“Don’t bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.”

— Colin Powell

I am approaching mid-life crisis. Still got a few more years to go but I can feel it happening. I can feel the urge to buy an old muscle car and do it up. I can feel the urge to buy a motorcycle. But overall, I am becoming more reflective. But there are also benefits to feeling reflective. I start to revisit career advice my former bosses and mentors have given me. Both good advice and bad advice. As I look back on all the advice I’ve ever been given, there is one that takes on many forms but have always been proven to be correct.

To get that promotion, you need to first demonstrate you can operate at that level, rather than just be good at your current level.

I’ll always remember when this advice was given to me. I was just a Senior at Deloitte and I remember my cohort of seniors were chomping at the bit, all wanting to be promoted to Manager since we’ve all committed a significant portion of our waking hours to the company (“the big D” as it was known) and its clients. The partnership got so fed up, they called us all together one evening, even paid for dinner to give us the run down on what’s required to be promoted. There was one female partner who was universally respected by us and in her usual no non-sense way, said to us “… stop demanding to be promoted. All the hours you’re complaining about doing is what it takes to be promoted. How do you think we became partners? If you want to be promoted, show me that you can operate at that next level, then I will promote you…”

That single line really put us all in our place. We knew she was right. This advice has formed the foundation for how I’ve operated and below are some of the hard lessons learnt that I have found most useful in demonstrating to the decision-makers that I am operating at the next level.

STRIVE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

No matter what your seniority, you have been recruited to solve problems. Not like Sherlock Holmes problem solving but to solve the problems of completing tasks that achieve a desired outcome. As you become more senior, the objectives become tougher and how to get to them become more vague. One of the worse things to say to your leader/manager/boss is “… there is a problem…” or “… I have a problem…”

It’s not that they don’t care that you have a problem, but the reality is, you’ve been hired to solve it. The best way to demonstrate that you can operate at the next level is to prove that you are using your brain and actively thinking of different ways to help yourself, your team, and importantly your boss achieve that objective. Use your brain to prove that you can adapt to different situations, that you understand the objective to be achieved.

If you just wait for instructions, then I’m sorry to say that you will find yourself being replaced by robotics in the future. I’m not kidding, that is essentially what robotics is. Identifying and replicating repeatable processes but via technology to do it better and faster. Even if you’re very good at executing, you will find your career plateaus if you just wait for instructions to execute.

I remember in a previous role, I had just been promoted to a Managerial position. I was just two months into the role and being the youngest at that level, I knew I had a lot to learn. Some of the more experienced but more junior team members would take advantage of this. Knowing that I wanted to prove myself, they’d sit back and contribute the bare minimum, knowing that I’d pick up the slack and do most of the work myself.

Unfortunately for them, they tried the same on a new Manager who was much more experienced than I am. I was in the pod next door and I could hear the conversation clearly. As a third party, I could clearly hear them deliberately making a scheduling issue difficult and not arriving at a solution. I couldn’t help but smile when this new but significantly more experienced Manager said:

Do you want me to find the solution? I can solve this scheduling issue for you. But then I’d have to question why I’m paying you.

WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD

LEVEL 1 - THE NEWBIE

OK, it’s probably not fair to pick on the NEWBIE but I’m using it here to illustrate the foundation level, which hopefully, if you’ve spent a few years in the workforce, you no longer say the following phrases by themselves:

I don’t know - unless you work at a fast food joint, this phrase should never be used by itself. You might not know the answer but go and find out. Don’t wait for someone to tell you the answer and definitely don’t wait for someone to ask you to find out.
I have a problem - join the queue of everyone else at work. Everyone has a problem. The company has a problem. But you can bet all the high performers are busy looking for answers and solutions to their problems than just focusing on the problem.

LEVEL 2 - SEMI EXPERIENCED

Most of us will probably arrive at this level but sadly land just stop here. It’s not bad but it doesn’t go far enough to demonstrate broader thinking, ownership, and operating at the next level.

We’ve encountered this problem and the potential solutions are Option A, Option B, and Option C - You can see this is so much better than LEVEL 1. BUT. This is a big BUT. It doesn’t help to solve the problem. Credit to you for coming up with a set of possibilities. But the more senior you are, the less time you have. So now you’re asking your Manager to spend time to go through all the possible solutions and work out which is best. If you’ve come up with a lot of bad options, you’ve actually wasted time.

LEVEL 3 - EXPERIENCED

You can problem guess what the next level should say based on the hint I’ve given above.

We’ve encountered this problem. I think the potential solutions are Options A, B, and C. In my opinion, Option C is best because of x, y, z - Not only have you come up with potential solutions, you’ve done an assessment and come up with what you think is the most suitable. Now not only does your Manager see you as operating at a higher level than your peers, you’ve also demonstrated ownership and saved time. Even if your assessment is wrong, you’ve still demonstrated ownership. And that is one of the keys to gaining political capital.

LEVEL 4 - THE EXPERT

Can you guess what this level entails? Can you imagine how to top LEVEL 3? It requires a bit of risk taking but it’s definitely worth it.

We’ve encountered this problem. The potential solutions are Options A, B, and C. I thought Option C was best because of x, y, z. So I went ahead and took this action and now the problem is solved.

Yes, this level is more risky because it requires you to commit time and effort to a solution which may or may not solve the problem. But the rewards are worth it. Why? Because guess what your Manager does? He or she is most likely committing his/her resources (i.e. you and your team) to pursue actions that may or may not achieve the objective that his/her boss has set. By taking action based on your assessment of the best option to solve a particular problem, you are essentially doing what your Manager is doing.

Imagine that if you do this consistently, even on smaller problems, how positively you will be seen. Even if you strike out, it doesn’t matter as long as you walk through your thinking and action. There is a famous line that is repeated time and time again by my mentors as if its a mantra:

It is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

CONCLUDING ACTION

So what’s the concluding action. It should be fairly straight forward. Reflect on your normal approach to problems at work. Figure out what level most closely resembles your normal style. Then take a deep breath and think about how best to move up to the next level. We are all introverts. We’ve done the thinking (probably even over thought the problem). Just take the actions in line with our thinking and see what happens.

Blog Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Further Reading

How to easily command respect in a group

Commanding genuine respect, one that doesn’t rely on your position power is one of the hardest things to do for an introvert. There are five simple actions we can adopt straight away that can help us to establish our presence in the room and command the attention and focus on what we have to say.

How to be Value-Adding

Being seen as value-adding is one of the biggest planks in the foundation of your career success. Here are four simple steps you can take, which if you do consistently, will guarantee that you seen to be contributing meaningfully at work and maximise your chances of promotion and success.

Looking confident while working remotely

It’s hard to project confidence while on video calls. It acts like a barrier that stops us from achieving the best version of ourselves. Be it the sound quality or just trying to get your message across amongst the traffic of voices all trying to chime in at the same time. Here are six simple things to do that will give you the best chance at projecting the best version of yourself on a video call.

How to overcome Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is the single biggest blocker to introverts recognising the best version of themselves. The rapid heart beat, sweat, and mind blanks cause us to lose our perfectly thought through logic. Instead, a jumbled mass of words and ideas come out. The solution isn’t to stop feeling anxious. It is to recognise it and then start focus on the people you are speaking to.

Confrontations - Doing it the right way

Confrontations need not be daunting and one sided. The traditional leadership theories that focus on feelings and behaviours aren’t wrong. But they are missing a core component that make a massive difference. There is a simple framework from Simon Sinek that ties it all together.

STOP your nice guy / girl behaviours

Stop saying yes when you want to say no, and learn to prioritise your needs first. Nobody else is going to make your career goals come true except you. There are simple steps you can take now to stop sabotaging yourself through your nice guy / girl behaviours.

Being the best version of yourself while Working From Home

Don’t let the pandemic cause you to regress on your self improvement journey and fall into the comfort trap while working from home. Take charge of your new routine and refocus on these six foundation steps to get back on your self-improvement journey and use this opportunity to become the best version of yourself.

The key to demonstrating confidence

Your ability to demonstrate confidence is key to your career success, progression, and getting what you want. If you understand frame and can hold it in any interaction, then you will come across as confident. Here are some simple but highly impactful techniques you can use to project confidence.

The key to promotion for introverts

The key to promotion for introverts is to unleash our deep thinking and put them into practice. The mindset shift is to realise, you have to demonstrate you are operating at the next level before you actually get promoted. There is a simple way to demonstrate this by changing what you say and do when you encounter an issue. Use this principle to change your mindset and you will find success.

How to be charming as an introvert

There are a few simple actions you can take, to be as charming as Keanu Reeves, who is a stand-out as an introvert in a very extrovert dominated industry. It doesn’t require you to pretend to be someone you are not, but these five simple actions, give you the tools to embrace your introversion and use them to genuinely connect and interact in the most value-adding way. You will be both charming and unforgettable.