Competing for promotion

• Difficult to avoid a win-lose outcome in this situation.
• Can you think of an alternative role of greater interest either to yourself or your colleague?
• Can you help your colleague obtain a different position?
• Can you brainstorm options together where you could both advance?
• Thinking like an entrepreneur, what new opportunities can you create jointly with your colleague?
• Otherwise, you need to develop a win-lose strategy.
• Criticizing your colleague in public is high risk and could backfire.
• Better to convince powerful influencers of your own merits.
• Create alliances with them - find synergies that will benefit them if you get the job you want.
• This is offering I.O.U's in exchange for their support.
• This political route is essential the nearer you get to the top.
• If you don't like politics, can you see this approach as simply finding new services to offer new internal customers?
• You are in fact running your own business.
• Senior level promotions have a lot in common with getting elected.
• The broader your support base the more likely you are to advance.
• Just doing a good job and waiting to be tapped on the shoulder is as high risk as launching a frontal attack on your opposition.