I can’t remember giving much thought to my career during the early years. All that seemed necessary was the need to do well. The benchmark that guided me was the choice and quality of the company car I was to drive.

What ‘doing well’ meant didn’t seem to need explaining at the time. With the magic of hindsight, I could have managed my career better.

As long as you continue to do what you like doing and can do well, providing it needs doing, people will continue thinking of you as a high performer. Forgive me for stating the obvious however, this principle needs constant attention if individuals and organisations are to thrive.

Many personality and motivation models reveal the subtle differences in people. Understanding one’s drive and values is the starting point for planning a career.

Through studying motivation, I have realised that my ambition has been largely driven by a need for freedom and challenge rather than any desire for authority, power, or money. Freedom and challenge are just two ways to describe intrinsic motivators. Other well-defined labels include achievement, duty, safety, relationships, recognition, leisure, and interest,

Understanding the things we value most is important to success in any role. When people do what they enjoy and are good at, they are likely to perform well. Imagine being stuck in a job that you don't like doing or worse, having tasks that you don't do well and don't enjoy.

Money alone is a poor motivator for most people including those in sales roles. All of the motivating factors can have value in the right sales role. For instance, suppose a person's strongest motivator was interest and weakest motivator was duty, it would be foolish for this person to take on a sales job selling products or services that he or she found uninteresting. A person strongly motivated by money would do better, providing that the performance compensation was sufficiently exciting.

The key to being perceived as a high performer and feeling fulfilled is obtaining work that you are passionate about and that suits your talents.

Promotion has long been a measure of success however, the number of senior positions available is always limited and decreases as promotions are achieved. Over the last several decades, companies have being trying to take out layers of management and flatten organisations to make them more competitive so there are fewer senior posts than there were.

Experiencing a career plateau is inevitable. This is a period when promotions or advancements slow or stop altogether. It may not spell the doom portrayed in the classic ‘Peter Principle’ mini book by Laurence J. Peter. The ‘Peter Principle’ states that everyone is eventually promoted into a role that they are unable to carry out competently, and that is where they stay.

It is hard to discredit this idea unless you believe that most people can continually grow in competence. Laurence invented another phrase, ‘the lateral abrasque. He used this phrase to describe how organisations promote incompetent managers into lone ranger positions, where they can’t do any harm. This is necessary to unblock the promotion ladder and allow new, more talented people to take up the vacated positions.

People don’t have a lot of control over the slowing or cessation of promotions however, this needn’t affect the continued growth of their contribution to the organisation.

Organisational health depends on people continually increasing their contribution. Sales targets never go down. Failure to maintain overall progress begins a decline and competitors are quick to take advantage.

As an individual contributor such as a sales person, unless you can maintain your sales performance at the peak of what’s possible, the perception of your prowess will decline over time.

The alternative is to find a way to magnify the value of your expertise by getting things done through others. This is the challenge of management although it isn’t necessary to have a formal management position to multiply your contribution through other people’s actions.

Whether or not you are or become a manager, perception of contribution or high performance will continue to drive career success in terms of compensation, choice, and security so it becomes increasingly important to develop a deep level of trust with peers and team members and this can be done by helping them to succeed in their work. This is much more challenging than working as an individual contributor where you are in complete control of the means to succeed.

In this sales example, one individual set aside her short-term interests and invested in a multi-country sales opportunity. Most of the credit for the sale, and the compensation flowed to the local country sales people. The time she invested compromised her ability to achieve her own target, resulting in a 14% shortfall. The company won a major global customer. Recognising this person’s contribution, the global head of sales invited her to take up a global account management role.

These days pursuit of promotion may not be the easiest way to increase contribution and be perceived as a high performer. While promotion opportunities are decreasing, leading organisations are increasingly seeking to empower people.

Those who continually acquire assignments that inspire them and leverage their strengths, will continue to be considered high performers. Where these people can facilitate the success of others, their organisations will prosper.

This is what John D Rockefeller was referring to when he said, “The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.”

Article by Clive Miller Questions and comments to clive@salessense.co.uk

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