Five Steps For Sprinting Up The Corporate Ladder

Most of us find ourselves ensconced within a corporate framework. It’s a good place to be if one is confident in the product and the organization is fluid enough to offer the possibility of a meaningful ladder-climb. Small family-run operations (operated by someone else’s family) are the worst place to be. Invigorated, medium or large-size businesses, either private or public, are ideal.

Assuming your product is good and there is growth potential, here are two mindsets and three mechanical to-do’s that will aid you in cranking out large quantities of great work, and propelling you up the ladder.

1) Assume a simpler perspective of your world. Drop any airy-fairy outlook you pack around, and understand the world we must deal with is mechanical: A always leads to B; B always leads to C; One plus two equals three – everywhere. Know that the dispassionate laws of nature may not care about what you believe, or the latest esoteric theory of “why,” but, more pragmatically, they offer lock-step reliability in their functioning.

2) Accept that the things of the world are 99.9 percent perfect, as-is. The universe has a “Propensity for Perfection.” Systems want to reach their goals. This is a simple reality, overlooked by almost everyone. Look around your immediate surroundings as you read this. In your house, reading in bed, or at work at your desk, understand that the huge majority of mechanical and biological systems around you are executing flawlessly. The streets outside are teeming with cars and trucks that almost always arrive at their destinations; The natural world just outside the window, with it’s uncountable bio-systems, chugs along perfectly without human guidance; The company you work for does what it does, and for the most part, performs well enough to survive –and so do literally millions of other businesses.

Now, create the framework to take advantage of the two great truths discussed above.

3) Create your Declaration of Independence. It will be the tangible representation of who you are and what you’re about; where you want to go, how you’re going to do it, and a quick synopsis of your strengths and assets. Make it simple – a single page is enough. Call it your Strategic Objective. Within your department, the people under you must subscribe to the tenets of the document. The best way for this to happen is to invite them to participate in its creation, or at least review what you’ve put together.

4) Draw up your Constitution. This document will serve as your department’s “guidelines for decision making.” Call it your General Operating Principles. It will be your two or three page synopsis of how you want your department to mechanically operate. For instance, the simplest tenet would be “Do it now.” You will apply this simple platitude in every situation simply because it’s the way you operate, and in most applications, it’s the best way to handle things. At Centratel, we have 30 General Operating Principles (no surprise, we call the document, simply, “30 Principles”). You absolutely must have your staff’s input when you create your General Operating Principles document.

5) Your last documentation efforts will be to amass a collection of “laws.” These are your Working Procedures. For every recurring process that takes place in your department, you will create a procedure that describes the process exactly as you want it to execute. In most cases, a simple 1-2-3 step format is perfect (first you do this, and then you do that, etc.). This is the heavy lifting of the documentation process, the ongoing evidence that your primary focus is system improvement, and not in repairing the bad results of unattended systems. Under your guidance, and congruent with your Strategic Objective and General Operating Principles documents, your staff will create most of your Working Procedures.

So, yes, you have work to do. But you’re working hard anyway, right? Now you just need to redirect your energies. By applying the above mindsets and processes, in my small business I reduced 80- to 100-hour workweeks to 2 hours, and my monthly income now exceeds what I used to make in a year. Your corporate environment may confine you to an ongoing 40-hour workweek, but as you climb the ladder, you’ll find new control, freedom, and power. That’s the beauty of the ladder-climb.

Get your people to sign-on, work hard together, collectively pay attention to details including solid operating documentation, and your department productivity will skyrocket. And if you are part of an organization that rewards contribution – and most organizations do – prepare to sprint up that corporate ladder.