Most employees want to be promoted at work. Either upwards or lateral. A promotion may even be outside the company. As with many other things, we expect that to happen… yesterday. Of course, that’s not possible.
Opportunities arise every day. They don’t all cross your path, but some of them do. Assuming you’re not caught in the trap of overthinking and you know what you want, when they show up, you have to decide NOW. That’s how some opportunities are: they get presented to you and you have to decide now or in 24h. There’s also a manipulation technique in asking someone to decide ‘now’, but that’s another story.
Irreplaceable means stuck
I’ve met people who in order to secure their job, they were trying to keep knowledge to themselves. For management that is a risk, for the simple reason that every now and then people get sick, they change jobs or they simply want a vacation. So that job retention strategy, in the presence of good management, is doomed to fail.
When you become irreplaceable you can’t be absent. Simple as that. You can’t take two weeks of vacation, you can’t get sick and guess what? You can’t be promoted because no one else can do your work.
Of course, you can resign and that’s the moment when an irreplaceable person gets a promotion. Basically if you’re leaving the company anyway, why not make you stay? And while you’re staying why not keep doing what you do now, for at least another month and then keep supporting? If you’re a staff member of a team, we’ll make you the team lead so you can keep doing what you’re doing plus more. Happy burnout!
Prepare your exit
If we’re talking promotions and assuming you can do the job presented to you, you need to answer two questions: how long does it take to do a knowledge transfer and who will replace you? Yes, You have to answer those questions, not your manager.
This is valid for external opportunities as well. One candidate may prevail over another for simply being available faster. In Europe, resignation time, depending on the country, can vary from 21 working days to 3 months. One option is for the two parties (employer and employee) to agree on a shorter timeline – as short as tomorrow.
Reduce knowledge transfer time, if you want to take on opportunities. That means mentoring others and teaching them what you do, way before any opportunity crosses your path. It’s better to be prepared and wait for the right opportunity, than for an opportunity to find you unprepared.
Name your successor
I know, it sounds a bit like designating heirs to the throne. Minus the ceremony, that kind of what it is. If you are going to be promoted and it’s something that You want to happen, not the company, there has to be someone able (not just willing) to take your place.
Identify the person or the people who can potentially replace you. If you want to move fast, it has to be someone from within the company. It can also be someone external, only if that person can start right away. I am saying the person or the people, because you could also distribute that knowledge to several people so that the team can function without you. An add-on is being able to take long vacations whenever you want, because the job is covered.
All this is part of the concept of working smart, not hard. As I was pointing out in an article on motivation, you have to think of the winning arguments in front of other people and put yourself in their shoes.
