5-Step Guide To Getting Promoted To The Corner Office

Have you found that irrespective of the amount of hours you put in at work, you always seem to be out of sync with the company, and your fellow employees? Does it seem like a promotion always seems to go flying right past you, no matter how many meetings you attend or the ‘overtime’ shifts you undertake? You may even have multiple friends, and be quite popular at the workplace, but when it finally boils down to crunch time, promotion always seems far more elusive than you can even imagine.



Regardless of whether you have met all your sales targets, worked within corporate budgets, and have highlighted your role in the company as important, the truth is that getting promoted goes much farther than that. How many times have you applied for that sacred promotion only to get rejected time and again? What makes it all the more worse is a less hard-working employee, who may not even be fit for the job, continues to receive an advantage over you! “How is this possible?”, you ask yourself.

Essentially, if you have found yourself in this peculiar yet common situation, there are two options available to you. The first option requires you to simply cut your losses, move on and seek another company where you may perceive greater growth opportunities. The second option, though, is to simply stick it out, but change the way in which you play the corporate game. While the first option may be easier, the second option provides far more fulfillment in the long term. Ultimately, your role as an employee is to make yourself indispensable to the company. If you are to get promoted, your senior colleagues must acknowledge your innate worth to the company.

At the end of the day, the people who eventually do get promoted, and go on to bigger and better things are the ones who are able to prove ‘clear value’ to a company. Many people fail to fully understand the term itself. Creating value is not simply about performing the limited role that a company has designated to you. The ability to act as a ‘corporate entrepreneur’ within that particular role is what highlights individuals for promotion. If you are not able to do this, you can rest assured that the 'non-deserving one' beside you will get the nod when the promotion bells start ringing.



In this step by step guide, we look to explain five key strategies that you should employ at the workplace to get that much coveted promotion and corner office.

1. Have An Idea? No? Steal One!

Many of the top-ranking business executives in the world are similar in that they have all ridden on the ‘idea’ band wagon. People have a misconception that only the senior executives in a company are required to create ideas. The reality is that it is a sure-fire way of distinguishing yourself from your fellow employees. Sticking to the rigid boundaries of your own responsibility within the organization will inevitably only allow you to see one angle of a business. As such, the only way to learn more about your own company is by exploring the roles that other people play, and the various obstacles that a company, in its entirety, faces.

Ideas and inspiration can come from practically anywhere. However, it is unlikely that you will have the best ones if you refuse to move anywhere besides your own cubicle. Simply taking a walk around the company, and speaking to your fellow employees may be enough for something to click inside your head. Understanding the difficulties your company is facing in effecting a particular growth strategy will automatically set you on the right path towards developing a valuable idea.



While having an idea is certainly the first step, it is not enough. You also have to evaluate whether your idea, in its current form, is a suitable fit for the company. If it is not, you will have to start thinking about ways in which you can change or improve your idea to better suit the company’s strategy.

2. Planning Is Not Necessary, However Mandatory

After you have come with an idea that you feel may prove to be valuable to a company, do not immediately rush to your senior colleagues and blurt it out. Think carefully about how the idea can be implemented within the context of your own organization. More often than not, it will require various stages of planning. In some cases, you may find that you cannot implement the idea on your own. If this is the case, you will need to think about the team that you will want to recruit to put the idea in place.



Apart from the required human capital component, you will also have to consider the amount of company resources that will need to be employed for the same reason. In certain cases, it will require you to identify potential sponsors of the idea, that your company will need to pitch to. Once you have set up a thorough plan, you will need to present it to your top management in a way that engages and excites them.

3. Wear Protection

In a way having an idea without a backer for it, can be associated with having unsafe sex. Wearing a condom allows you to experience the pleasure of the act, without the potential complications it may lead to. As such, if this analogy works for you, try to think of your backer as your condom. Within the Corporate Entrepreneurship space, for senior colleagues to develop confidence in you and your idea, they will need a vote of confidence from a member of the higher echelons of management.



It will become increasingly important to you to cultivate relationships with professional individuals who have experience within the company, and who are already highly valued. Individuals who have spent years at a company, are more often than not, already well-off and are not particularly concerned with their own personal careers, and more so with the direction in which the company is heading.



However, building trust among such individuals is not a simple process. It takes time for someone to develop confidence in your abilities and your vision. It is only once a high degree of trust has been built up, will a senior colleague stick his/her neck out for your sake.

4. If You Build It, They Will Come

This point reminds us of the famous 1989 classic film, Field of Dreams’, starring Kevin Costner. When you first conceptualize an idea, it would not be uncommon to experience a little self-doubt. After all, if this is the first time you are doing it, you really have no frame of reference. Ultimately though, keep in mind that the vision is yours, and you will need to be the leader this time. If you are able to convince yourself of the quality of your project, you can guarantee that your own team will respond to that confidence.



Moreover, you will need to pick and choose the right people for the job. It is extremely important to select a team that is as motivated and passionate as you to implement a vision. While it may be difficult at first, it is your responsibility to communicate the potential of your vision effectively, so that your team is enthused about the company’s future.

5. Take The Money And Run

Borrowing from Woody Allen’s premier films, once you get the go-ahead from your senior colleagues regarding a particular strategy you have devised, “Take the Money and Run!” As soon as you have all the requisite resources in place, it is vitally important that you waste absolutely no time in getting the foundations laid. After all, the fact that your company is allocating resources to you is a sign that it is beginning to trust you, your vision and your judgment. You should give them no reason to doubt your execution capabilities as well. Explain to them that as in almost all corporate spheres, it is always the early bird that gets all the spoils, and that waiting and delaying a decision may eventually lead to a missed opportunity that the company will surely regret.

Ultimately, you cannot do everything on your own, so it is important to make it clear to your team that time is of the utmost importance. The number of lags and delays must be kept to an absolute minimum if the strategy is to be achieved perfectly. The longer it takes for a project to come to fruition, the lesser the confidence that your senior colleagues will begin to place in you. Keep this in mind, as you make any decision, but at the same time, do not ever compromise the quality of your work, just to speed up the work process.

Ultimately, regardless of whichever move you are thinking of making, the most important thing is not to waste any time in doing so. Remember that although it may seem long, your career will wiz by in a flash before you know it, so it is critical to set yourself on the right path as soon as possible. Whether it is stealing an idea, making a plan, or developing a relationship with the higher-ups, make sure you give it your all so there is nothing left to regret. After all, life is too short to stay behind.

Even if a business idea seems too daunting for you at the moment, you can always start smaller. Seek out a sports event, competition or league that you think might engage your fellow employees and build your team brick by brick with this 5-step guide. TRY. FAIL. PIVOT.REPEAT

* For those of you who asked, my company is Intrapreneurs Global Network and its aim is to enable fear-less creativity, innovation and freedom among employees everywhere. I just released my latest on-line course: How To Become an Entrepreneur On The Job. You can check it out at Udemy or converse with me on Twitter @Noam_Wekser.

Make sure you are the one to get promoted next time!