This Four-Letter Word Can Help You Grow in Your Career

On seeing the caption of this post, do not let your imagination fly in the wrong direction. Remember that in English, you have thousands of four-letter words but unfortunately, most of the folks remember only that particular word that should not be remembered. Let us now get into the intended topic without wasting further time.

As an employee, your aim may be to achieve quick growth in your career. But how to accomplish this aim? It is here you have to remember the four-letter word. The word is spelled as "PLAN." Yes. You have to make a solid and workable plan for your career growth. Let us find out how you should go about it. 

Remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, "If you would not be known to do anything, never do it.” Even Saul Gellerman, who authored the book entitled "Motivation," says that when your boss recommends you for an elevation, he or she is betting his or her or even the company's reputation on you. This means that you have to earn such a name that the company and your boss is willing to promote you despite the fact that there is an element of risk in it. But how can enter the good books of your boss and the company's top brass? There are three things you should do for achieving this.

1. If you think that you are only a good performer in your organization, you are terribly wrong. There may be others who may be as good as or even better than you. They may be more knowledgeable or more talented than you. The only way you can make your management or bosses choose you over other performers for promoting is to stand out from them. You should show the management that you are competent in a wide range of tasks. You should also display your intelligence and knowledge in more number of areas than the other performers. Simply put, by distinguishing yourself from others, you can make the management choose you for a higher position. On the other hand, if you keep focusing on your own tasks and do not make the management realize that you are versatile, the top brass will prefer to retain you in the same position in which you have been showing your excellence.    

2. Let the managers of the other teams also know about your competence. If you succeed in accomplishing this, the leaders of the other teams will vie with each other when there are suitable positions for you in their departments. For making the other departmental heads know about you, you should be ready to mingle freely with the members of those teams as well. There may be several occasions that can help you develop a good relationship with the members of the other departments. There may be company outings, get-togethers, company seminars, etc. These people should know that you are competent and knowledgeable. You should be nice to them. It is not that you are advised to embrace hypocrisy and be nice to them. You should really be sincere and nice to them. If you fake, you will be found out very soon. 

The purpose of making the suggestion that you should create such an internal network is that these people will carry the details about you to their managers who, in turn, will keep the information in mind for future use. When there is an appropriate position in their department, they will remember you. Of course, they will test your competence before giving their final nod. Secondly, once you are chosen for the position, the folks who have passed on your details to their bosses are likely to be your peers or subordinates. They will extend their fullest cooperation and support to you and this will eventually help in your growth.

You have to make a plan to execute the above suggestions. That is the reason we firmly say that PLAN, a four-letter word, can help you achieve quick growth in your career.