Let professional ability become a stumbling block to your promotion.
After three years of hard work, Xiao has gradually become the technical backbone of this department. The team he led undertook almost the most difficult project. As long as he is here, the boss feels confident and takes his professional ability as the benchmark of the department.
Little boy thinks he can be the boss for another two or three years. This position is very promising. However, 985 graduates of this company are rushing in, and he can get into the middle level within five years. He is also the best among college students.
Who knows that in the next three years, things gradually deviated from his "perfect career track."
In the first year, I have the opportunity to transfer to other business departments. Although it is a position of almost the same level, I really want to move because my current job is a little less challenging. But I just can't make up my mind, because half of my accumulated professional ability is useless.
The boss also advised him not to go, after all, there was no promotion and it was not worth it. In order to keep him, the boss gave him a raise and hinted to Xiao Ah that the position would be his sooner or later, so don't worry.
Little boy knows that his boss won't let him go. After all, other colleagues couldn't keep up technically, but his boss's words were very reasonable and the terms offered were very generous, so he gave up and finally let his business ability be inferior to his little B to go to that department.
The next year, I finally got a promotion. I was a newly established business department of the company, and my major was just right. Xiao is the most powerful candidate.
But in the end, Xiao lost the election inexplicably, and he planned to leave in a rage. In order to appease him, the boss gave him a commission as an assistant to the department manager, but the relationship between the business he was in charge of and the report remained unchanged, which was tantamount to waiting for an empty position.
Think about it, Xiao, the boss has a close relationship with the boss. There is a rumor that the general manager of this area will be transferred. As soon as he leaves, his virtual job will always become a real job. Forget it, wait.
By chance, Xiao discovered the reason for losing the election: the manager of the new department asked Xiao's boss about the situation, and the boss severely praised Xiao: "Xiao's professional ability is really strong, and he spends all his time on his major and doesn't communicate with other colleagues." Basically, it was arranged by one person, and other colleagues just helped. In short, it is indeed a very professional talent. "
Little A didn't expect that the boss stabbed himself in the back. I quit! Just as Xiao was about to jump ship, his boss was transferred.
In the third year, I finally looked forward to leaving my boss, but Xiao and others came with a new boss. To make matters worse, the boss turned out to be a junior B who was transferred to other departments that year.
This time, the boss strongly recommended Xiao, but the problem is that Xiao's impression of "only knowing the major and not leading the team" has penetrated into the boss's heart. Plus, Xiao doesn't really deal with people at ordinary times, and his men really keep changing people like a lantern.
In a large company with complex personnel relations and clear function distribution, the tragedy of being small is the nature of many professional employees. In the end, their excellent professional ability trapped them in the same place. The more efficient they are in their current positions, the more their boss thinks they are not suitable candidates for more senior positions.
Especially in some enterprises within the system, the longer they stay in professional posts, the less opportunities for promotion; On the contrary, people who occupy high positions at a young age often work in various departments for one or two years, but they are unprofessional.
How is this "career trap" formed? How do you get out?
Don't fall into the professional trap.
When you first enter the workplace, the most important thing is to stand out from your colleagues, so the most efficient direction is to make a single breakthrough and bring a certain ability to the extreme. As long as you have a certain professional ability to break through, you can gain a foothold in the workplace. This is the so-called "longboard effect".
During this time, your colleagues are your opponents, and you should use your professional ability to beat them.
But the next road is much more complicated.
Whether it is a higher position or a higher salary, you need to play your value through the whole team. Even if large companies are divided into management lines and technology lines, the big cows on the technology line still need management thinking instead of professional thinking.
In management, the most profound part of your professional knowledge is of little use, and your "competitive advantage" will affect your early establishment of "manager thinking"
Because it is more efficient to do what you are good at, you can complete the task with good ability; Because you focus on the tasks you are best at, you ignore those equally important tasks.
This is "path dependence". Professional breakthroughs will always form path dependence, limiting your continued development.
There is a famous line in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption": "When you first went to prison, you hated the high walls around you; Slowly, you get used to living in it; In the end, you will find that you have to rely on it to survive. "
My first wrong decision was caused by "path dependence". I knew I had to broaden my business ability, but I was afraid of losing my hard-won "competitive advantage".
To make matters worse, not only do you have "path dependence", but your colleagues and bosses also have "path dependence". Anyway, there are people like Xiao to solve the problem, so we just need to do our own thing well.
Strong professional ability means that fingers are easy to itch, depriving other colleagues of opportunities, especially your assistants and subordinates, who often don't get the opportunity to exercise.
And you don't realize this, and you are still complaining about the poor hands-on ability after 95 s and 00 s, and the company's HR recruitment has no vision. In fact, everyone knows how fat they are, but they don't want to say it because of face.
So the assistant developed the habit of relying on you, and the boss didn't want to bring you potential new people, which formed a "vicious circle" and finally put you in a more embarrassing position:
If you are promoted, who will fill your position?
Of course, this is not the essence of the problem. I really want to promote you. Taking time to recruit people is a big deal. The most important thing is that you left an impression on your boss and even your boss. You only know the major, you can't lead the team.
Once this impression becomes conclusive, it will be the "dead hole" of your career, which will lead to your estrangement from your boss and other colleagues.
Imagine: if you go to consult a lawyer, but he always talks about football with you, you must think he is wasting your money. Although he may be a professional talking about football, you also like talking about football.
The more professional your leader thinks you are, the more he thinks the most reasonable arrangement is to cram 200% of your time into your major.
The relationship between you and the lawyer is the relationship between the buyer and the seller, and the relationship between the boss and his subordinates is also a team partner. The boss has the responsibility to select and train future managers from it.
In the eyes of senior managers, the future managers are not necessarily the best performers or the most professional, but they must be people who always attach great importance to teamwork in their work, spend a lot of time communicating with other colleagues and can inspire team morale.
In fact, many professionals understand this, but the problem is that they are not managers yet, and they still have to rely on professionals to eat. How can we jump out of the "vicious circle" and avoid giving the impression that the boss is "too professional to be reused"?
Think outside your major.
Experience and ability are self-circulating. Since this cycle begins with "path dependence", the first step is to break this "professional inertia", and the core principle is "retreat for progress".
What is a refund? If you have established a professional image, you should hide the depth of your major and intentionally broaden your thinking.
What is the breadth? In the Outline of China's Philosophical History, Hu Shi said: Two people are arguing about who is tall and who is short. Zhuangzi came over and said, You don't have to argue. I just looked down at the Eiffel Tower and found that there is really no difference between you two.
You must stand above the major and analyze the major: which abilities are necessary, which abilities should be restricted and which abilities are not allowed.
In the past, when you met a difficult task, your first thought was "Oh, this project needs to be solved in a very professional way. Other colleagues can't, only I can", and then you were complacent.
Now you should think like this: "We can't always define these tasks that only some professionals can do. There must be something methodological, or there must be a better way of teamwork, so that more employees can do it well. "
If you are in the business department, expand your horizons upstream and downstream from your field of work. If you are in a functional department, you should focus on the business department you serve.
It doesn't matter what the result is. What matters is that you think so. You begin to get rid of the path dependence of "professionalism first" and let your colleagues and bosses get rid of their dependence on you.
With retreat, there will be progress. What's Kim? Change your relationship with colleagues and superiors, and you will no longer be a "fireman" on call.
When you learn to look at your work from a height, you will find that your professional ability is still useful, and you can't easily exchange it for those cheap "compliments". You should exchange your professional ability for something more important in the workplace.
Don't be a fireman in the office.
The modern workplace is a highly coordinated and finely operated machine. It is not professional ability but power that keeps it running. However, the essence of this "power" is concealed by the company system and corporate culture.
Power is the core of success in the workplace. The power you can strive for by using your professional ability includes but is not limited to the following:
1, when colleagues ask you for help, don't give an answer directly. Although you can see the answer at a glance, you can give some suggestions. And even suggestions should be made several times, on the one hand, let colleagues have their own thinking space, on the other hand, control the work progress in their own hands.
Above all, don't get involved for fear of trouble.
When your boss asks you for professional advice, don't give the answer directly. Although you have a plan in mind, you can give ideas and plans.
Most importantly, you need to involve more members in this plan. After a long time, your method will become the working standard of the team. Even if someone can replace you, no one can replace you.
3. Restore your "professional" relationship with your colleagues to partnership.
Don't be too careful, and don't ask too much of others. Everyone has different eyes. No one likes a knowledgeable and arrogant colleague or boss.
Most importantly, don't directly deny colleagues' professional ability. If you find a mistake in detail, please ignore it. If this mistake is important, then say vaguely: there may be a mistake here.
It is indeed a painful thing to change one's usual way of thinking, but things are not so bad. In most cases, the workplace is "learning to be professional", and it is impossible for the top management to wait for a suitable manager to appear before promoting him. The key to this opportunity is as follows
4. Change your image as a "technical house" in the eyes of your boss.
Don't drag colleagues to talk about professional issues in all informal occasions, such as tea breaks, lunches and small talk. This will really give others the feeling of "technical house". At least one or two hot topics should be reserved, such as sports, entertainment, stars and beautiful women.
Never, never show the meaning of "technology is omnipotent" and "everything is inferior, only professionalism is high" in small talk.
5. Take the initiative to undertake some independent projects.
New business and new projects, the scope of responsibilities is very vague, and colleagues need to establish new relationships. The easiest time for your boss to see your management potential is a good time for you to expand your ability circle.
6. All requests for you to do it directly will be flatly rejected, unless it is your job.
In the past, when you wanted to refuse a colleague's request, you would say "I don't have time", which made you look busy, red and important. When I become a manager in the future, I will ask "what do you think" to motivate my subordinates; But now, your best answer is; I have a suggestion. You can do it.
At the end of the conversation, don't say "come to me if you have any problems", but say "let me know if you have any progress" The former is the duty of "firemen" and the latter is the privilege of managers. When you look like a manager, if you have a chance of promotion, you will be the first person to be remembered.
Don't be a bonus for others.
There is a word called "engineer bonus", which means that a country has a large number of highly educated professionals represented by engineers, and their wages are still very cheap, which is the driving force for development.
Note that it is not the "bonus enjoyed by engineers", but the bonus created by engineers for enterprise managers.
In the past, it was said that "those who work hard govern others, and those who work hard govern others". Professionals often call themselves "middle class", but they are still "workers" in essence. In power relations, if you don't want to dominate others, you must be dominated by others. There is no middle state.
If you can't get rid of the temptation of major, then this desire will be satisfied for the rest of your life, and you will be poor in your present position.