How to Get Promoted at Work

Here's the key: STOP TRYING. When you do your work specifically to get promoted, a shadow is cast upon everything you do. Every time you go the extra mile or take on additional responsibility, it seems to wreak with superficial enthusiasm. However, when you do your work for work's sake, there is a genuineness and a quality that surrounds everything you touch. A consistency is produced in your attitude and work that is easily recognized as leadership material. Here are four specific things you can do to become more promotable:

1. Stop Wasting Time. Be nice. Say good morning to those in the office. Make the rounds, but do not take half an hour every morning to do it. It is not uncommon for people to make the rounds in the morning, mid-morning, after lunch, mid-afternoon, and at the end of the day. This wastes at least two hours each day and is not the behavior that leaders exemplify. As a leader, part of your responsibility will be to round on your teams, but that is not your current responsibility. Work hard; stay focused; and eliminate time wasters in your day.

2. Stay Away from the Water Cooler. Every company has one. It may not be a water dispenser; it may be the coffee machine, but wherever employees congregate to chit chat, stay away. Most people make this a daily habit, and that is fine, but not for those that want to stand out from the crowd. Part of being promoted is your ability to handle leadership. There are things you cannot do or cannot do as much of if you are promoted. Start distancing yourself now so that you are more promotable when the need arises.

3. Watch Your Associations. There are extremely talented people that are continually passed over for promotions simply because of their associations. The old adage, "Birds of a feather flock together," still holds true. If the office gossip is a close friend of yours, what do they know that management does not? Honest people will not hang around dishonest people. Hard working people will not spend time with lazy people. If you spend time, go out to lunch, or catch Happy Hour with those in the office with negative labels, you can rest assured that label is being tied to you as well. Associate with the achievers and those most successful in your company. You may have to change some of your behavior for them to accept you - this is a good thing and will help you become more promotable.

4. Change Your Attitude. Some of the most negative, sarcastic people alive seem to be the ones always putting their name in the hat for every opportunity that comes down the pike. Getting promoted is not like throwing darts or slinging mud against the wall and hoping that something sticks. Get a can-do attitude. Stop talking about how management decisions do not make sense. Stop questioning the existing authorities. Wear a smile to work and talk about what a great place it is to work. Apply for promotions that make sense based on your skill set and experience. Part of getting promoted is creating a strategy for winning and exercising good judgement on which opportunities to pursue.