CAB 19. Is Keeping a Low Profile in the Office Holding You Back?

Dear friends,

Hello friends

When it comes to career promotion, something that surprises people still is the fact that performance is not the main contributing factor to career promotion

It is your image and also exposure.

I did a career workshop last week and when I told the participants the results from the study by Harvey Coleman where he found that performance contributes only 10% to the chances of getting promoted whereas image and exposure carry a bigger percentage, they were all stunned.

They all assumed that performance would contribute a bigger percentage than just 10%. But when I asked them about the people who have been getting the promotion in the company, they agreed that it's the ones who have a great image and lots of exposure that get the promotion.

So if you also don’t believe the 10%, just look around you at work and ask yourself about who have been getting promoted and I am sure you also will agree that it’s the one with positive image and strong exposure.

Does this mean that you can stop chasing your KPI? Stop putting the extra effort in to over achieve? No no that is not what it means. You still have to meet your KPI and go beyond. Without this, you wouldn’t even be considered for a promotion. You need this to ‘open the door’ of promotion. 

Once the door is opened, then how strong your image and exposure is what matters as you compete with others for promotion.

It is a tough competition out there.

When you move upwards with your career, think of it as a pyramid. It gets narrower and narrower to the top. There are less and less jobs are you go up to a first line manager role to a HOD role, until eventually there is only one position for CEO. There can only be one CEO.

In this competition, your image and exposure matters a lot. How do people see you? What do they say about you behind your back/ You want them to have a positive image about you. An image that shows that you are ready for the next role. And you are fully in control of your own image. 

How to take control of it is by understanding the ABC of personal image. A is for Appearance, B is for Behaviour and C is for Communication. So how you choose what to wear to the office, how you behave at work with your colleagues & clients, and how you communicate verbally, in your emails and whatsapp will determine what kind of image you have.

So do you know what’s the image that you have at work right now? Are you interested to know? Then I would suggest that you ask your colleagues and friends. Do a simple google sheet and send it to them asking them to describe you in 3 words. Ask them for their honest feedback and let them know that with google sheet it is completely anonymous. You will not know who says what.

Before you do that, make sure that you are mentally ready to receive the feedback. Some of the feedback might not be to your liking so be ready and open minded to receive them.

In terms of the exposure, you need to basically increase your networking activities. It is a lot of work and since we don't have a lot of spare time for this, you have to be more intentional, more focus about it. I call it selective networking.

The main focus should be with the people who are the Decision Makers in your company. Every company has a different structure and process for job promotion, so you have to find out how it works and who are the Decision Makers in your company. Once you know they are, you have to start networking with them.

You have 2 simple objectives. First one is for them to know who you are. Second objective is for them to know the great job that you have done for the company. If the Decision Makers do not know who you are and the great job that you have done, then your chance for a job promotion is very small.

So that’s a quick overview on how you should be thinking about how to get your next job promotion.

The book by Harvery Coleman on this topic is called ‘Empowering Yourself’. Do read it because it has a lot of his personal story in it which will give you a more better understanding on the P-I-E topic.

Or if you are too lazy to read, you can always ask ChatGPT to give you a summary of the book.

Doktor Az

If you enjoyed today's newsletter, please share it with your friends and family!

If this email was forwarded to you, consider subscribing to receive them in future!

Use the framework of PIE (Performance-Image-Exposure) to assess how ready you are for the next job promotion

Find out what is your image currently at work. Consider using the google sheet idea.

Career Autobahn Workshop

Sunday 12th May 9am-5pm

Module 1 & 2 already completed

Sunday 26th May 9am-5pm

Module 3 - How to be an Engaging Presenter

Module 4 - How to Network Like a Pro

Location is at Iconik Co-working Space in Petaling Jaya.

Price is RM70 per module to cover logistical cost.

The registration link is here https://doktoraz.my/upcoming-events/