Working with individuals on their skills as Communicating Leaders inevitably leads us to be asked questions about how they can advance their career prospects. Naturally we want all our clients to succeed as their success reflects on us as coaches. For many senior people the idea of “singing for your supper” whether for an internal promotion or new external appointment is often shrouded in the dim and distant past so here are a few thoughts about how to best position yourself for career advancement.
Assuming you have the approximate skills to carry out a particular role there are only three basic reasons why someone will want to appoint you:
- To make them/the organisation money
- To make the appointer’s life easier
- To make the appointer look good
Pretty obvious when you think about it? After all we tend not to hire someone who we believe will lose us money, make our lives more difficult or make us look bad. That sometimes happens after a bad hiring decision but no one sets out to hire a klutz. In different sectors different weight is put on these factors – for example in the public sector making the appointer look good may rank as number one priority. Whatever. The important thing is to address the issues and problems that are uppermost in the minds of those doing the hiring.
Sometimes this isn’t easy which a where a good Executive Coach can help. They can act as a mirror to help you see yourself as others might see you and enable you to make the necessary changes to appear more attractive to an interviewing panel. A good coach will also act as a sounding board particularly with internal appointments to help you negotiate tricky politics within the organisation.
Our coaches always find this kind of work gratifying; after all we are dedicated to helping our clients be the best they can be and get as far in their careers as they possibly can.
