Author: John Beeson

If you’ve been at your company for a few years and hope to move up to the next level, you may feel like you’re standing at an airport looking up to see one plane after another stacked up in a holding pattern. That’s because promotion rates in most industries have slowed dramatically since the recession, creating a backlog of talented employees intent on moving ahead.

Fortunately, at least in the United States, that logjam is beginning to break up, as the economy strengthens. So that leaves you with the question: What steps can I take to break out of this unusually large pack?

The first thing you must understand is that producing strong results in your current job won’t be enough. That’s just table stakes, the minimum needed to get you into consideration for a promotion. But finding out what else is required is tricky. Few companies spell out the criteria they use to make promotions to the first rung of management. Companies like GE and McKinsey are rigorous about promotion standards, but they are the exceptions.

So, what are some rules of thumb to keep in mind?

In making promotional decisions to the management level, companies typically look for people who take initiative — and know how to do it the right way. That means going beyond the narrow confines of your current job and finding new ways to add value and improve the performance of your group. In doing so, it’s important to be not only a problem finder but a solution seeker. Some people will identify a problem or barrier to performance and neatly drop it at their boss’s doorstep, naively expecting to be rewarded. In reality you’ve just added to your already-harried boss’s job jar. No kudos for that.

Solution finders work with others to devise ways to fix the problem and gain support for the proposed approach within the company. They anticipate how the recommended solution will affect other parts of the organization and take steps to build support within those departments. In the process, they display a sense of professional maturity that starts with an understanding of which battles deserve to be fought and which can be won. Virtually all organizations are inefficient in certain areas, but that doesn’t mean every inefficiency is worth tackling. You won’t set yourself apart from the pack by solving a problem that won’t move the performance needle in terms of increased customer satisfaction, revenue, or productivity. A smart solution finder also attempts to fully understand the boss’s and senior management’s performance goals, relationship concerns and career ambitions to ensure they will be prepared to deploy some of their scarce political capital on the proposed initiative.

In addition to initiative and professional maturity, you also need to find ways to demonstrate that you have the interpersonal skills required to manage a variety of potential direct reports — to set objectives for them, guide their work, provide performance feedback, and address the performance problems that inevitably occur in any group. Demonstrating people management skills also involves recognizing that different people are motivated by different things and showing that you are flexible enough in your motivational style to get the best out of each staff member. Admittedly, this can be hard to do if you aren’t already responsible for managing people. However, how you interact with others on group projects can be an important “preview of coming attractions” in terms of showcasing your interpersonal and people management skills to your company’s management

And finally, as you work with others to develop your proposed initiative to improve performance, look for opportunities to display your ability to anticipate and marshal the resources that will be required for successful implementation, another important skill at the managerial level.

If you think all this sounds like extra work, you’re absolutely right. In any environment, but especially in this post-recession one, those who emerge from the pack will be the ones willing to go the extra mile to distinguish themselves from other talented people. But if you are successful, beyond moving up to the level you want, you’ll have a head start in gaining critical skills that can continue to propel your career upward: the ability to get things done with and through others; to influence and persuade peers over whom you have not formal authority; and to delegate work so you are freed to think about the future and identify potential innovations than can create a quantum leap in performance.

There’s a wonderful scene in The Odyssey when Odysseus prepares himself to steer his ship and his men past the treacherous Sirens, creatures who sing a seductive song that can lead a person astray. It’s a great moment in literature — and an extremely useful image for managers intent on ferreting out the feedback they need for career advancement. To prepare for his challenge, Odysseus orders his crew members to put wax in their ears, but to be able to hear the Sirens’ message, he leaves his own ears unplugged. But he asks his men to strap him to the ship’s mast to prevent him from recklessly heeding the Sirens’ call.

Managers, like Odysseus, need to hear what people have to say — and be able to filter the messages. Those who solicit career feedback are likely to hear many, often conflicting messages and need to be astute in sorting out the most critical input to avoid careening off course. To succeed, as Odysseus did, keep three things in mind.

Appreciate the Source’s Perspective — and Potential Bias. If you speak candidly with a manager’s direct reports about his development needs, their comments tend to focus on a fairly predictable set of issues: fairness, delegation, openness to their ideas, the quality of performance feedback, coaching, and career guidance. Staff members also crave clarity regarding the unit’s strategy and consistency in its priorities.

Speak to the manager’s peers and co-workers, and you’re most likely to hear comments about teamwork, collaboration, listening, awareness of peers’ objectives, and the ability to work through strong differences of opinion.

A manager’s superiors — although not immune to her management style and relationships with peers — tend to focus on different issues: quality and speed of decision making, thinking strategically, finding the next breakthrough innovation, and upgrading the caliber of the organization.

Any manager has numerous development needs: areas where she’s not strong or needs to get stronger. The trick is to identify the two or three areas of development most critical to accomplishing your goals. To do so it’s important to filter the feedback carefully with an understanding of the source and any inherent bias stemming from the source’s perspective.

Think Clearly About Potential “Derailers” versus the Factors of Executive Success. Over the last few years excellent work has been done to identify those things that can derail or stall a manager’s career progression. And they are far from trivial. Arrogance, abrasiveness, and insensitivity will come back to haunt an aspiring executive when the troops rebel or his peers tell his manager they’ll go on strike if he’s named as their leader. It’s important to address such issues since they may in fact hinder your career progress.

However, the intensity of people’s feelings about a manager’s flaws tends to drown out other, potentially critical development needs. Also, keep in mind that while a serious deficiency may hold you back, showing improvement in a derailment area won’t necessarily propel you ahead.

Understand the Difference between Development in Your Current Role and “Prospective” Development Needs. If your boss levels with you in your performance review and provides feedback about where you need to improve, consider yourself lucky — such candid input is typically not the norm. And pay attention to the results of a 360-degree feedback review based on surveys from your boss, peers, and subordinates.

Just realize that both sources of feedback suffer from an inherent bias: they tend to focus on your development needs in your current role and at your current level since that’s the frame of reference most colleagues have. Again, if the issues have to deal with potential derailment factors, that’s extremely useful. However, the feedback may entirely miss skills you’ll need to develop and display to be a top candidate for promotion to a higher level.

For example, imagine that you’ve developed a reputation as a manager who can predictably implement the most complex corporate initiative. You stay close to the work of your troops, and you’re an expert at creating metrics and follow-up mechanisms to make sure “the wash gets out the door” on time. That’s terrific — but it may cause senior executives to question whether you can succeed at a higher level where the priorities shift to building a strong team, delegating accountability, identifying the next big breakthrough, and spending time on high-impact strategic issues. Although not currently leadership deficiencies, these may be the “prospective” development areas you need to exhibit in order to advance.

So how can you sort through the welter of messages you get when you seek out feedback about where you need to improve? It may take the emotional equivalent of strapping yourself to the mast, but try to meet with more-senior managers who know your work to get input. Work hard to convey your sincere interest in candid feedback–and avoid defensiveness (which will quickly shut the executive down) or any hint that you’re simply angling for a promotion. End each productive conversation with a useful summary question: “What one or two things — above all others — would most build confidence in my ability to succeed at higher levels within the organization?” Listen carefully for the consistent themes that emerge. Do they have to do with addressing potential derailers, performance in your current job, or skills that will be needed at higher levels?

In some organizations it’s extremely hard to get others to give you the straight scoop so if you have the chance to work with a third party who’ll interview a number of your colleagues, that can be very helpful. Just make sure that resource has the organizational perspective to help you sort out the wheat from the chaff and fully appreciates the core factors that senior executives use in making promotional decisions — as well as the bias inherent in others’ perspective.

What I’ve described isn’t easy. It demands focus and the ability to listen attentively to often contradictory pieces of feedback. But if you exercise the wisdom of Odysseus, you’ll be well on your way to your career destination.