to the grindstone.

In Conclusion

If you do not know where you want to go, any road will take you there. Having a vision of your destination is the beginning. Clear measurable goals enable you to stay on track and help you identify when you get there.

Your goals should be objectively measurable and identifiable to determine when you have achieved them.

Known as a highly effective public speaker, and communicator, Yvonne F. Brown has taught seminars on inter-generational and inter-cultural communications in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. Yvonne teaches a variety of communication courses, including interpersonal, intercultural, organizational and conflict management. She has also conducted seminars for such corporations as Deloitte Consulting, Lockheed Martin, Citrix Yvonne is heralded by participants as the best speaker and trainer they ever had. Her enthusiasm is contagious. She understands group dynamics, and is creative in developing programs that are powerful, interactive and entertaining. Learn more at http://www.YvonneFBrown.com