The first quarter of the year is already racing past. Do you have your eyes on a promotion this year? If you do, its best to start planning for your new role long before it comes. A promotion is a way that a company tells you that it believes in your capability to handle a given task. It is also a chance to showcase your skills and to improve on yourself. The best thing you can do for yourself is to prepare.
There is a common saying that when preparation meets opportunity, success is inevitable. Usually, you are pre-informed about your promotion or the tasks ahead and would be afforded ample time to prepare by taking stock and doing a proper handover to your successor. This is important but not the only prerequisite. Now, this is a new task, a higher responsibility.
What are your plans and what do you intend to achieve? Are your plans in line with company policies and overall objectives? How do you plan to impact on the company’s overall success from your own circle of influence? Within what time frame do you hope to achieve a new feat and leave an indelible mark in the ‘sands of time’, so to speak? It is not a case of trying to out-do your predecessor but a self-evaluation, and prioritization of your new targets in order to meet up with the company’s expectations.
You might have bright ideas about what you would love to implement. This short period of preparation is the best time to run them by the management or a superior to see how it would work and also get suggestions on the best way to handle them. Don’t rush into that office with random ideas of projects that only look good on paper or are not practical. Your performance on the next assignment would go a long way to boost your career experience, as well as prepare you for similar or higher tasks even at another organisation.
It is important for every executive to handle a pre-promotion period well, craft a vision and gather sufficient information about the new position. Adequate evaluation of existing challenges and potential opportunities are also important before taking up a new assignment.
Remember, a lack of preparation is an opportunity lost in making real impact on the job.
