????親愛的安妮：我的一位朋友給我發(fā)來一篇您的專欄文章，說的是如何從單打獨斗的“明星”員工成功轉(zhuǎn)型為管理者，但我早在幾年前就已經(jīng)完成了這一步，不過是在另外一家公司。實際上，我現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)開始后悔離開那家公司。因為自從進入現(xiàn)在這家公司，我的職業(yè)發(fā)展似乎就遭遇了瓶頸。我的績效評估一直很優(yōu)秀，我領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的部門也獲得過幾次大的成功，我認為自己已經(jīng)具備獲得晉升的條件。可我的老板并不這么想。他對我最主要的意見是我“太過注重細節(jié)”。

????所以，我有兩個問題。首先，真的有“太過關(guān)注細節(jié)”這回事嗎？或者，這只是他故意釋放的煙霧彈，只是因為有些原因他不想告訴我？第二，我在生活中也特別注意細節(jié)，而這一直被我看成是自己的優(yōu)勢。為了得到提拔，我應(yīng)該改變自己的個性嗎？（我有可能做到嗎？）——SIN

????親愛的SIN：對這個問題感到疑惑的人不止你一個。與從前相比，升職變得更加困難，主要是由于幾個原因。首先，明尼阿波利斯市領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力開發(fā)與培訓(xùn)公司PDI Ninth House的高級副總裁斯圖?克蘭德爾解釋道：“全球經(jīng)濟衰退是原因之一。公司大幅裁員，許多職位被合并，結(jié)果就造成了管理職位‘僧多粥少’的局面。”

????他補充道，即便在此之前，公司也已經(jīng)開始大幅精簡，砍掉了大量的管理職位。克蘭德爾說：“所以，我們經(jīng)常發(fā)現(xiàn)許多人并沒有向上晉升，而是另辟蹊徑，選擇到其他公司任職，來獲得更豐富的經(jīng)驗，提高自身知名度。有時候甚至?xí)越瞪矸荩康亩际菫榱宋磥碓诼殘龅缆飞细M一步。所以，如今中層升職的道路變成了一條曲線，而不再是直線。對于‘學(xué)校里的好學(xué)生們’來說，對這一點可能很難接受。”

????另外一個眾所周知的原因則是，人們被提升到更高職位后超高的失敗比例。研究顯示，這一比例甚至高達40%。克蘭德爾指出：“在將員工提高一個級別，承擔更大職責時，公司會非常謹慎。許多管理者得到晉升后卻只是曇花一現(xiàn)，這樣的可怕故事我們已經(jīng)聽說過很多。許多高管也曾告訴我們，要適應(yīng)更高的工作崗位，遠比想象中困難得多。”所以，公司謹慎一些也就不足為奇了。

????了解到這些之后，PDI Ninth House的研究人員開始分析，成功得到升職的因素到底有哪些。研究人員深入研究了公司數(shù)據(jù)庫中37,000份個人能力測評，最終出爐了兩份報告——其中一份是關(guān)于五個級別的管理職位（從中層團隊領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人到CEO）一步步提升所需要具備的經(jīng)驗，另一份報告則調(diào)查了在每個級別幫助或妨礙績效的個性品質(zhì)。

????當然，克蘭德爾承認：“每個公司的文化都存在差別。但有些品質(zhì)是所有公司打算對員工委以重任時都會考慮的因素，比如充沛的精力和戰(zhàn)略思考能力等。這些都屬于常量。”

????而對你而言，過度關(guān)注細節(jié)可能確實扯了你的后腿。正如一項名為“個性與領(lǐng)導(dǎo)補給線”的研究所說：“把細節(jié)問題交給下屬，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者應(yīng)該關(guān)注更多整體性的、全面性的問題。”換句話說，你可能需要學(xué)會放權(quán)，將更多注意力轉(zhuǎn)移到大局上來。

????克蘭德爾說：“如果一名高級經(jīng)理人過于專注日常工作中的雞毛蒜皮，表明你會對下屬采取微觀管理方式。而這會讓他們與你更加疏遠，也就意味著，你并沒有充分進行戰(zhàn)略思考。”

????他補充道，幸運的是，“你不需要改變自己的個性。只要改變自己的行為方式即可。只要不在工作場合，你還是可以注重細節(jié)，做回你自己。但只要在辦公室里，你就要學(xué)會下意識的把細節(jié)分配給其他人，追蹤他們的進度，而不必事必親躬。”

????Dear Annie:A friend of mine sent me your column about getting promoted from the individual "star" level into management, but I already made that jump a few years ago at a different company. In fact, I'm starting to regret having left there because, ever since I signed on with my current employer, my career seems to have stalled out. My performance reviews have been great, my department has had several big successes, and I think I'm ready for the next level. My boss, however, disagrees. His main criticism is that I'm "too detail-oriented."

????So I have two questions. First, is there really such a thing as being too detail-oriented, or could that be a smokescreen for something else he doesn't want to tell me? And second, I've been extremely attentive to detail all my life -- which usually has been an advantage -- so do I have to change my personality to get promoted? (Is that even possible?) --Stuck in Neutral

????Dear Stuck:No doubt you aren't the only one wondering. Getting promoted is tougher than it used to be, for a couple of reasons. First, "the global recession has been a factor," notes Stu Crandell, a senior vice president at Minneapolis-based leadership development and coaching firm PDI Ninth House. "Organizations let so many people go that lots of positions got consolidated, so there are fewer management jobs to move into."

????Even before that, he adds, companies had been running leaner and cutting out layers of management jobs. "So often, instead of an upward move, we're seeing people move sideways in companies, to get broader experience and visibility, or sometimes even taking a step down in rank in order to prepare to move up later," Crandell says. "It's become more of a zigzag path, rather than straight up. This is hard for 'A students' to accept."

????Then there's the notoriously lofty failure rate of people promoted into bigger jobs, which according to some studies runs as high as 40%. "Companies are being extremely cautious about moving people from one level to the next higher one," Crandell observes, and no wonder: "We've heard plenty of horror stories about managers who got promoted and then flamed out -- and executives themselves often tell us how much harder it is to adjust to a bigger job than they thought it would be."

????With all that in mind, a team of researchers at PDI Ninth House set out to analyze exactly what leads to a successful upward move. Mining information from the firm's database of 37,000 individual executive assessments, the researchers wrote two reports -- one about the specific kinds of experience that prepare people to rise through five levels of management (from midlevel team leader to CEO), and the other examining the personality traits that help or hinder performance at each level.

????"Of course, there are some variations from one corporate culture to another," Crandell acknowledges. "But some traits, like high levels of energy and the ability to think strategically, are common to every company as people take on more responsibility. They're constants."

????In your case, it seems that extreme attention to detail may indeed be holding you back. As the study, which was titled "Personality and the Leadership Pipeline," puts it, "Leaving the details to direct reports, leaders focus on more integrative and holistic issues." In other words, you may need to learn to let go of the small stuff and focus more on the big picture.

????Says Crandell, "If you're too deep in the weeds with the day-to-day minutiae as a senior manager, you'll micromanage the people below you. That's likely to alienate them, and it probably means you're not thinking strategically enough."

????Luckily, he adds, "You don't have to change your personality. You just have to alter your behavior at work. Once you leave the office, you can be as controlling and detail-oriented as you want -- but while you're there, you can learn to consciously delegate the details to others, and keep track of their activities without doing everything yourself."