Everyone knows how to get a promotion, right? You work hard, achieve the task, deliver results, and then your work is recognised and you are offered a promotion.

Maybe, but there is something else you can do. Strategically plot your way to the top. What can happen if you follow the first route is that you notice people begin to overtake you, because the ability to deliver results is not enough.

It is just the first requirement, a given, but it is not enough to get you onto the next step. You need to do something more.

Because to be deemed to be suitable for promotion to a more senior position you need a different set of skills. Management skills.

Focusing on achieving the task involves you in being competitive on your own account, focused, results driven. So you don’t always see the big picture, or take a strategic view. Your profile is not high with management, you are too busy achieving the task.

Remember, management involves achieving the task, managing the team and developing the people.

What you need to develop now is the ability to achieve things through other people, rather than putting in all the effort yourself. Offer to train new recruits and harness their abilities to free up some of your own time. In the first instance it will cost you time, as you teach them what you know, but soon it will pay back.

Now you have built up your reputation as someone with people skills, willing and able to share their experience, manage a small team, and now you can get involved with more strategic matters instead of diligently churning out the “grunt work” yourself

You also need to demonstrate that you can think, take the initiative and assert your opinion. And don’t forget common sense.

Successful people also need to be able to influence those around them. Colleagues, staff and managers -360 degree influencers.it is important to be able to lead change, Strategic skills become important, as does decision making.

Successful people often build their strengths, ignoring their weaknesses. They develop their “brand”, and become a specialist in some aspect of the business. They focus on their career rather than the business.

So develop a plan, perhaps a three or five year plan. Where do you want to be then? What do you need to do to get there? Make sure your manager knows your plan.
Review your strengths, and consider how you can build on them and make your profile more visible .how can you become the go-to person with a unique skill, knowledge or expertise.

Have you got a mentor in the business- someone senior to you who will champion you? Think who might be willing to take on that role.

So change your mind set, stop relying on just your ability to produce good work, and meet your targets, to get you a promotion. Start to view building your career as a specific task that you need to work on every day.