Last week we talked about speaking money. Two weeks ago it was the old plan in the folder. Well.. there’s more in that folder.
This one isn’t about me.
It’s a deck I built for someone on my team. Her name and mine on the cover. Across the top of the highlights slide, three words. Leadership. Value. Outcomes.
We focused on her contribution to the business. In this case, it was a Pharma company. How did her work contribute to the mission, scope and objectives of the company? High-visibility events running at a 95% success rate. Monthly approval of our internal video service going from 81% to 92%. And a slide that started with six words.. “As a result of her work…”
We didn’t build it to hang on a wall. We built it to walk into the senior leadership team for talent calibration. The 9-box.
If you’ve never sat in one, picture a grid. Performance on one side, potential on the other. Every leader at the table is fighting for where their people land. It’s a bullshit approach to saving money and treating employees like cattle at an auction. Instead of seeking to argue about the 9-box, we need to game it out and win.
For this person, promotion didn’t happen overnight. But she got promoted.
Here’s the thing.. Unless someone speaks for you, or your work is so visible nobody can miss it, it all boils down to favorability and relationships. Who likes who. That’s not very defensible. But if someone at the top already likes someone else, being “really good” won’t move them. You need evidence.
The ones who moved up the grid had two things. Outcomes. And ownership of their story.
If you can’t be spared, you can’t be promoted.
Think about that for a second. If you’re the only one who can do your job, nobody’s moving you out of it. And if nobody ever sees the people under you, why would anyone believe you can build a bench at the next level?
This is Part 3. Steps three and four. Replace yourself, then manage up and across.
Build the case for someone else
Pick the person on your team who’s closest to ready. Now build the case you wish someone had built for you.
Lead with “leadership”. How do they lead, title or not? Show the value. What does the business get from their work? Bring the outcomes. Numbers. Before and after. Then the slide.. “As a result of their work…” and don’t you dare fill it with a list of tasks.
Adjectives don’t survive calibration. Evidence does. People need to know “where were we, where are we today, where are we going.”
Write your own replacement plan
Who could do your job if you left tomorrow? Write the name down.
Now write down everything only you know. The vendor history. The workaround nobody documented. The relationship that keeps a project from stalling.
Every line on that list is a reason they can’t move you. Teach it, write it down or hand it off. Shorter list, easier promotion.
Manage up and across ~ It’s not brown nosing. Your boss is sitting in that calibration room. So are your peers. Do you know what each of them is trying to get done this year? Help them get it.
That isn’t sucking up. Helping your boss succeed is part of the job, and the folks who skip it tend to get overlooked. Same goes sideways. The peer you helped last quarter is the one nodding when your person’s name comes up. Helping peers succeed is important for so many reasons. They may have goals and aspirations that go well beyond what you want. Help them! If you want to be ruler of the crazy kingdom, help them and tell them what YOU want. They can help you too.
Trust is built through relationships, and evidence from somebody nobody trusts doesn’t get heard. The point isn’t to swap relationships for spreadsheets. It’s to give the people who already trust you something they can defend.
So I’ll ask you..
If your best person came up in calibration tomorrow, what would you bring?
Who could do your job a year from now?
When you’re not in the room, who’s telling your story?
Next Sunday: Mentor vs. Sponsor &. The difference between someone who advises you and someone who speaks for you.
Make your people visible. That’s how you become replaceable..
Happy Sunday.. Much Love..
Beep ..