It's episode 97 of the Here to Thrive podcast, and this time I'm talking about work, yes, your careers, and how you can drive yourself in your career, where your power lies to be perceived well. I haven't spoken a lot about the career stuff on this podcast to date, but half of my work is what I would frame as career or executive coaching. I work with people, the majority of which are in the corporate world, to help them either work out what they want to do with their career, what their next steps are when people are facing a feeling like they need to transition or change things up a little bit, or I work with people whose companies support them to get coaching. If you're one of those people whose company might support you to get coaching, seriously, take advantage of that.
And I help people really make the most and drive their careers while they are in an organization. And what I noted was most of you are listening to this podcast or downloading this podcast around those commuting kind of hours, probably to and from work. So I wanted to address that. I wanted to share some of the things that I share with my coaching clients in this capacity, because there are things you can do that aren't complicated, that can make a huge difference to how you are perceived in the workplace.
So I'm going to share five little tips with you today. Stay tuned to hear how to be perceived well in the workplace. Welcome to Here to Thrive. I'm your host, Kate Snowwise.
This is a podcast for people who are ready to step up and live a happier life. It's for those of us who are dedicated to understanding ourselves and getting the best that we can out of this thing called life. It's a mix of psychology and modern spiritual thought, always with a focus on practical advice so that you can take it back and apply it to your own life. I don't believe we're here to merely survive.
I truly believe we're here to thrive. So let's get going. Now, I took this information originally from a blog that I wrote for Huffington Post in their careers and business section. And it was titled, How to Make Sure You Don't Get Overlooked for the Next Promotion.
How to Make Sure That You Are the Person That Those Senior Leaders or People Ahead of You in an Organization See As Having the Skills, Traits, and Abilities to Make That Next Step. And I find this is a conversation I have over and over again in my coaching sessions. How can I place myself well? What can I be doing now so that in a year's time, in two years' time, I'm the person that is getting the promotion?
Now, if you want to read this again or you want to save it for future reference or share it with your colleagues in a blog form, by all means, that blog will also be in the show notes. I get them to listen to here to thrive, right? There's so much more on here. But without further ado, I want to just jump in and say that these tips that I have have come from my understanding of psychology.
I am trained as a business psychologist or an industrial and organizational psychologist. So I have an intimate understanding of management and leadership. I also have a postgraduate diploma in management, actually. So it comes from the theory.
But before I started my own business, when I was back in New Zealand in consulting, I was a manager. I had a team of seven direct reports and 13 people in total that I led. And I learned a lot from doing that. I learned a lot from really being hands-on.
What was it that I was looking for and other senior leaders are looking for when they are wanting to promote someone? And what I have learned and what I have seen is that ability is important. What you can do, your capability, it is important, but it's not going to get you to the very top. You do need skill in your specialist area, but it's the softer skills that are going to set you apart.
And the awesome thing about soft skills is that we can improve them very easily if we put in some of it. So here is the first one of the five things that I recommend to my coaching clients to make sure that their names aren't overlooked next time there is room for someone to be promoted. And the first one is to make your desires clear. Honestly, so many of my clients come to me and they say, you know, I want to move into leadership.
And my first question, always tough, cut straight to the chase. My first question is, does your immediate manager know this? Does your immediate leader know this? And so often the answer to that is, no, I haven't spoken about it with them.
You need to make your desires clear. And too often I see my coaching clients assuming that their manager knows what they want, assuming that their manager has a handle on their career desires, but having never really had a conversation about it. So look for opportunities that you can appropriately make your desires clear. Tell people what you hope for and keep it on the table.
By having open conversations with your manager about your career aspirations, you can work to get them on side as a supporter and a mentor because your manager is the type of person who's going to be in an excellent position to look for opportunities to help with your promotion and development. So get them on board, let them in on what you hope for, make your desires really clear. So point number one, make sure that the people who matter know what you want to do. Make your desires clear.
Now, tip number two, don't just network outside of your organization, network internally. Now, you may or may not have heard of the idea of internal networking, but people I find often underestimate the power of having a strong internal network in an organization. So often the push is for this outside networking, but the people who are going to help you make that next step, especially if you're looking to be promoted, are going to be within your organization. So look to develop those friendly and genuine relationships with people from across the organization and at all levels.
If there are socializing opportunities, do your best to be actively involved as much as you can and get to know your colleagues on a more personal level. Now, I get it. I'm a mom. I recognize that you can't stay out partying until two in the morning when you have other commitments, but do make an effort.
Show your face where you can to activities outside of work and let people know that you want to be involved, whether that's you show up at the start and have one drink and yeah, all your colleagues might go on to party all night long, but make an effort to forge those strong relationships. Look for other ways to do it. Go out for coffees with people, lunches, connect, connect with your colleagues because the stronger your internal relationships are, the more likely people are going to know what you're looking for and what you're after and the more favorably you're going to be considered. It will serve you well when those discussions are being had, possibly behind closed doors.
So do your best to network internally, get to know your colleagues right across the organization. Now, the next one. Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how important this one is. And as a manager myself, this one really mattered to me.
And if you are in that kind of emerging leadership space, if you hope to move up in an organization, if you take nothing else from this episode, listen to this point because you have to be solution focused. One of the biggest things I see as people start to transition into management or leadership positions is that they suddenly start noting what the business really needs and start to think a little bit less of themselves and what the business can offer them and get into the frame of mind of what can I offer the business and what does our business need to do to succeed. Most employees I have come across typically have a problem focus. They'll go to the manager with a problem, potentially even whining at the extreme and expect the manager to find a solution for them.
A powerful way to differentiate yourself in the crowd is to be consistently solution focused. Now, what do I mean by solution focused? If you come across an issue or a roadblock or a problem in your day-to-day work, take a couple of moments to think through it before you go to your manager. Brainstorm possible solutions that you can then go and discuss with your manager or leader.
That way, when you do take the issue that roadblock the problem to your seniors, you'll also have a range of ways that it could be dealt with right on the tip of your tongue. You will have a bunch of ideas to talk through with them. And that makes you appear strategic, forward thinking, and like a leader. You are thinking like a leader.
So maintaining a solutions focus, always thinking of what could I do about this? How could I fix this before going and calling on senior leadership is going to make you look like a leader. So tip number three, be solution focused. Go to your leaders with solutions, not problems.
Now, tip number four, you may not want to hear this one. And I think this is one of the things that millennials get a bad rap for. I'm still not sure if that's accurate. I think it's more just a personality thing than it is a generational thing.
But tip number four, do the work that others won't. Don't be precious about what you will and won't do. Don't be too good for anything. When I work with leaders, one of the most stressful parts of their job is when they encounter an employee that thinks the task is below them and starts to give them pushback.
It drives people crazy. So if you're the type of person that is fighting with your leader about how you don't want to do certain tasks, how they're outside your job description, you are stressing your leader out, I guarantee it, you're stressing them out because this is what they're talking about with me in their executive coaching sessions, how to deal with employees who are stressing them out. So to set yourself apart, to not be one of those people that is causing your leader more frustration than gain, worry less about what is listed on your job description and look for what needs to be done. Be the person that is willing to do the hard work and fill the gaps if it is what is right for the business.
By doing that grunt work, the not pretty work often, you demonstrate that you're willing to do the hard yards when others won't, that you're thinking of the business as a whole, not just thinking about yourself. So senior positions in an organization typically require a lot of flexibility and a readiness to do whatever it takes to get a job done. By being flexible, you're demonstrating that you possess those attributes that are needed as you move up into senior leadership. You'll also, bonus, reduce some of that pressure on your manager or leader, which is always going to lead to you being perceived well.
If you're not the sweet wheel, if you're not the pain in their butt, you will be appreciated for that. And as we mentioned earlier, your manager or your leader is in a position where they can really help with this whole promotion idea. They have their ear to the ground and will see opportunities and recommend you where those come up. So do your best to make their life easier.
So tip number four, do the work that others won't. And the final tip I have for you on how to be perceived well in the workplace is to raise the profile of your organization. So this is the external focus, the looking outside of your organization. If you can look for ways that are role appropriate for you to raise the profile of your organization and strengthen the relationships with your clients, you will be an asset.
Now, like I said, role appropriate. This is probably not going to be perceived well if you do things that really are way outside your bucket or level of responsibility. So just be savvy around this. What is potentially role appropriate that you can do that will raise the profile of your organization?
Some ideas. This could mean offering to contribute to an organizational blog, speaking at a conference, attending networking events, or posting handwritten thank you notes to clients on the completion of a project. Get creative. I want you to think about how can I make sure that our organization is perceived well by our customers and the community?
And if you focus on that, the added bonus, of course, is that you're going to cast yourself in a positive light. When people start complimenting the business and specifically you, it's going to look good. So raise the profile of your organization. Make your organization look good.
Now, there is no surefire way to get promoted, but there are a number of things you can do to demonstrate that you have those traits and skills and abilities that will help you keep moving up and that you can step into those kinds of roles. Your capability is an important part of this, but it's not the only part. How you interact with your team, with your colleagues, and the organization as a whole matters so, so much. If you focus on these five tips that I have shared with you today as a quick summary, number one, make your desires clear.
Two, network internally. Three, be solution-focused. Four, do the work that others won't. And five, raise the profile of the organization.
You will increase your visibility internally and improve the chances of your name, making it to the top of that list of emerging leaders or people who deserve or have the right stuff to keep moving forward. So that's a little tip from the executive career coaching side of me. Well, a bunch of little tips, really, aren't I? If you'd like to know more about what I do in this space, you can check out thrive.how.
I also do resilience training and meaning and purpose work with an organization, so you can check it all out at my website, at my website, thrive.how. Thanks so much for turning up every week. Please leave a review. It rocks to read them.
Tell your friends, because you shouldn't keep a good life to yourself, right? I'll be back again next week with another guest interview. Can't wait. I always love those.
They're getting really fun. And I appreciate you all for being here, for wanting to consciously improve your lives. It all starts there. That's where a good life starts.
That's where a thriving life comes from. So until next week, when I'll be back again on Friday, keep thriving, beautiful people. Keep thriving. Keep thriving.