How to level up? A career counselor reveals seven steps

1. Base your work on what the company really cares about this year

Many employees start January focusing solely on their own goals. Talking only about your plans too often may seem short-sighted or even selfish. The best ones start by understanding the company's goals and determining how they will support them.

Pay attention to management announcements, priorities for the year, performance conference calls, kickoff meetings, and how success is defined at the highest levels and by your manager. Promotion is rarely the result of good work in isolation from the rest of the company. What matters is that you deliver results that are important in the current business context and important to the success of your superiors.

Take time at the beginning of the year to connect your role to these priorities and people. Tell your manager directly how your work fits into the company's goals, listen and adapt if necessary. Early adopters are seen as strategic rather than reactive.

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2. Determine the criteria by which you are assessed

Many employees assume that great results will take care of themselves. That's not true. Moreover, what you consider good performance may not necessarily be what your manager expects from you in a given year.

What matters most is how results are measured, discussed and compared. January is a good time to ask questions about expectations, responsibilities and what “excellence” means in practice.

This isn't about immediate promotion talks, but about understanding what matters to leaders when making promotion decisions so that they can direct their energy accordingly. People who do this early don't waste months improving in areas that won't matter for promotion.

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3. Establish regular and proactive communication with your manager – and don't focus solely on yourself

Employees who get promoted rarely wait for formal meetings to review progress or report problems. They consciously build their narrative throughout the year and regularly show commitment to the company and the team.

This can be as simple as quick updates, highlighting successes as they happen, or describing challenges (and, ideally, solutions) before the situation escalates. January is a great time to introduce such a system, when old habits are ending and new ones are just forming.

Leaders pay attention to which team members make their work easier and which ones create confusion and unnecessary drama. Clear, timely communication builds trust and shows that you are independent, minimize conflicts and think ahead. This makes you a candidate for promotion.

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4. Consciously build your visibility outside your own department

Promotion often requires the support of several people. Meanwhile, many employees focus only on their direct superior. The ability to influence is always important, but especially during this time. Building allies in other parts of the company, both among peers and senior management, takes time. Start now.

At the beginning of the year, look for opportunities to collaborate across departments, participate in joint initiatives, or support projects that have a broader impact across the organization. It's not about overworking yourself. It's about consciously expanding contacts and cultivating important relationships.

5. Take responsibility for one problem that is not technically yours

One of the quickest ways leaders assess readiness for promotion is to observe how employees deal with ambiguity. High potential people don't wait for someone to tell them what to fix and how to fix it. They notice gaps themselves, volunteer to take action and take responsibility for improving something that affects the business or team.

This is not about adding work blindly. Choose one significant issue where you can add value, demonstrate your good judgment, and be open about the results.

Don't expect immediate reward just because you took on a task outside your job description. Consider this contribution as an investment in your long-term career development.

6. Keep track of your impact and achievements

Too many employees wait until appraisal interview season to evaluate their work and reflect. By then, the details have long since faded from memory and the momentum is lost.

Start writing down your successes and impact as you go – especially the first ones at the beginning of the year. Do this every week to keep everything fresh. Collect feedback, results and examples showing progress over time.

You don't need a complicated system for this. Choose a way of taking notes that suits you and stick to it consistently.

This habit makes talking about results easier and more factual, rather than frantically recalling the entire year at the last minute. It also forces you to focus on the results, not the effort itself, and allows you to correct course if you are very busy and yet you are not achieving the expected results.

7. Resist the temptation to “wait and see”

January often brings the feeling that it is too early to act, ask or prove yourself. In fact, this hesitation could cost you months of lost opportunity. Just remember balance: You have every right to know expectations and express your ambitions, but avoid coming across as impatient or too self-centered.

People who move forward don't act hastily, but they don't sit on their hands either. They use the beginning of the year to set direction, build credibility and show how they intend to work.

Before others start thinking about promotion, these people are already seen as obvious candidates for higher positions.

The article is a translation from the American edition of Business Insider.