Stop waiting to be handed your next role and level

LIFT Newsletter 062

Last week we sat with the request, the plain act of asking clearly for what you need, with the five parts that stop it sliding back into a hint. A clean request gets today's work done, because nobody is left guessing what you wanted or by when.

But if you are trying to rise, the request is not the move that lifts you.

That one is quieter, most people barely use it, and the ones who do tend to get somewhere.

The offer.

An offer is a request turned around. Instead of asking for what you need, you put forward what you can do, and you let the other person take it or leave it.

That sounds small. It is actually one of the most strategic things a professional can do, because a request gets a task done, but an offer decides what you become known for.

Think about what that means.

When you wait to be handed work, someone else chooses what you spend your days on, and by extension who you become in that organisation.

When you offer, you choose. 

You put yourself forward for the problem you want your name attached to, the project that gets seen, the room one level above where you sit now.

Same move as helping a colleague, aimed in a completely different direction.

Not the offer that makes you useful. The offer that makes you visible on the work that matters.

This is where most capable people quietly stall.

They are excellent, they deliver, and they wait, assuming good work will be noticed and rewarded in time.

So the stretch project goes to the person who raised their hand, the promotion goes to the one already seen doing the bigger job, and the quiet high performer keeps wondering why the ceiling never lifts. 

So this week, make one offer that positions you, not just one that helps someone.

Look at where you want to be a year from now, find the piece of work that sits on that path, and put yourself forward for it plainly.

I can lead that. I want to take this on. Give me the harder one.

Then watch how differently people start to see you when you stop waiting to be chosen and start choosing.

And if it opens a door, hit reply and tell me. I would love to hear where it takes you.

Lead Beyond Yourself. Rise Beyond Limits.

Backing your rise,

Cassandra Nadira and the LIFT Team.