Managers - do you appreciate ambition?

[Anonymous]

I am extremely ambitious. I do good work and have networked very successfully for my short time (less than two years) at my company of 25k: I serve on two visible committees and am a known entity at the executive level. I am always seeking ways to improve processes, happily collaborate, and seek out learning and growth opportunities.

Is ambition appreciated or seen as a pain by managers? I’ve always been straightforward about wanting to advance. Is this a good thing?

[Anonymous]

Double-edged sword. Yes, managers like proactive, engaged employees who help get stuff done, identify material issues, and offer solutions. However, managers don’t like someone who thinks they’re too good for the job and wants a promotion after three months on the job. If you’re doing all the right things and not being promoted or well compensated after two years, you need to leave your manager.

[Anonymous]

I do like ambition when it's paired with strong work ethic/good fundamentals. If someone is sharp and works hard, I will do everything I can to get them in front of the right people and to talk them up. I have had a couple people who had the ambition but their work and skills were not that strong-that's tricky particularly because those tend to be people who don't take feedback well.

[Anonymous]

Within reason. Wanting to progress and achieve is good and helps drive the performance of the organization. But ambition that outstrips the capabilities of the individual or the needs or the organization quickly becomes a burden.

Further, ambition in an individual may be fine, but the same ambition in all individuals on a team is problematic. A good manager pays close attention to the composition of the team and doesn't try to simply collect a bunch of high-performers. Often a team of rockstars can be less than the sum of its parts.

And, as others have said, the ambition needs to exist within moral and ethical boundaries, of course.

[Anonymous]

It depends. If you are ambitious so you get accolades, look smart, crush your competitors, so you can advance then it’s not appreciated. If you are ambitious, have good skills, have good EQ, work well with others and are humble, then that’s very much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

You have to do it in a way that makes them look good. Praise them to the higher ups for enabling your success, keep them in the loop so they are not fumbling when asked about something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends. If you are ambitious so you get accolades, look smart, crush your competitors, so you can advance then it’s not appreciated. If you are ambitious, have good skills, have good EQ, work well with others and are humble, then that’s very much appreciated.

Just replied below you and I agree 100%. Ambition without EQ leaves you bitter that you are going nowhere will people who are half as smart and hardworking are advancing.

[Anonymous]

Ambition, yes!
Ego, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Almost as difficult as low performers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Within reason. Wanting to progress and achieve is good and helps drive the performance of the organization. But ambition that outstrips the capabilities of the individual or the needs or the organization quickly becomes a burden.

Further, ambition in an individual may be fine, but the same ambition in all individuals on a team is problematic. A good manager pays close attention to the composition of the team and doesn't try to simply collect a bunch of high-performers. Often a team of rockstars can be less than the sum of its parts.

And, as others have said, the ambition needs to exist within moral and ethical boundaries, of course.

+1. Ambition in general is seen as a good thing, but like everything it can be taken too far, and an employee whose ambition vastly outstrips their capabilities is probably the worst kind of employee to have, because they inevitably feel slighted and disrespected and view any kind of feedback as their manager “trying to hold them back.” It becomes toxic very quickly.

[Anonymous]

+1 it depends.

In addition to everything already said, you have to actually be doing the work, and it needs to be good.

There's a very ambitious employee in me office who, like you, has made themselves very visible. Problem is this person is too thinly-stretched to actually do their job, and when they do it, their work is mediocre at best. People like this have a definite ceiling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do like ambition when it's paired with strong work ethic/good fundamentals. If someone is sharp and works hard, I will do everything I can to get them in front of the right people and to talk them up. I have had a couple people who had the ambition but their work and skills were not that strong-that's tricky particularly because those tend to be people who don't take feedback well.

I agree with this. I've had some that were super ambitious and expected fast promotion but they didn't take the time to hone their skills/craft or put in the time. These are problematic.

[Anonymous]

+1 it depends. If you have a role with no promotion possible, then ambition runs into a roadblock and ends up as frustration. I have role with clear promotion ladders and other roles that are mainly support position with no real path to promotion. Because of credentialing, there is no way to move between the two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 it depends.

In addition to everything already said, you have to actually be doing the work, and it needs to be good.

There's a very ambitious employee in me office who, like you, has made themselves very visible. Problem is this person is too thinly-stretched to actually do their job, and when they do it, their work is mediocre at best. People like this have a definite ceiling.

And who spread them too thin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 it depends.

In addition to everything already said, you have to actually be doing the work, and it needs to be good.

There's a very ambitious employee in me office who, like you, has made themselves very visible. Problem is this person is too thinly-stretched to actually do their job, and when they do it, their work is mediocre at best. People like this have a definite ceiling.

And who spread them too thin?

Themselves. People volunteer for things that are outside of their job all the time…and create their own issues.