Five Mistakes that Will Stymie Your Career Progress

"As much as companies say they want to develop future leadership talent, most do a poor job of specifying the requirements for advancement. As a result, many managers operate under false assumptions about what's needed to get ahead," said John Beeson, succession planning and organizational development expert and author of The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level (Jossey-Bass, 2010  )  . "In this environment, those who leapfrog to a higher level realize that they need to tease out deeper feedback and make adjustments not only to how they approach their work but also how they display their skills to key decision makers."

This slideshow highlights the five executive promotion killers identified by Beeson.

Click through for five mistakes, identified by John Beeson, succession planning and organizational development expert and author, that may prevent you from ascending to the executive suite.

Too many managers spend their career energy focusing simply on producing results in their current job in the erroneous belief that strong performance will necessarily get them promoted. As a result, they never get to the heart of what will prompt decision makers to move them into higher-level positions. Managers who just focus on displaying "non-negotiable capabilities" like a consistent track record of performance or a strong work ethic are unlikely to get the big promotions.

"What really matters are the deeper, more complex factors that relate to the skills required to succeed at higher levels," said Mr. Beeson. "But most managers who are looking to move up don't even consider these variables or even know they exist — in large part they haven't received the feedback they need."

Most annual performance reviews give people feedback on what they need to do to improve their performance in their current job — not what they need to do to get ahead. Often, the person giving the review doesn't know the criteria more senior managers use in making promotion and placement decisions, and they often lack a good sense of how the employee is viewed by those higher-level decision makers.

"The onus is on aspiring executives to take the initiative and do the hard work to extract deeper feedback," said Mr. Beeson. "Smart managers set up a series of career conversations with their supervisor and other senior managers to get a true sense of their companies' promotion criteria as well as the things they need to display to breed confidence in their ability to succeed at higher levels."

Hard-working and committed managers often commit a major misstep in managing their careers by becoming pre-occupied with activities and events inside their own company. As a result, they miss opportunities to develop their network outside of the organization.

"Whether you're in a market-facing role like sales, marketing or general management or in an internal role like information technology or human resources, the keys to your strategic and innovative thinking are much more likely to lie outside of the company than within it," said Mr. Beeson. "Managers who want to move forward must connect themselves with customers, marketplace trends, new industry practices and the diverse sources of information required to jumpstart their creative thinking. In addition, the lack of external relationships serves as an obstacle when it comes time to explore jobs outside the company."

By definition, succeeding at the executive level involves managing others to achieve results. Some managers fail to learn to delegate and, as a result, get sucked into managing implementation at too low a level of detail. Successful managers know how to build and nurture a successful team. Without a skilled team, it becomes impossible to devote time to executive-level activities like strategic thinking, managing innovation and change and working with peers to get things done across organizational boundaries.

"Interacting with customers and other external groups, carving out time for strategic thinking, identifying the next big breakthrough, influencing and persuading peers across the company — all of these things take time, and a strong team allows you to focus on them," said Mr. Beeson. "To build this management strength, an aspiring executive should create and implement a plan to continuously upgrade talent within the team and motivate and develop people through challenging assignments."

Rightly or wrongly, how you are perceived has a huge impact on whether or not you'll be promoted to the C-suite. Whether intentional or not, your actions over time and in the context of your organization's culture combine to create a widespread impression of your leadership skills and capabilities. However, many managers don't realize the need to change these perceptions through not only developing, but also displaying critical skills to key decision makers in their organization.

"Managers need to be aware that they won't fundamentally change perceptions unless people can see them doing something new and then share their observations with others within the organization. In some cases a move to a new assignment within the company may be required," said Mr. Beeson. "Look for activities that allow you to demonstrate the skills needed for advancement. For example, with your boss's help, you can get named to a company-wide project which can help broaden your perspective and showcase your skills in influencing and persuading others."