How did you feel after your last promotion? Were you up for the challenge and completely confident in your ability to be able to do the job? Were you a little surprised that your boss thought you were ready?
Most of us would prefer to be promoted when our ability matches the requirements for the next level. Something like this:
Some really cautious people would prefer something more like this:
While this is extremely safe and will not present much of challenge, you will likely become bored with this quickly.
The reality is most promotions occur when you are more like this:
The gap between your ability and what is required increases the higher up you go. Promotions into leadership positions are usually based upon how well you appear to adjust in changing environments to quickly fill the gap. This is what has become known as “agility” and is defined by Dr. Kenneth De Meuse as: “The ability and willingness to learn from experience and then apply those lessons to perform well in new and challenging leadership situations.”
What are you doing to fill this gap and grow your agility? One of the tools I use is the EQi 2.0 assessment to highlight growth areas and quickly fill the gap.
What do you use?
