Have you ever wondered how to get promoted faster at work?
In this episode of the #Career101Podcast, host Porschia and guest Janine Esbrand, a former lawyer turned career strategist and executive coach, delve into the strategies for climbing the corporate ladder quickly.
Together, they explore essential techniques such as mastering effective communication, handling conflicts with finesse, and the importance of being proactive in your current role. Porschia shares her insights on how self-awareness and understanding your personality can enhance your leadership skills and strengthen workplace relationships.
If you’re eager to accelerate your career progression, tune in to this episode for practical advice and actionable tips that can help you stand out and secure that promotion.
Janine Esbrand’s extensive experience in career coaching, combined with her background in law, provides a unique perspective on professional growth. Her contributions are invaluable to anyone looking to advance their career swiftly and effectively.
What you’ll learn:
- How to get promoted faster by positioning yourself strategically and demonstrating leadership potential.
- The role of effective communication in advancing your career, from leading meetings to presenting ideas with confidence.
- Why being proactive matters and how taking initiative can set you apart from your peers.
- How to handle workplace conflicts with finesse to build trust, credibility, and leadership presence.
- The power of self-awareness and how understanding your personality can enhance your leadership skills and workplace relationships.
- Key networking strategies to expand your influence and create opportunities for career advancement.
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Resources:
- Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Today, we’re tackling an exciting question. How can you get promoted faster at work? Climbing the corporate ladder isn’t just about working hard. It’s about working strategically. It’s about being intentional and how you show up. The value you bring and the way you position yourself as a leader. And if you’re wondering how to make that happen, you’re in the right place.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing a conversation [00:01:00] I had with Janine S. Brand of the career change maker podcast. Janine was kind enough to have me on her show as a guest, and we covered the key factors that can accelerate your journey to the next level. Including number one, mastering communication, your words matter, whether you’re leading meetings, giving feedback or presenting ideas, how you communicate can either reinforce or undermine your leadership presence.
Number two, handling conflict with finesse. Promotions often go to those who can navigate challenges effectively. We’ll talk about how to manage conflict in a way that builds trust and respect. Number three, being proactive. Are you waiting for someone to notice your hard work? If so, it’s time to shift gears.
We’ll explore how taking initiative [00:02:00] and solving problems before they arise can set you apart. Number four, understanding your personality. Self awareness is key to effective leadership. We’ll dive into why knowing your strengths, weaknesses, and behavioral tendencies can help you build stronger relationships.
And lead with authenticity. Janine has an amazing background as a former lawyer turned career strategist and executive coach. If you’re ready to stop waiting and start actively accelerating your career progression, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you stand out and move up. So grab a pen, clear your mind, and let’s talk about what it takes to earn that promotion sooner rather than later.
Janine: Hello. Hello. And welcome to the show. I’m excited because today we have a [00:03:00] guest expert interview. And I just love connecting with fellow coaches and consultants who are focused on people development and are as passionate about it as I am. And today I am interviewing a guest who is going to be talking about a topic that many of you And that is how to position yourself for promotions.
If you’re somebody who’s been feeling like you’re getting overlooked for promotions, that you have been trying to do the things that will get you noticed, but you don’t feel like it’s working, then lean into this episode because Portia Parker Griffin is going to be breaking down some really practical tips Simple yet impactful things that you can be doing to make sure that you get the promotion that you deserve.
So without further ado, let’s dive into my conversation with Portia. Hi Portia, I am so excited to have you on the show today. [00:04:00] Before we dive into all the goodness that we’re going to discuss, please go ahead and introduce yourself to everybody.
Porschia: Thank you so much for having me, Janine. I am Portia Parker Griffin, and I am founder and CEO of Fly High Coaching, and we offer career and business services for seasoned executives, ambitious professionals, and entrepreneurs.
We help them to create and execute their strategies while moving through mental resistance that shows up.
Janine: I love that. We’re on the same page in how we support people and what we’re passionate about. So I’m excited. So one of the things I love to do is learn more about people’s journey because becoming a career executive coach, consulting, like that’s probably not where you started out.
And so let’s start by you just sharing a bit about your journey. Where did you start in your career and kind of what led you into this line of work?
Porschia: Yes, so I [00:05:00] have an undergraduate degree in psychology and a lot of millennials and I’m not sure if it was as detrimental to the economy as it was in the US, but I graduated from college in the depths of the recession.
So here in the US, professors were saying, it’s easier to go get a master’s degree than it is to get a job right now. And the economy was just really tough at that point. But. I was fortunate enough to have scholarships and I didn’t want to go into debt for a master’s degree. So I said, you know what, I’m just going to try to figure this working thing out.
Yeah. So I moved around as a kid and I said, you know what, I’ve always wanted to live in Los Angeles, California. Literally three months after my graduation from college, I moved to LA and I fell into the world of tax credit consulting, which is painfully boring, but it’s a very specific sect of financial consulting for businesses.
And the great thing about that experience was that I got to see [00:06:00] small consulting firm worked, how it was ran during my time there, the firm had acquired another firm. They were trying to get ready to position themselves for venture capital and be acquired by larger firms. So I got to see all of that.
from the perspective of an employee while helping business owners with tax credits. So it was great business experience. I ended up in sales, and which is very interesting because I’m an introvert. So I get to work one day and I am voluntold that I’m going out on a sales call. And so I went out and talked to an assisted living facility about the services that we offered and They kept sending me out to go talk, so I ended up in sales, and it was a great experience because I think sales and sales experience is very helpful for people for a myriad of reasons, but building your self confidence, all of that.
[00:07:00] So eventually I had a lot of people’s, I think, corporate story, Janine, stressed out, overworked. I had a health scare by 25, and I just. Was I remember I was in my doctor’s office and I said, you know what, I’m not going to be hearing this talk again a year from now.
Janine: Wow.
Porschia: So I had already heard about coaching, but I wondered is that a real thing?
Like I have a degree in psychology and we never learned about that. So did more research, got certified in coaching and started coaching clients. Thanks. one on one on the side. I did that for about a year and a half while working at that consulting firm before I went full time into my business as an entrepreneur.
Janine: I love that. I love that. I love how you were like, is this a real thing? Right now coaching gets a bad rap sometimes because There is a low barrier to entry. You don’t have to be certified. And there are lots of people [00:08:00] that just decide they’re going to call themselves a coach and they don’t really know what they’re doing, which frustrates me a bit.
And I think when you come from a professional services background, like you and I, like I was a lawyer and you’re in finance, there’s something about knowing that, you need to know your stuff. And Yeah, I think sometimes it can feel frustrated to know that there are people that are just doing it and they don’t know their stuff, but we’re over here doing the thing.
Porschia: Yeah, and you make a great point, Janine, and I generally say it similar. I say, anyone can read a book and decide that they are a life, career, executive, coach, and then they are. And unfortunately, sometimes I’ve come across clients who’ve had bad experiences with coaching and people who have just, said they were a coach one day.
And I think it is important to get additional training certifications, like you mentioned, be professional with what you do.
Janine: Yeah, a hundred percent because it’s so powerful as a way to support people. So when it’s done it could just unlock so many [00:09:00] doors, which we’ll get into.
One of the things that comes up a lot with people that I work with and I’m sure that you work with is that piece around positioning yourself for what it is that you want. So you talked about the fact you work with different people and helping them to navigate their careers and move forward. I’d love for us to talk a little bit about why you think people have such a challenge around positioning themselves for the next thing, because often it feels like people are coasting.
And they get upset at the fact that they haven’t had that promotion. They haven’t had that tap on the shoulder, but they’re not necessarily being intentional about creating the opportunities for themselves. They expect it to come to them. So talk to me a bit about your thoughts and experience with that.
Cause I know you have a lot of experience with that.
Porschia: Yes, you are right. Often people are surprised when they are overlooked for a promotion or if they formally apply for one and they don’t get it. I [00:10:00] think that it’s really important to intentionally position yourself for promotion. When I think about the professionals who can secure promotions, there are a few commonalities.
. One, they tend to have a high level of self-awareness. And so they’re mindful about how they’re showing up at work, how they’re communicating, how they’re handling conflict with other people. They also have a good understanding of their own personality and how people perceive them. And that can be a whole different conversation, but it is important to know what your reputation is, to think about that proactively within your organization.
And fix it, right? Or try to fix it. If you, for some reason do not have a good reputation within your organization. Also it’s really important to understand your own personality and every [00:11:00] personality type has positives and negatives. I don’t think that there’s one personality type for a leader. I think that any personality type can be a leader, but it’s about understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Okay. Working on those and then also having an idea of how your strengths and weaknesses affect other people. I think that a lot of times when people are trying to position themselves for a promotion, sometimes they are so focused on themselves. They’re not looking at the impact. or the results that they are creating or not creating in their role.
And then finally, I would say, Janine, it’s really important to be results focused. Having a high level of performance is really expected in most instances. And so if you are doing that naturally on a regular basis, you are already positioning yourself ahead [00:12:00] of the pack, right? And setting yourself apart.
Janine: Yeah, oh my gosh, there’s so much goodness in there. The point around people not two things. The awareness piece, having the self awareness. So important, but so many people don’t have that. And then secondly, being aware of how what you’re doing is impacting others. I think, because people are given the narrative like, you need to work hard, you need to get your head down, you need to be aware of what it is that you’re doing and be intentional.
I don’t hear a lot of people talking about the fact that you need to be mindful of how what you’re doing is impacting others, because at the end of the day, business is all about relationships. So if you’re doing what you perceive to be the right thing, but you’re rubbing people up the wrong way, that’s not the way to get yourself a promotion, right?
How would you say people can cultivate that self awareness? Because I think, as coaches, we are aware because we help other people to be aware. So we’re probably more. [00:13:00] it might come more naturally, but if you are somebody who’s in a professional setting and you’ve just gone through the motions and studied and got to the next stage of the next stage and you’ve been on autopilot, what are some ways that you would say people could start with cultivating that?
Porschia: Yes, great point. I think the one of the easiest ways is to get some support right so you can invest [00:14:00] in working with a coach to learn more about yourself and focus on your own growth and development, and that is going to help you with self awareness. Working with a coach, where you dig into your background talk about your goals.
That can be helpful. Also, I’m a big fan of personality assessments. I think that sometimes those can be a very quick way for people to get some of that self awareness, understanding from different perspectives about how they are showing up. I’m a master practitioner of the Myers Briggs type indicator, the MBTI.
So that’s one that we use with a lot of our clients. I’m also certified in the Hogan assessment. I think those are two great tools, but we know there are a lot of great personality tools out there. One thing I will say though, is I recommend that people get a personality assessment done through either a certified practitioner or.
the company’s like [00:15:00] main website. There are a lot of kind of free version knockoff personality assessments online where they’ve adapted what they think an assessment is testing. And those are not always accurate. I see that a lot with the MBTI specifically, people come to me and all, I took a free version online and those are very different.
So that’s another quick way. And then I’ll say the third way that I’ll mention is that you can Ask people in your life. And so there’s one exercise that we have our clients go through, especially if they’re going through a career exploration, they’re trying to figure out different aspects of what they want to do in the future.
And they’re not quite sure. We have a whole exercise around them interviewing other people. So they present people with different questions. So you can email it to people, you can text it to people. As a coach, sometimes we have clients send people in their lives, friends, family members, co workers the questions and then we have them email [00:16:00] them directly to their coach that they’re working with because sometimes people aren’t comfortable sharing that information directly.
It’s just questions like, what do you think my strengths are? What do you think are areas that, I excel in or superpowers? What do you think comes naturally for me? Just different questions like that. So those are three ways that I think that people can get some self awareness, just about more about who they are and then also what their strengths are and weaknesses.
Janine: Yeah, I love that and I like what you said about the assessments because sometimes having somebody who’s trained in the assessment actually interpret it for you is key. I I use disc assessments with my clients and quite recently I client went through the assessment and I told her, I’m going to send you the report, review the report, and then we will talk through it and I’ll debrief it.
And it was so funny because we had our meeting and then she just launched straight into what she thought it was saying and was going off in the wrong direction. I was like wait, that’s not what we’re, [00:17:00] just let me tell you what’s going on here. So if you go and do one on your own and it isn’t a certified assessment, you can find yourself getting insights that aren’t helpful because if they’re inaccurate and you’re basing decisions on that, you can go down the wrong path.
So I like that you shared the importance of
Porschia: that. Yes, absolutely. And to your point, Janine, some of the assessments that I utilize, like the Hogan specifically, they tell us really not to send the client the report ahead of time or just a very abbreviated version for that reason. People have their own thoughts, feelings, interpretations about what they read.
And yes, it can be very different.
Janine: Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Porschia: So good.
Janine: So in terms of the awareness piece, when it comes to other people, what are some of the things that you’ve noticed have come up for people where they’re struggling to get a promotion? Let’s talk a bit about organizations are like, what are they actually looking for?
What are they [00:18:00] expecting of their people? Sometimes people are missing the mark because they’re just unaware of not just themselves, but what is even required of me in order for me to take that next step? So when you’re working with clients, what are some of the things they need to actually specifically work on or demonstrate that helps them to position themselves for promotion?
Porschia: The first answer to that is what I touched on a little bit before, and that is your initial impression or your reputation. And I have to start there because a lot of people think, Oh, just give me some tools and give me some tips. And we can tell you everything afterwards and we can give you tools and tips.
But if your initial impression or reputation is not positive, It’s going to work. The foundation is not set. So that’s the first thing that you have to be mindful of and you have to be really honest with yourself. I think that a lot of times people are not honest with themselves and they are missing out on that self [00:19:00] awareness piece or they’re jumping so far ahead that they’re skipping a lot of steps.
So that’s number one that I want to Also, you want to Be proactive. So that is something that leaders, managers notice. I tell people that you do not want to look like you’re waiting around for other people to tell you what to do. You don’t want to look like you are off tasks. Oh, I’m on blogs or oh, it looks like I’m on LinkedIn all day, but guess what?
I’m done with my work. So I was watching this YouTube video that has nothing to do with work. Like none of that, right? You want to appear to be proactive, right? Even if you’re done, what could you research? What could you look into? that could potentially help your team. Also, another big thing that I tell people is that you want to be a problem solver.
So some people are naturally problem solvers. I know you have a legal background, so I’m going to [00:20:00] assume, Janine, that you are a natural problem solver. A lot of consultants are. But some people are not. So if problem solving comes naturally to you, then this is going to be a little easier. If not, that’s okay.
It’s just a reframe and how you can think about your work. But if you are actively I call it finding gaps, finding challenges, problems, or just maybe smaller inefficiencies in Your role or how your team or department works, and then you take it upon yourself to offer some solutions. One, you’re appearing proactive and two, you’re appearing to be a problem solver.
So those are all things that you can do on your own without a directive from your leader or your manager that shows, hey, this person sticks out. This person could handle more responsibility. So I think that those are a few things just right off the bat.
Janine: Yeah, so good. That proactive piece is [00:21:00] golden. Just even having people on my team if you’re proactive and you can make my life easier immediately, I’m just like, yes, this person.
So that’s so important. So if someone’s listening to this right now and they’re like, Ooh, I don’t know if I have a good reputation and if I made a good impression, is that something we can clean up? And if so, what would be some steps that you could take to be like, okay, how do I reset this now that I’m coming with more intention?
Porschia: So yes, you can clean up your initial reputation impression or reputation, but you’ve got to realize that it’s going to take some time. So what can sometimes be unfair is that it can be quick in terms of forming that initial impression, and it can take a lot longer. to change that. And I’m sure you talk to your clients about this too.
This is why we talk about the first 90 days really of a job being very important because generally that impression is set in the first 90 days. Sometimes people have been in a job [00:22:00] for, A year, two years, five years, 10 years, and they’re like, Hey, I never got promoted. And a lot of times it really goes back to initially how people saw you.
And then everything at that point just reaffirms to some people that initial impression. So if it hasn’t been good, the first thing I recommend people do is go back and look at their performance reviews. What has your manager, your leader said about your performance? What suggestions have they made for you?
Have you actually worked on those things that they suggested? If not, that’s a great place to start. You want to improve those areas. After that, the other angle that I think is really important is to make sure that you are then a top performer. Address any Inefficiencies, deficiencies, problems, issues, challenges, people have already said that’s out there because that’s what they think about you.
I heard someone [00:23:00] say a long time ago that feedback is a gift. And sometimes we have to think, change how we’re thinking about feedback. But it’s a gift. They’re telling you what they think about you and what they think you need to work on. So taking that into account and then becoming a top performer.
So top performers generally get the opportunities. They get thought about for promotions. They get tapped on the shoulder. They get the special projects, the great assignments, the high visibility projects that happen. Yeah, so good. This is just great. And I think that sometimes people can wait and just be waiting and just feeling like they’re working hard and that’s going to do it.
Janine: But I love these tips because it’s be proactive. And if you’ve been sitting in a role for a long time and you’re not getting promoted, like maybe you need to go back and assess have I set the right Bye. Bye. You Have I set the right foundation here? Are people seeing me in the right light? And am I actually a top performer?
And [00:24:00] to be a top performer, you have to be getting results, right? So being results focused, like you said earlier, is so important. This is so good. This is so good. Anything else that you would add in terms of people that are looking to move up into leadership that you haven’t mentioned already?
Porschia: Yes.
So one other main thing to think about is networking. It is extremely important when you think about getting notice for a promotion. And the amount of networking you do is probably going to depend on the size of your organization. So we have clients that work for large multinational corporations, and then we have clients that work in small businesses.
And how they network in those two environments can be very different. I generally think that it’s best to start networking on your team and in your department. And then if you’re in a large organization, then you start branching out and networking with other teams or other departments that you collaborate with regularly.
And then finally, you can just [00:25:00] think about general networking across the organization with just different departments or different functional groups. Networking, sometimes there can be some resistance around it, depending on your personality, we go back to that. So like I shared earlier, I’m an introvert, and the whole thought of networking, especially early in my career was very overwhelming.
There are specific things you can do just depending on your personality, but I think one of the big overarching themes regardless of your personality is to be genuine in your networking. Many people come across as self serving when they’re networking, so they’re having like very superficial conversations, and then they’re looking at or trying to figure out, is this person important?
Can this person help me? Or do I just need to quickly move on and talk to somebody else, right? You don’t want to come across that way, and if you have that energy and that kind of mental thought around people, That’s something that you really want to think about before you start networking. [00:26:00] So you really want to be genuine in your networking and then also not spread yourself too thin.
I’ve also seen some people take it to the extreme where they’re like, I’m going to go to every networking event and every, social event for the company and every ERG or employee resource group, and they’re spreading their self too thin and they’re trying to network with 20 different people and all these different groups.
Yeah. I think that it’s important to just focus on a few to a handful at once and then organically network with more people from there.
Janine: Yeah. Cause I always say to people with networking, if you switch out networking as a term and replace that with relationship building, it can feel so, so different. And ultimately that’s what it is.
If you’re like, okay, who do I want to build relationship with? Be intentional about that and not try and do it. Build relationships with so many people, but actually deeper connections can go a lot further. I think that’s helpful. And particularly if you are an introvert and you’re not someone who wants to go out and work the room, you can build some really deep [00:27:00] and meaningful relationships on one, right?
Like going to coffee with people, going to have chats, that kind of thing. Doesn’t have to be like being in a room and working the room. So figuring out what works for you is definitely good. Good shout. Yeah, this has been so good. I really like it. If people want to find you and I know you have your podcast, which I’ve had the on.
So do you want to share where they can find the podcast, where they can find you and learn more about the work that you’re doing to help people?
Porschia: Yes, and thank you so much for coming on the show, Janine. Our episode will be airing, I think, in a few months. So the Career 101 podcast, if you like listening to podcasts, you can definitely find us there.
We talk about everything that you were never taught or told about your career growth, development, and change to help you get an edge in your career. So definitely check out the Career 101 podcast. If you are on LinkedIn, you can definitely find us. Follow me on LinkedIn. It’s just my first and last name.
[00:28:00] And then also check out our website and it’s fly hi coaching.com. You can find out all of our services and just more about us.
Janine: Awesome. I love that. I’ll link all of that in the show notes. Be sure to connect with Porsha. Yeah, I just thank you for coming and sharing your wisdom with us today. Thank you so much for having me, Janine.
How good was that discussion? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Portia shared some really solid advice, so I hope you were either taking notes or you were making mental notes so that you can apply some of this. And caring is sharing, so if you know somebody who’s been in their role for a while and they’ve been wanting a promotion, send them this episode.
I highly recommend that you connect with Portia. Go listen to her podcast, Career 101 podcast, and also connect with her over on LinkedIn. I will drop the notes to her website and to her LinkedIn profile in the show notes.
Until next time, have a great week and make sure that you are in Implementing the [00:29:00] things that you’re hearing on the podcast and that you are moving towards your career goals.
