Think yourself into promotion

By Gerry Gilpin

How much do you think you communicate to your co-workers and boss through what you say, and how much through how you say it?

The fact is that what you say has less than 10% of an impact on people.

It is, therefore, the non-verbal that makes the real impact.

It is your facial expressions, tone of voice and eye contact, even how you dress, that does most of the 'talking'.

I believe the old advice 'dress for the position you want, not the position you have', still rings true for those interested in advancement, even with today's relaxed dress standards.

Only these days the advice would probably sound more like: "Envision yourself in the position you want, not in the position you have."

If you are interested in advancement within your present company or outside of it, then think about how you present yourself.

Do you shake hands firmly or limply when introducing yourself? Do you make good eye contact? Do you speak too often or too little? Do you mumble or shout?

Believe it or not, all of these are signals to people about how you think about yourself, not to mention how they should think about you.

Who do you think you are?

This is a question that children get asked quite often, and usually when they are behaving badly, or flaunting, or bragging about a particular skill or action that they have taken.

The parent or teacher who asks the question, more often than not, is not in the least bit interested in the answer.

What they are really interested in is in keeping the child within manageable bounds; and the way it is said - their tone of voice - makes this very plain.

The outcome is that little by little, the child learns to look around at his or her fellow students and siblings for the answer to that question - 'Who do I think I am?'

Then it is only a matter of time before the child learns to please by figuring out what others expect him or her to be, and becoming that person - sound familiar?

If you have gone through that experience as a child and I suggest most if not all of us have then you probably already have the skills needed to become whom you want to be in order to advance in your career.

This means, for example, that if you need to be a strong, confident, assertive individual who can think on his/her feet and make hard decisions, it may not be as hard as you first thought.

You see the chances are you may already be this person deep down, and this powerful 'self' has for many years merely been held at bay.

The problem I have found in my own experience and in talking to others is that we, in our culture in Northern Ireland, lack this sense of strong self-belief.

We think that someone with an English or American accent must be more professional, experienced, knowledgeable or a better player than we are.

What is worse is that our non-verbal behaviour communicates this and gives these people an even greater sense, dare I say it, of their superiority.

It is only when we observe their behaviour and see them performing that we realise they are no better than we are; in fact we soon realise we are just as good, if not better than them.

How do I become something I'm not? As confidence comes with knowledge, experience and training, you need to learn all you can about the position you want for your next career step.

Read and study, ask around, talk to others in similar positions; but more importantly, put yourself in the position in your imagination.

Very few people do this, and in today's environment of the 'upwardly mobile', competition for promotion is much more difficult than it was even five years ago.

Remember that every question asked at a job or promotion interview probes one of the following: (a) Can (s)he do the job? (b) Why does (s)he want the job? (c) Can we afford him/her? (d) Will (s)he fit in?

It is this final area that proves most difficult to determine and even with psychological assessments mistakes are made.

Therefore if you can see yourself in that position, and answer any questions from that standpoint, then you will convey an impression of confidence in your ability.

Equally important is that your non-verbal behaviour will communicate this.

One effective way to do it is to volunteer to be on teams and committees outside your functional area. This will broaden your knowledge and the way people think of you.

Don't rein in your natural curiosity - don't be afraid to ask a question simply because you're afraid of sounding stupid; after all, you're not trying to present yourself as knowing everything there is to know, but as someone who wants to know.

Lastly, remember that all those in positions ahead of you are people very much like you - they once sat where you are sitting and who had to take certain steps to advance their careers.

Realise, and never cease realising, that you have what is needed to move ahead.

The better you know this, the more confident you will appear, and the more others will begin to think of you as a candidate for advancement.

I have said it before but I think it is worth repeating, the time to start is now