Do I Accept The Promotion? Criteria And Questions To Consider

There are many instances in which employees have to consider a promotion that would move them from an important and technical oriented position to a position that is more high level executive.  A position that puts them in line to move into even more substantial roles directing major organizational operations.  

As I thought about this kind of challenging decision, these categories and questions came-to-mind. They are not necessarily comprehensive and possibly not completely applicable.  Nevertheless they may be useful when any of us are making a similar decision.

Professional Considerations

• Am I sufficiently qualified for the position?  The person above me making the decision may think so, but what do I believe to be the case?
• If I accept the position and then it doesn’t work out, will I be able to move back into what I was doing previously, or will I be professionally stranded, having burned my professional bridge back to what I had been doing previously?  If it doesn’t work out will my old position, or a similar one, still be available to me?
• If it doesn’t work out will there be a dark moniker placed on me as being a failure?
• What are the possibilities that I will excel in the position, that I’m very able to do well in the position?
• While all work entails a certain amount of stress, what will be the stress be like in the new position?  Will it be bearable for me?
• Am I amenable to, and qualified for, the types of decision making required for this position, which can be more strategic, less tactical and technical; also decisions that may be more about organization politics and personalities?
• Is this promotion something that I should pursue as the compensation is substantially more than I’m currently making.
• At this point in my work life and age, should I pursue this promotion with its increased compensation?
• Is the increased compensation worth the new responsibilities?
• If I continue what I’m currently doing will I have more, or equal, long term success than if I accept this new position?
• Will I inherently enjoy the new position, or to what extent?

Personal Considerations

• Is the nature of the position aligned with my nature, who I am and what I like to do?
• Do I have the natural abilities for this type of position?
• Will I be reasonably happy in this position?
• Will I be able to continue to pursue my hobbies and other personal interests, knowing that they in certain ways are aligned with who I am, and that to be happy and valuable to my family, I need to continue them?
• How do I feel – literally – about the new position? How do I feel about my current position?
• Do I have a view of myself that is self-limiting?  Will this new position compel me to see myself in a new light?
• Will there be personal growth in the new position, growth that I had not considered previously?

Family Considerations

• With the new position will I have less time or the same amount of time for my family?
• To what extent is the increased compensation of value to my family?
• To what extent is my current work and compensation beneficial to my family? 
• Am I a better person, and thus father and role model, with my current position and the demeanor it gives me?  Does this outweigh the increased compensation and additional time required with work in the new position?  Or will the new position improve my demeanor and help me to be a better person?

How to Deepen Our Relationships and Allow Them to Be More Fulfilling

I can generally predict their preferences for foods, movies, colors.  Or the kinds of things they like to do for fun, also preferences for cars.  I also know a lot about their mannerisms, personality, how they will react in certain situations, how they go about their days.  I also know their values, or some of them.

But all of this seems superficial.  How can I know them more deeply and fully, and get closer to seeing their essence, and in the process have a more dynamic and enjoyable relationship?

And if in knowing them better I realize that I am not compatible with who they are there may be approaches to address this, or otherwise we can move on

Complete acceptance.  I can accept them completely, as they are, without filtering and interpreting from my perspectives and ego, allowing them to be fully who they are, not what I think they should be.  Seeing the spirit and soul that are really who they are.  As I step back and allow this to occur there is the opportunity to enjoy their presence.  More fun! 

This acceptance includes listening fully and completely to what they say and how they say it, without intent to quickly reply or rebut what is said.  Rather to consider and digest that which is being communicated by their words and mannerisms – it can be more than just words.  Allowing for our interchange to have a tempered flow, granted with all kinds of emotions as is natural. 

Gratitude.  Gratitude is another helpful pathway to better understanding and closeness.  Gratitude for a person opens me up to being concerned, tolerant and thoughtful about them.  It helps me to sense and interact with the totality of the person. They have all kinds of attributes for which I can be grateful, even the ones that I find problematical as this helps me to better understand myself – how and why I think and act as I do.

Compassion.  Compassion is more than just feeling sorry for someone.  It involves my seeing the person, and being present with them, in their circumstances, both difficult and positive.  There is an appreciation for how they feel, being a sympathetic listener and working to maintain a harmonious relationship. 

I am more knowable

The process of knowing someone more fully allows them to see me more fully.  What I say and how I say it, my mannerisms, and my spirit and soul become more knowable – it happens naturally and magically. 

Being realistic

These approaches require that I be fully open to what the other person, and also our relationship is all about.  There is always the possibility that it’s not a healthy and/or adequately functional relationship for me and/or for them.  If so, we will have to address the underlying factors to improve it; or stop the relationship if there is no way to improve it.  Such is life.

What Is A Life With Meaning and Accomplishment?

Did I do something that was meaningful for me today; and what did I also accomplish?  Was the “meaningful doing” that I undertook today more important than what I “accomplished”, or vice-versa? 

Or are doing something meaningful and an accomplishment close to being one and same?  Is the act of doing something that is meaningful an accomplishment in and of itself?  A monk who spends his day praying and doing simple manual tasks would probably believe that he had substantial accomplishments for the day.  It’s a life he chose because of its “meaning” for him.  He might also say that what he is doing is an expression of his soul or his inner being.

It can be the “doing” that matters; when it’s doing something that is meaningful for me – or you. And letting the accomplishment be whatever it is, of course assuming that that which is meaningful does not injure others.  The means cannot always justify the end. 

And when we think about doing something meaningful it’s an approach to doing that which is an expression of who we are, our soul. This approach avoids believing that doing something meaningful, or expressing our inner being, requires that it has to be something that is recognized by others as being significant.  Doing something meaningful – for you or me – can be whatever it is, as well as the resulting accomplishment. The key is to know what "meaningful" is.

Our Routines Can Be Beneficial. Beneficial when we know their limitations.

We love that cup of coffee at the same time each morning, reading the same newspaper and same media, taking the same routes to wherever we are going.  We like the same placement of items in our homes, certain foods and even the same foods on certain days, and also the standby stores for purchasing foods, as well as the same restaurants.  We like our work routines, what we do and when we do it, and with whom. For all the talk about the importance of change and being a dynamic organization, most employees appreciate doing routine work.  It’s comforting.

These routines complement and reinforce our thought processes and perspectives on life, and can be the basis for a perpetual and self-supporting feedback loop, not allowing truly new information and ideas into our minds.  We can be “safe in our minds” and not have to embrace other ways of viewing life and living.

On the other hand routines can be beneficial, helping us to be efficient and effective, giving comfort and structure where there is chaos, uncertainty, too much change and difficulty.  They reduce the amount of decisions we have to make each day, and also free our minds from “trivia” (to us).  They allow us to focus on important elements of our lives.

Our challenge is to prevent routines from being a wall that unnecessarily narrows our vision preventing new ideas from flowing in; ideas that contribute to new perspectives, bring enjoyment and personal and professional growth.  Ideas that help to prevent our lives from becoming stale and rigid, and less fully human than we have the potential to be.

And yes, each of us has to find a balance, which will change over time, between keeping necessary routines and seeking and allowing newness into our lives, or maybe at a minimum changing some routines periodically.  

Like much of life there is no permanent answer and a lot is personal.

Identify And Manage The Risks To Your Project Or Initiative

When you plan a project or initiative be sure to identify any thing that could go wrong, i.e. risks to its success.  It’s really about “being prepared” for what may go wrong.

What is the likelihood of the risk’s occurrence; what is the impact if it does occur? Depending on the outcome of this evaluation determine how to mitigate/resolve the risk, and specify each person accountable for reporting on a risk, and monitoring and managing it.

Also see these articles:

“To Successfully Implement A New Initiative Identify The Risks To Successful Implementation. http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/to-successfully-implement-new_11.html.

“Key Elements For Planning and Implementing Successful Projects" http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/key-elements-for-planning-and.html

How To Manage A Startup

Startups, with their very necessary focus on funding, product/service development, and sales tend to overlook fundamental management practices that can support their efforts to be successful.  Management practices important to you include:

Think-through and document planning for your work efforts and projects. Granted it’s important to quickly respond-to opportunities and problems that arise; nevertheless be careful that you do not become overly fluid and reactive; or believe that you can do everything ad-hoc and by-the-seat-of-your-pants. Take time to document what you want achieve and how you will achieve it, e.g. timeline, work assignments, budget, etc.  You will also gain a better understanding of the work and process you are planning.

• Identify risks that could impair the successful achievement of your work objective.  Identify what could go wrong and determine in advance how to manage those risks.  This will help to minimize unexpected problems.

Define and describe – with documentation - your product or services.  The very effort of documenting product/service definition will cause you to think more deeply and creatively; with the result being better focus on the product/service you are developing.  (Granted your product/service will evolve and change over time and require updates.)  If you are developing more than one product or service look for opportunities to conceptual link them as this will help you with product/service definition and also to develop compelling product/service descriptions as you go to market.

Set targets and measure performance.  Set some basic targets and measures of your progress as this will help establish priorities and develop better focus on what you want or have to do.  Develop them with the understanding that this effort should focus on the basics and not become too onerous to the point that you are distracted from paying sufficient attention to your priorities.

Balance the need for entrepreneurial flexibility with some structure to your work efforts.  This becomes particularly important as you increase your employee/contractor count.  Structure helps to support accountability, ownership and focus for work performed.  It will also help you to identify portions of a work process where there is not sufficient work being performed or where there are overlapping responsibilities.

Develop a balanced company strategy.  Develop a broad enough strategy to accommodate future adjustments to what you want to achieve and that also provides the necessary context so that everyone is on-the-same page. And granted it may necessary to periodically revise your strategy.  However, too much revising may indicate that your strategy is too narrow and ill-conceived or your product/service is driving your focus to an unnecessary degree.  Also see "Organization Strategy Is All-Inclusive – Comprises Your Entire Organization". http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/organization-strategy-is-all-inclusive.html.  

Have a funding strategy.  Your strategy should cover funding sources, timing for needing funds and approaching funders, prioritizing funding activities, identifying the best options for your product/service, presentations and communications tailored to respective audiences.  Research best-practices and their applicability to your circumstances.

Establish accountability and trust; and a positive work environment.  Develop a work environment where everyone, regardless of their position, is held accountable for their actions, commitments and responsibilities; and that is supportive of everyone’s efforts to do well even when there are substantial challenges and mistakes are common.

Seek and engage smart people with the skills, knowledge and experience you need.  This is a very important resource and the effort to find this resource will continue and evolve for the life of your enterprise.

Also see: 

“Managing Your Organization’s Growth”.  http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/how-to-manage-your-organizations-growth.html.

“Useful Performance Measures & Metrics - How To Measure Efficiency & Effectiveness.”  http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/useful-performance-measures-metrics-how.html.

Implementing Organization Performance Measures – Best Practices

Measuring various aspects of your organization’s performance requires the transformation of data into useful “knowledge” for decision-making. Most organization’s find it relatively easy to measure financial performance as there are commonly accepted principles and reporting practices that everyone uses.  Measuring other aspects of your organization so that the information can be used for effective decision making can be more challenging as there are no common data collection and reporting practices.

Use these guidelines to implement organization performance measures.

• Define what you want to measure and objectives for doing so.  Define and document what you want to measure and the objective for doing so; and why.  The process of making these determinations will compel you to fully consider the measures and data to be used; and they will be used.  This drives everything else.
• Effectiveness or efficiency.  Are you measuring effectiveness or efficiency; or maybe just activity; and what type of measures will really help you to make effective decisions and your organization to be viable and impactful?

• Link the measure to strategic and operating objectives. Will the performance measure be useful in helping you achieve your strategic and operating objectives – evaluating the best methods to do what you do or measuring the result or impact of what you do and thus achieving your objectives?
• Data manipulation.  If your data will be subject to some form of calculation, e.g. adding, averaging, year to date, etc. confirm that your calculation methodology is correct.
• Start small.  Start with a minimal number of measures.  So that you are not overwhelmed with too many measures, find out any problems with the data or its collection.  It’s common to start with more data than really needed.  Also common that the processes are more difficult and costly than expected.
• Do a risk assessment.  Identify all of the possible problems that could occur implementing and using the measures; and then address them as best you can.  Normally, it’s impossible to eliminate all of the risks, however at least you will know the shortcomings with your measures and processes.
• Compare costs versus benefits.  What are the costs associated with collecting and using the data, putting it into reports.  Do they out-weigh the benefits?
• Review and test data validity.  On a regular basis review and test data accuracy.  Is the data really representing what it was intended to report-on.  Many times operating level employees who collect data will collect the data in ways not expected.  Periodically review and test data collection procedures.
• Do test runs.  Do some test runs before implementation to identify any unforeseen problems or costs.
• Include all users, collectors and producers. Involve all relevant employees who will collect, produce or use the data in planning the implementation.  Inevitably they will have suggestions to improve the implementation; or their questions will give you ideas for improving the process.  They should have an understanding of the entire process not just there segment, before asking for their input.

Additional information on performance measures.

"Performance Measures - Guidelines For Developing And Using Them."  http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/performance-measures-guidelines-for.html

"Useful Performance Measures & Metrics - How To Measure Efficiency & Effectiveness."  http://www.advancingyourorganization.net/2015/11/useful-performance-measures-metrics-how.html.