It is natural to want to advance in your career. We drill it into people’s heads that an upward trajectory at work is the primary marker of success. That is how you get more money, opportunity, and status.

　　想在职业生涯中更上一层楼，这再自然不过了。我们不断给大家灌输一个道理，工作中的上升轨迹是获得成功的主要标记。这就是获得更多金钱、机会和地位的方式。

　　On top of that, you may even feel like your boss isn’t that great. Their flaws stand out, and you may have great ideas to fix the problems you see.

　　最重要的是，你甚至可能觉得你的老板不那么伟大，他们的缺点很明显，而你却能想到很好的办法来解决眼前的问题。

　　That is great. The desire to move up is one of the prerequisites for advancing. But there is a lot to do to get there. Here are a few things to consider as you get started on your journey upward.

　　那样太好了。一个人想要获得提升的意愿是职场进阶的先决条件之一。但要实现目标还有很多工作要做。当你开始职场晋级时，需要考虑以下几点：

　　WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

　　你需要知道什么

　　First, you wouldn’t actually want to be in an organization that promotes you too quickly. After all, what is going to happen to you when you get that job? You would like to have it for a while in order to fulfill your goals.

　　首先，实际上你并不希望身处一个提拔很快的公司。毕竟，当你得到这份工作时，在你身上会发生什么?你希望在这个岗位上呆上一段时间，以实现自己的目标。

　　If your organization is constantly pushing people up or out, then you won’t have time to achieve your goals in that position, either. It turns out to be a good thing that organizations change leadership slowly.

　　如果你所在的公司不断提拔或裁员，那么你就没有时间在自己的岗位上实现目标。事实证明，如果一家公司如果领导层变动比较缓慢，才是一件好事。

　　Second, your boss’s job probably involves using a lot of relationships. The higher up you go in an organization, the more that you have to work to get resources to accomplish goals.

　　其次，你老板的工作可能涉及到动用很多人际关系。你在公司的职位越高，就越需要获取资源来实现目标。

　　You have to navigate office politics to support your team. You are going to need time to develop relationships with other people in the company in order to work with them effectively to get what you want. If you don’t have the trust of other leaders in the organization, you are not going to have the support you require to succeed.

　　你必须驾驭办公室政治来支持你的团队。你需要花时间与公司中的其他同事建立关良好的关系，以便有效地同他们合作以达成你想要的结果。如果你在公司中得不到其他部门主管的信任，将很难打开工作局面。

　　Third, your boss probably has to make a lot of tradeoffs. No organization has all the resources it needs for everything it would like to do.

　　再者，你的老板可能需要做出很多权衡。没有哪一家公司会拥有它想要达成的一切所需的所有资源。

　　There is never enough time, money, personnel, or energy to address all of the problems and opportunities that are out there.

　　往往没有足够的时间、金钱、人力或精力来解决所有问题或是把握一切机遇。

　　As a result, organizations have to prioritize. That process of trading one goal off against another is often invisible to people lower down the hierarchy.

　　因此，公司决策必须考虑优先级。而选择一个目标而舍弃另一个目标这个权衡的过程，通常对于底层员工来说是不可见的。

　　As a result, many decisions may feel like they are arbitrary, which is why you assume you would do them differently.

　　因而许多决定可能看上去很随机，这就是为什么你假设会以不同方式去实现。

　　As soon as you have your boss’s job, though, those tradeoffs become your job. And you will have to know how to balance the competing issues that draw on your resources.

　　但是，一旦你成为了老板的，这些权衡决策就成了你的分内工作。你必须知道如何平衡利用有限的资源来应对各类问题。

　　WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

　　你需要做什么

　　Start by telling your boss you’re interested in moving up. You might think that by doing that, you are putting you and your boss in competition, But good supervisors know that an important part of the job is training the next generation of leaders.

　　首先要告诉你的老板你有兴趣升职。你可能认为，这么一来不就把自己和你的老板变成竞争对手了嘛。但是你要了解，优秀的上司清楚工作的一个重要部分是培养下一代领导者。

　　After all, they can’t be promoted if they can’t be replaced. Expressing a desire can get you into the mix for opportunities to learn about the next-level job.

　　毕竟，如果上司找不到替任的人，他们自己也无法晋升。表达晋升的想法可以帮助你了解上级工作的机会。

　　Ask your boss a lot of questions about how and why decisions are made. If you do that in the context of wanting a promotion in the future, then these questions will be interpreted as requests for information rather than complaints about how things are currently done.

　　你要询问你的老板关于如何以及为何做出决定之类的问题。如果在老板知道你想要升职的情况下这样做，那么这些问题将被理解为对知识的渴求，而不是对当前工作的抱怨。

　　That way, you can learn about the organization’s priorities and how resources are allocated. You may still find that you disagree with some decisions that get made, but if you understand why they are made as they are, you will be in a better position to try to do things differently after you get promoted.

　　这样一来，你就可以了解公司的优先级以及资源如何分配。你可能仍然会发现自己不同意某些决策，但如果你理解为什么会做出这些决定，那么在升职以后，你将能够更好地尝试以不同的方式做事。

　　Finally, start developing relationships with other leaders and supervisors in the company, and try to get some mentoring from them.

　　最后，开始与公司中的其他领导和主管建立关系，并尝试从他们那里获得一些指导。

　　You won’t have that much time to develop the relationships you need after you get into the role. You are better off developing those connections before you need them.

　　当你升职当领导后，你将没有那么多时间来发展所需的人际关系。最好在需要来临之前就拓展这些关系。