Navigating the promotional maze
We've all been there: a job interview or career conversation with your boss goes well, but then suddenly you're presented with a list of promotion options that seems like an impossible maze. Whether this is your first time through the promotional maze, or you feel like you've lost sight of what's next for you and need to re-evaluate your options, this blog post will help guide and ease some of the confusion. This post is an overview of the promotional maze, originally written in 2005 by Tempo magazine , and updated as of early 2016. The maze can be broken down into five steps:
Step 1
The first step on the promotional maze is to figure out what it will take to get you where you want to go. Often people assume they know the answer to this, but when they sit down with a manager or an executive in order to learn about promotions, often all that's really asked is "What's your title at work?" Sometimes promotion decisions are made even before that point, but in most companies this first step is where many people fail.
Step 2
The next step is to ask, "What are the career requirements of my title?" If you're a human resources expert looking ahead at promotions, it's easy to assume that promotions are about "climbing up" the ladder. And if you're in middle management, you could be wondering whether your promotion requires even more education or experience.
Step 3
The third step is to ask, "What are my career objectives?" In most cases, your title is only a small part of what you want to achieve in your career. For example, if you want to do more public speaking or you want to write a book (or both), these objectives might be best achieved outside of your current role and organization.
Step 4
Next, ask yourself: "Is my goal really a promotion?" As an example from my own career, I once turned down the opportunity for an Executive Leadership program because I knew that the program would place me in another organization for two years and this was not my desired outcome for that time period. I wanted to build my network and be a leader in my own organization, not move to another one.
Step 5
The final step on the promotional maze is to ask: "Where am I at now?" What have you already achieved? Who have you already been in contact with? How much do you know about your next step-up opportunity? This can be the most difficult step, as we often feel stuck or simply don't know what to do for fear of failure. Often, the most effective stance is to simply ask for help from someone who has been there before and know what it takes.
About Me: Susan Wolf is an organizational development consultant with more than 25 years of experience helping organizations and individuals make positive change happen.
Susan Wolf is an organizational development consultant with more than 25 years of experience helping organizations and individuals make positive change happen. Her latest leadership advice blog, Susan Wolf on the Go , was named by Inc. in 2009 as one of the 200 best blogs in all of entrepreneurship. You can find her at www.SusanWolfOnTheGo.com . To schedule a free 30-minute consultation, call 877-878-4749 or, email: susan@susanwolfonthego.com
DoorDash (a service that delivers groceries and other orders) recently opened their first store in Palo Alto, CA (see below). The store is located in the basement of a high rise that was formerly a mall, and is scheduled to be there for at least 2 years.
The reason I'm writing about this store is not because of its novelty. In fact, a couple of blogs have written about this before . My interests lie in the details: what's the process of going from concept to store? What kind of feedback have they received from customers? How does this new store compare to its website experience?
It turns out that there isn't much information about how DoorDash's Palo Alto storefront will work. Most reports that I've seen focus on its menu: hot dogs, burgers, salads, etc. But the menu is the easy part. In fact, the new store's lack of menu detail is one of the most interesting things about it.
This type of store opens a lot of questions. For starters, how much experience does DoorDash have with grocery delivery? They've done a lot in the past years, but they're also not just a grocery delivery service. They do everything from e-commerce to couriers to food trucks .
Aside from its existing experience as a delivery company, there's another unique element to this Palo Alto store: it's located in an old high rise that was previously a mall. If a grocery store (rather than a restaurant, or clothing retailer, or electronics store) opens in an old mall, that could be a sign of... something? Has DoorDash struck out in Palo Alto?
To answer this question we need to step back and look at DoorDash's history. Let's start with their home page . Last week on Friday January 24th , I was looking for this week's Top 5 on the site. There was a video with Ed Helms and Nutrisystem spokespeople and then some other stuff about shipping. The main section of the site is divided into four categories: Food Delivery, Shopping & Online Gaming, Delivery Partners & More and Dash Deals .
Food Delivery is the main product (not counting delivery partners), with 5 subheads: Store Search , Store Locator , Orders , Recipes & Food Blogs .
The Store Search section shows all kinds of stores. This includes the 1-800-Flowers, The Home Depot, Publix and other stores we're familiar with. But also featured are restaurants like that Pizza Hut, In N Out and Panda Express. Is this a reflection of DoorDash's diversity?
The Store Locator page has some more information. It lists the minimum price for each store. Note that the price isn't given in dollars but rather in cycles ($1-$5).
Conclusion: DoorDash has been in the grocery delivery business for a while. How long? The first post on their blog is from November 10, 2013.
DoorDash has also been experimenting with delivery partners. There's a great list at the bottom of this post, but some have already been featured in their stores:
So what's next? How do they deal with all of these different kinds of grocery stores? In Seattle they've partnered up with QFC , so that is one potential experience. But there are plenty of other possibilities, like using an app to order from local neighborhood stores . This might help them to spread out the "risk" of opening a store and opening it in an unfamiliar neighborhood.