One Hundred Days to Get Your Act Together

One Hundred Days to Your Promotion
In today’s tightening economy, you might be feeling lucky you even have a job—asking for a promotion could seem like tempting fate. “Better to sit tight,” you might be thinking. “Not make waves. Keep my head down.”

Possible. But research shows that innovative companies use times of transition to nurture the employees they have. Then, when the economy turns around, they hit the ground running.

Given this, I recommend setting yourself the goal of improving your job performance over the next one hundred days—your objective being that, at the end of your deadline, you are confident asking to move to the next level.

What can you do to improve? Below, five must-do and five must-don’t suggestions:

Five Must-Dos:

Dress the part.
I’m sure you’ve heard “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” This idea is particularly important once you’ve set your promotion deadline because, while I have no doubt you are dressing appropriately for your current role, the position you want might require you to make some adjustments.

For example, perhaps your office has a policy of dress down Fridays, and this is something you and your contemporaries look forward to. That said, you’ve noticed senior management doesn’t take advantage of this. Given that, I’d recommend you abandon casual Friday, too. The visual reassurance that you have picked up on, and are willing to adhere to, this unspoken policy will go a long way toward their feeling confident you’re ready to become part of the team.

Speak up.
One seemingly small, but vitally important, way to impress is by exhibiting ease in multiple situations. One of the quickest ways to have this ease recognized is by speaking up at every opportunity—not just during the weekly staff get-together.

For instance, perhaps you find yourself on the elevator with your CEO a few mornings a week. Rather than simply standing face-forward and observing the control panel, I recommend taking this chance to greet him or her. I’m not asking you to be effusive—a simple “Good morning,” coupled with a smile, is often as much as is needed—but I am asking you to speak up.