GETTING PROMOTED --- REAL STRATEGIES FOR ADVANCING
YOUR CAREER by Harry E. Chambers. Perseus Books, 1999
INTRODUCTION --- This book was written to fill a huge void in available career-planning and strategizing resources. (pix-xii)
The book was written for those who choose to seek growth. development, and promotability in their current jobs. Job change is always an option, but leaving prematurely or without taking advantage of every possible internal opportunity may close doors that will usually remain closed. Opportunity once lost can rarely be reclaimed. However, if you want to take the best advantage of your hard labor and service by moving upward in your career, this book provides real-world strategies to help you in your quest.
1) The pathways to promotion (p1-19)
In short, this book focuses on enhancing your present position and reaping the harvest from the field you have already cultivated, planted, and nurtured. You can shift the focus yourself from changing to attaining maximum success in the job you have now!
 Your skills, abilities, and willingness --- To be promoted successfully , you must continually sharpen your "SAW" --- your SKILLS, ABILITIES and WILLINGNESS! Achievement and effort always come before the career payoff! (p2-3)
2) Today's promotion realities = "TPR" (p20-44)
 Your visibility and the "Four Ps" --- (People's Positive Promotable Perception)
Your promotion success will be determined by how others perceive you!
(1) Identifying your Promotability Quotient = "PQ"
 Assessment of your spheres of influence (p14-16)
(2) Specific skill assessment
(3) Influencing the 'Four Ps" by changing the perception of others! (p7)
1. Charisma = the art of being likeable and liked!
2. Recognition and reward = you increase your ability to influence others when you celebrate their success, extend recognition, and share rewards. Your ability and openness in rewarding others and helping them to gain or acquire recognition is a very powerful influencer! From internal competition to internal collaboration!
3. Expertise = possessing extensive knowledge or being seen as an expert in specific areas has significant influence on the people around you. When you are "perceived" to possess unique knowledge or understanding of a specific area expands as people rely on you more and more. But expertise enhances promotability only if you share it!
4. Information = power! The more you know, the more influence you will have. For information to provide an effective sphere of influence, it must be positive, factual, and shared appropriately. However, if your information is veiwed by others as inaccurate, intentionally inflammatory, or self-serving, it severely reduces your influence, because others react negatively when information is used as a tool of manipulation! You must demonstrate a consistent willingness to share information equally with everyone and avoid, at all costs, creating the perception of playing favorites!
5. Ethics and integrity = real-world demonstrations of high ethics and integrity are: (a) refusing to take shortcuts, (b) not sacrificing quality for expediency, (c) being unwilling to do only what is necessary to get by, and (d) working harder even when the boss is not around or watching.
6. Performance consistency = your influence over the people around you increases when they know you can be counted on to deliver an excellent work product. Consistency in performance can never be contested or denied by others, and it is perhaps the most important and enduring sphere of influence!
7. Network of contacts = it takes commitment and dedicaton to develop a network of contacts, since it requires an investment of much time and effort. But a large inventory of contacts allows you to open doors for yourself and others.
8. Increasing the value of others = helping others to experience learning, growth, and development also increases your influence. Do staff see you as a resource and are they more valuable to themselves or the organization for having interacted with you on a task or project?
 Performance appraisal opportunities (p16-18)
3) Future trends and current challenges (p45-63)
4) Communication (p64-90)
5) Organizational skills (p91-121)
6) Risk Taking, problem solving, decision making (p122-146)
7) Establishing effective workplace relationships (p147-176)
8) Self-motivation (p177-210)
9) The performance appraisal process (p202-218)
 Ten real-world performance realities (p202-207)
10) Career killers and promotion viruses (p219-228)
(1) The performance appraisal is the most effective mechanism
 The three stages of the performance appraisal (p207)
you have to determine your boss's and the organization's perceptions
of you (p203)
(2) Most managers aren't trained to conduct effective performance
(3) Performance appraisals typically rate short-term performance
(4) Most managers tend to be flowery in their appraisal assessments (p204)
(5) Most employees being appraised defend their potential raise by
rejecting criticism (p205)
(6) The performance appraisal document is typically ignored until the next appraisal (p205)
(7) Performance appraisal priorities change frequently, rendering
agreed-upon objectives obsolete (p205-206)
(8) Managers rate subjectively (p206)
(9) Unclear, general and unmeasurable subjective language has
become the norm (p207)
(10) Performance appraisals are typically "One size fits all" (p207)
(1) Preparation (p207-210)
(2) Presentation (p210-215)
(3) Follow-up (p 216-218)
IN CLOSING (p229-230)
Go to: Achievement Issue at Work
Go to: Motivation Issue at Work
Go to: Performance Issue at Work
Go to: Success Issue at Work
Go to: Leadership Control Essay
Go to: Home Page Index
Go to: Interactive Index