Eight lessons on getting a quick Promotion

By Peter Nyanzi
I always shudder when people say they’ve worked in one job for years without a promotion. In my working life, I got EIGHT promotions! Here’s how to set yourself up for a promotion:

1. Upgrade your skills. If you have the same skills five years after you got the job, the message you’re sending out is simple: ‘I don’t need a promotion.’ Continuously build your skills set even outside your immediate job. Whenever you get a certificate (merit or attendance), make a copy and send it to your personal file.

2. Be a team player. Know your whole organization in and out. Let the whole team take the credit for everything you do. Keep away from things like idle gossip and dissension, which break the morale of other team members.

3. Consistently perform beyond expectations. Willingly do more than you’re paid or asked to do. Put in those extra hours without complaining. Be the first to volunteer in case one needs a helping hand.

4. Build a reputation for being a professional and a perfectionist in your work. But if your work always leaves a mess for your supervisor to clean up, you’re ruining your chances of a promotion. A promotion is the reward you get for consistently doing a good job.

5. Be an enthusiastic supporter for your boss. Be willing and ready to stand in for him/her without expecting extra benefits. Give the assurance that you’re available to help whenever the need arises.

6. Be presentable, cheerful and involved. You don’t have to spend a fortune to be smart. Take care of your body.
Shabbiness and slovenliness in your dressing at work will only work against your chances of a promotion.

7. Be loyal to your superiors but not a puppet. Tactfully keep off being deeply entrenched in workplace ‘factions.’ Should there be a change in top leadership, you could become collateral damage (or a beneficiary).
Good luck!

Peter Nyanzi is a law student and a veteran journalist. This article was first published on his Facebook page in the name of “Peter Nyanzi Sr.”