This is going to be a very short article, but one that everyone needs to hear.

Every organization has some type of process that it uses to determine promotion and advancement.  Some date back decades, others are newer in their approach.  Regardless, there are rules that must be followed to advance.  The rules can be found in the organizational regulations and through published information from Human Resources.  Some are well documented, like in the U.S. Government, others are not as codified – they are deeply woven into the organizational culture – yet they exist, nonetheless. 

Written or unwritten, spoken, or unspoken, you must follow these rules-of-the-game to advance.  In other words, you either play the game or you take your ball and go home.  There are three very important “rules” to know about this “game” that you need to understand.

Rule #1 – You Play the Game Whether You Like It or Not Like it or not, everyone in the organization is playing the game whether they want to play or not.  There are no exceptions.  If you are expected to volunteer to serve on committees, to perform community service, to adhere to a dress code, or to achieve professional certifications in order to advance, then that is what you will do.

That is because…

Rule #2 – You Do Not Make the Rules Believe it or not, you do not make the rules and you cannot change the rules to suit you because you disagree with them.  Not yet.

Unless you work for an organization that has rules for advancement that are unethical, sexist, racist, or illegal (those need to be reported), then you follow them.  If you don’t agree with them, that is fine.  Play the game now, by its rules, and once you make it up to the top you can work to change them.  Understand that the rules can and do change over time.  Sometimes against what you like, but often for the better.  Even so, understand that until you are at the top of the organizational ladder that you have no control over it and unless you play the game and make it to the top that you likely never will. 

Because if you don’t play by the rules…

Rule #3 – Play the Game or Know that You Likely Won’t Be Promoted If you are not willing to play the game, by its rules, then accept the fact that you will likely not be promoted.  It is a hard fact that will not change just because you don’t like it.

Organizational culture is never set in stone.  It lives, breathes, and grows over time.  Up until the early 1970s, if a woman in the Foreign Service got married, she had to resign her position (ADST, 2019).  No one would even think to put in a rule into the regulations like that today.  Cultural norms, political changes, and other external influences can and do change how organizations do business and treat their employees.  You need to move with the ebb and flow of these written and unwritten rules.

This isn’t to say that you must completely abandon your values.  The reality is that most organizations want people that share their organizational values as their own.  They don’t want people pushing against the leadership grain.  This is especially true of large organizations that have been around for a long time and are successful because of their organizational culture and business mindset.  Most of the time the rules make sense, even when you don’t want to play by them.  Some people don’t want to volunteer while others don’t want to make work the center of their world.  That is perfectly ok.  Not everyone aspires to be at the top; however, if you do want to climb to the top of the ladder at your organization then you need to suck it up and do what is expected of you to advance.  It really is that simple. 

References

ADST. (2019, December 27). The Palmer Case and the Changing Role of Women in the Foreign Service. Retrieved from Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training: https://adst.org/the-palmer-case-and-the-changing-role-of-women-in-the-foreign-service/