Archive for the ‘Training and Development’ Category

How to Get Promoted at Work

Monday, May 25th, 2020

Is it time for you to have a better career opportunity? Great, then take the job you’re doing and build it out in such a way that if you’re not there next Thursday, then anybody else can step in and do it. In fact, if you’re not there for three weeks, anyone can step in and do what you’re doing. Because when you build out that job, suddenly people start looking at you and thinking: “I wonder if you can do that for other jobs?” You become instantly promotable.

It makes you far more attractive, because it forces you to think through “what’s the best way to do everything that I do?” It’s also a way of making sure your team is always taken care of.

So, build out that job. Make sure you have good operating procedures. Make sure they’re close to your desk so that anybody can step in and find them. Make sure that your manager knows that you’re doing exactly that, and they will be thrilled. You never know what’s possible for those that step in to make sure that anyone can do their job.

Go Out at the Top

Monday, December 2nd, 2019

Wherever you are, go out at the top of your game.

If you have a job and you’re doing great, and you’re planning on moving on to the next position and being promoted—great! Go out at the top of your game! Go ahead and invent all the systems and processes and document them, so that whoever steps in wins.

If you’re planning on going to an entirely different job, great! Decide to go out at the top of your game. Before you leave, go all in, all out, build everything out so that everybody has everything that they need.

No matter what the circumstances are—whether it’s a project or your job, or some other personal part of your life—decide to always have this be your motto: “I go out at the top of my game.”

Plus One

Monday, October 17th, 2016

We used to have an intern in our office who thought of this principle—“Plus one” everything.

What this means is that—beyond doing what is asked of you, and doing it on time—you do something else, above and beyond. Every time.

For example, maybe you wrote a report and you got it in on time. To “plus one” this, you ALSO took the liberty of doing a quick analysis of the report, finding redundancies, and making a recommendation to your boss about how to make the process more efficient.

In everything you do, find not just the time to give a little extra, but also the heart. It IS a matter of heart, you know. Once you’ve truly thrown your heart over the bar, “plus one” will happen naturally in everything you do.

Be Coachable

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

Think of the superstar high performers you’ve seen over the years in your business. How many have you seen dance the Big Dance for a while, then suddenly self-destruct?

I’ve seen far too many myself.

Once I started paying attention to this pattern, I started noticing what made the difference between those who would do well and then crash, and those who would do well…and then do better and better. The ones who crashed were not able to accept advice and coaching. The ones who persisted and thrived were. Period.

Being perfect is overrated. I don’t need to know that someone who works for me is perfect. I need to know they’re coachable.

Being coachable doesn’t just mean you’re open to suggestions. It means you’re hungry for them, thirsty for them. You DEMAND input, because you know that’s the golden road to rocking it.

Some high performers think they don’t need any more coaching. They’re high performers after all! But a real high performer knows she can always go higher. She…

  • Records her sales calls and asks the boss to review them.
  • Asks how she’s doing, often.
  • Asks how she can improve.
  • When getting coached, she’s open and grateful and NEVER tells the coach they’re wrong.

Master coachability and there is literally nothing you CAN’T master.

Plus One Everything

Sunday, March 24th, 2013

We used to have an intern in our office who thought of this principle—“Plus one” everything.

What this means is that—beyond doing what is asked of you, and doing it on time—you do something else, above and beyond. Every time.

For example, maybe you wrote a report and you got it in on time. To “plus one” this, you ALSO took the liberty of doing a quick analysis of the report, finding redundancies, and making a recommendation to your boss about how to make the process more efficient.

So why go to the trouble? If I’m assigned X, isn’t X good enough? Of course it is. And if you want your tombstone to read, “She was good enough,” stick to the minimum.

If on the other hand you want to be noticed, if you want to stand out from the crowd as exceptional, if you want to be the very first name that pops into executive heads when a higher position opens up—then X plus one is the approach to take.

In everything you do, find not just the time to give a little extra, but also the heart. It IS a matter of heart, you know. Once you’ve truly thrown your heart over the bar, “plus one” will happen naturally in everything you do.