Higher Level Tasks

If we look at your day to day activities, some of your tasks are process driven.  They are driven by standard operating procedures (SOPs) that dictate what needs to be done.  There may be associated flowcharts and decision trees which direct your thoughts on the task at hand.  These tasks are necessary to the job.  Other than "do or do not", there really isn't much control that you have.  When you are new to the role -- either due to newly entering the field or being recently hired -- you're primarily focused on performing these tasks as detailed in the job description and these process driven tasks often consume much of your working time.

When you're not working on process driven tasks, the other type of tasks you perform involve discretion and judgement.  They typically involve creativity, problem solving, strategy, and decision making.  There is no standardized approach that works in all cases.  To perform these activities, you often rely on your education and experience.  The more senior you are on the team, the higher percentage of your day is spent working on these higher level tasks.

Your goal, in order to get ahead is going to be to figure out how to transition from doing primarily process driven tasks to working on these higher level tasks that allow you to shine and show your true capabilities.  In the corporate world, there is often an unwritten rule that you have to perform the job before you're promoted to the job.  By taking on the higher level tasks that your current role calls for, those around you will be better able to see the strengths that you bring to your role.  This will put you in a better position for that future promotion.

When you're early in your career, it may seem like you're so focused on these process driven tasks there's not a lot of opportunity for creativity, problem solving, strategy, and decision making -- the higher level tasks that lead to a promotion.  One thing you can do is focus on the processes that you are responsible for.  Is there room in that process to provide some efficiencies or streamline it in some way or some other optimization -- or adjust it to handle a case that hasn't been handled before.  That's one way to showcase your problem solving skills.  Alternatively, look for opportunities where other, more senior members of your team have so much on their plate that smaller decisions are falling through the cracks.  Volunteer to take on these decisions showing that you are both a team player but also someone capable of taking on more than your current responsibilities.  Even if your teammate has final say in the decision, by doing all of the leg work -- all of the research and analysis -- and providing a final recommendation, you'll have shown ownership and initiative…..qualities that will set you up for success.

Another opportunity is to look for those smaller projects that noone is working on.  If you have the bandwidth and flexibility -- especially if you've optimized your process driven tasks -- you can take on these smaller projects.

Later in your career, you'll have made the transition from process driven tasks to higher level tasks, but the next question you have to ask yourself is "what scope and scale do the decisions I participate in have to the organization?"  If those tasks are shorter-term focused and team level impact, those decisions are important, but your goal should be to look for tasks that have a wider, longer-term impact.  One way that your decisions will have a bigger scale and scope is to be involved in tasks that are more important rather than urgent.  Leave the urgent tasks for team members that are earlier in their career and looking for a chance to showcase their abilities.  Urgent tasks tend to be more tactical in nature and the impact not long lasting.  Once the urgent task is resolved and the urgency has passed, normalcy will return and the focus will shift back to important work.

Important tasks might include projects that will improve processes, increase efficiency, or drive growth.  Higher level tasks are often those that are most closely aligned with your organization's mission, goals,  and values. By focusing on tasks that reflect your company's values, you can help create a sense of purpose and meaning for you and your team.

As a manager or leader, your responsibility is to look for ways to bring higher level tasks to your team overall.  Much like an individual, you're trying to  grow and challenge your team by bringing bigger and bigger opportunities.  Look for projects and engagements  that will allow you to stretch the team, stretch their skills; challenge their capabilities -- helping them develop new skills and build their confidence.  Find those projects that are more impactful to the organization and in doing so, you're going to get your team into a position where they can all advance.

You can also look for opportunities to delegate your lower level tasks to your team.  As a leader, your tasks have wider impact to the organization that the tasks of your team.  Your responsibility to your team is to develop the team and help them advance along their career path, so by delegating less critical tasks to members of your team still gives them an opportunity to expand beyond their current scope and frees you up to focus on the most critical items such as finding higher level projects for to help the whole team grow.

So, we've seen today that the focus should be on figuring out how to get a bigger impact; a bigger sphere of influence across the organization by transitioning from process oriented tasks to higher level tasks.  I think that by doing that you should set yourself up for success and put yourself in a position to get that promotion when you're ready for it.