A few years back I ran across a book titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. I didn’t buy it, because what I can’t stand is when good things happen to bad people. That drives me crazy.
And I’m not alone. More than any over other issue, employees become enraged when they see some no-talent, incompetent kiss-up get a promotion over more deserving souls. Like themselves, for example.
So how is it incompetent bowbs get promotions while the company passes you over?
If you look at yourself as a product, it’s all becomes clear: the Windows/95 employees always seem to beat out the OS/2 ones. (Macintosh employees thrive, but only in Marketing. Unix employees find niche jobs and stay in them until they retire. Pick your favorite operating system and insert it here.)
Last week we talked about the first of the “Four P’s” – Product. Let’s continue with the other three.
Promotion
Now don’t turn up your nose. Like it or not, perception is reality: It’s a falling-tree-in-forest thing. No matter how good your work and how great your potential, it will go unrecognized unless someone who can do something for your career (a potential customer) perceives your work to be good and your potential high.
As in product marketing, self-promotion can lead, to put it gently, into ethically questionable territory. While that’s true, don’t make the mistake of viewing marketing as a morally dubious activity. Ask yourself: what’s the point in creating a high-quality product and then not helping people who need it see its value?
Self-promotion, when too flagrant, can be self-defeating, especially when it takes the “I’m really great” approach. The best marketers know two facts that in combination create powerful marketing: specifics work far better than generalities, and benefit to the customer is the best message.
So be specific. Make sure people who matter know about significant accomplishments, not in the context of, “…and so I’d like a promotion,” but in the context of, “…and so the company is better off.”
A fringe benefit: you’ll focus your efforts on achieving tangible results that improve the organization.
Place
Place describes your market – who you sell yourself to. Here’s what it means in this context: figure out who can help you get where you’re going, and cultivate them.
This isn’t a matter of Machiavellian machination. You’ve spent some effort figuring out the product you’ll want to be … that is, the position you want to hold. You’ve also figured out the skills and experience you’ll need to acquire to get there. With luck, you’ve also done some soul-searching to make sure you have both the attitude and aptitude.
Look around your company to determine who can help you make the transition to the job you want. It’s probably not the person you report to. It may be the next person in the hierarchy, or it may be someone in another area.
Call them. Ask for a half-hour of their time. Even better, buy them lunch. Explain the process you’re going through and ask for their help. Volunteer for a project in their area that may benefit from your skills. Ask advice and listen intently.
Pay close attention to the chemistry between you and your potential ally – if the chemistry is wrong, you should probably try someone else as well.
Don’t be shy. People like to help, and asking for it flatters them.
Price
Now we come to salary. Many companies rely on salary surveys to determine pay ranges for different jobs, and they’ll use them to explain why they can’t pay the salary you want. Your only defense: find similar surveys or recruitment ads in the classifieds that support the salary you think you deserve.
Negotiating salary is a lot easier when you change employers than when you change jobs inside the same company. My best advice: be assertive but not greedy.
(To be candid, I’m not all that good at negotiating salary. Sigh.)
You’re your own product. Manage yourself well.