If You Want To Get Ahead, You Need To Use Your Head
Posted on February 16, 2008
Have you ever tackled a new job or undertaken a task for the first time only to fail miserably? I have! In my youth, I sold encyclopedias door-to-door and was so successful, the company quickly promoted me to sales manager and then to office manager. I thought I was well on my way to even bigger success, but when placed in charge of a 25 person office, with the goal of expanding it to 50, I failed miserably. I was one of the top ten salespeople in the company, but I had no management skills and I quickly learned that the ability to do and the skill to manage are very different.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’d assumed the office manager job with a huge impediment hanging over my head. When I was a sales manager, I wasn’t really in management. I functioned more as an extremely productive coworker than a manager. I made calls with the five salespeople under me, which endeared me to them and left them thinking of me as being one of them rather than a boss. When I became the office manager, I didn’t have time to make calls with all of the sales people. I’d just taken over an office that had lost its most productive salesperson�me!
Since I’d been making calls with the people under me when I was a sales manager, as office manager, everyone expected me to continue the practice. I didn’t have time for this and I lacked the skills to communicate this fact in a way that would gain their respect. Instead of teaching my sales managers how to do what had made me successful as a sales manager and let them train their people, I held classes with everyone, sales reps and managers alike. What I didn’t realize was that I was undermining my sales managers with the people under them. Everyone quickly became disgruntled and within a month several had resigned. My staff of 25 suddenly fell to 14 and many of the ones who remained were unhappy and threatening to resign. As a manager I was a disaster!
The company replaced me in the office manager position and the experience taught me some very valuable lessons. Management is getting things done through other people. Leadership is not jumping in front of a crowd and yelling “Follow Me!” It’s providing direction and being the type person others will want to follow. My limited education at the time prevented me from understanding these basic principles of management, and in total frustration I soon resigned from the company.
I had those same sinking feelings that many people have when they are suddenly unemployed. I was nervous, embarrassed, insecure, and down in the dumps. I had saved some money when I was doing well, so I wasn’t totally broke, but I knew I had to find a job soon. I also knew that whatever job I took needed to fit my skill level. The office manager’s job taught me the importance of improving my education and skill level “before” undertaking a more demanding position.
On the job training is fine in entry level positions, but as you progress up the ladder of success you are expected to invest more and more in preparing yourself prior to being promoted. The added responsibility that comes with more responsible positions and the devastating effects of failure makes the risk too great to permit much on the job training. This is one of the reasons long time employees feel slighted when they are passed over for promotion by co-workers who have been constantly learning and preparing themselves to accept the additional responsibility. Longevity does not equal increased capability. Often it merely leads to complacency.
Here’s a tip! If you want to get ahead, you need to use your head. Everyone needs to establish a “learn to earn” program. What is that, you say? A “learn to earn” program is simply a commitment to set aside a small portion of your income to establish a personal growth and development library and use it. When I say use it, I’m talking about applying what you learn. Some of the best learning tools are books, audio and video programs that are available on virtually every subject imaginable.
Listening to audio programs during the otherwise dead time commuting back and forth to work is a great way to learn. Watching an educational video occasionally instead of a sitcom is a good way to learn skills that can increase your paycheck. Of course there’s no substitute for reading on a daily basis to increase your knowledge and make you more valuable. Just remember, if you want to earn more, you have to become worth more, but knowledge alone is not enough. You need to know how to apply what you learn.
Having knowledge without the ability to apply it is like owning a book you don’t intend to read. I’ve personally hired people with advanced college degrees who worked low paying jobs because they lacked the ability to apply their knowledge in a way that increased their value. A high school dropout who knows how to use a shovel can move more dirt than a college graduate with a backhoe who doesn’t know how to get it started. Think of formal education as preparing you to learn, but it’s up to you to continue the learning process throughout your entire life. The amount of time you spend doing so will be directly reflected in the size paycheck you earn and the quality of life you enjoy.
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