5 Hard Truths About Getting Promoted
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Now, let’s dive into the article.
The beginning of the year always brings with it a whirlwind of activity. The main culprit? Year-end reviews. As a people manager, this is always an exciting time for me. A time where I get to sit with each of my direct reports in a formalized way and collaboratively measure what worked, what didn’t, and discuss all the learnings that go along with it.
Naturally, this is also the time of year when the topic of annual raises and promotions is brought to the table, either by the manager or, most likely, the employee. For many companies, annual raises via merit are a given, so that ends up being a rather easy discussion to have. Promotions, on the other hand, could be anything but.
I’ve always been fascinated by promotions. Specifically, how they are awarded and how this compares to the expectations of those hoping to get one. From my experience, this gap is absolutely massive.
In my experience leading people for over a decade, this gap is caused by the lack of education on what it actually takes to get a promotion. From when the idea begins to formulate in a person's head and how it eventually becomes reality. Most professionals see this as simply going from point A to B.
However, the process, like most of reality itself, is much more complex than that. More often than not, being considered for a promotion requires a great deal of work on your part, involving multiple steps and touchpoints. It’s the equivalent of completing a Tough Mudder race, which is lengthy and has many obstacles, as opposed to a 100-yard dash.
Regardless of your position, if you have your eyes set on taking that next step in your career, this is the article for you. The writing below is something I wish I had a decade ago as I navigated through my own career. It strips away all the fluff and completely rips the bandaid off, leaving you with the “hard truths” we must become familiar with, accept, and be prepared for to ensure expectations and reality are aligned.
This article wasn't written to discourage you in any way. If anything, it's to prepare you for reality and what your superiors may be too uncomfortable to say to your face. Take any discomfort you may feel and use it as fuel to push forward, because no one really cares about your career. That responsibility lies with you.
Let's get started with number 1.
1. Getting Promoted is Solely Your Responsibility
Many professionals make the grave mistake of thinking that it's someone else's responsibility for their promotion. They believe that if they stay in a position long enough and master the skill set required for that role, it becomes their manager's duty not only to recognize their achievements but also to take proactive steps in promoting them to a new title with greater responsibilities.
Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The reality is that you, as the professional, are responsible for pushing your career forward. Everything from documenting your biggest wins to highlighting your accumulation of skills rests on your shoulders. Just as importantly, you have to be your own cheerleader. You need to consistently demonstrate to your manager the great work you are doing, and above all else, show how your strengths are actually becoming more of an asset and how your weaknesses are becoming…well… not so weak.
What does this look like in reality? For starters, you have to fight for the toughest and most visible projects when they become available. You need to carve out time in 1:1s with your manager for long-term planning, and you have to report on the quantifiable wins as you accomplish them. Remember, it's very easy to argue with opinions; data is much harder to argue against. Use data to map out your accomplishments and growth.
And while your manager may not play as key of a role as originally thought, they do play a crucial part in being the enabler of your growth. Offering both opportunities to pick up new skills while also putting the spotlight firmly on you. So when you do great work, it will eventually be noticed by the people that matter.
Overall, get in the habit of treating your own career as a living, breathing business. Constantly evaluate yourself, measure and document progress, and build yourself up with a solid marketing campaign. Lots of work, but it's the tried and true way.
2. Promotions Take Careful Planning & Time To Develop
This was an eye-opener for me when I learned it earlier in my career, and it may be a surprise to you as well. When we do good work and start to internally believe we deserve some sort of promotion, or at least greater responsibilities, we tend to stop there, at least for a while. Our desire for a promotion stays stuck in our minds, and we don’t take that extra bit of initiative early on to communicate this to our manager. By the time we do raise it with our boss, our expectations have been set for a while, and our patience is on a short leash. We want a promotion and we want it now!
What professionals often fail to realize is that the moment they bring their promotion request to their boss, it marks the beginning of the process. Consider it a trigger, setting things into motion, albeit at an unbelievably slow pace. We are nowhere near the finish line at this point.
In many companies, promotions are planned out many months in advance, sometimes even years. This is due to various reasons, with some of the most common ones revolving around specific budget allocations, gaining buy-in for a new role, or the employee's growth not being fully demonstrated yet. Each of these aspects, as you can imagine, takes time to develop and nurture into something concrete.
The hard truth is, you need to, more often than not, raise your desire for a promotion and do so consistently with the expectation it won't fully manifest itself for a least 6-12 months in the future. Regardless if you are an exceptional employee or not, sometimes time is a factor you just can’t overcome.
What should your plan be here? It’s relatively simple. Avoid asking for a promotion expecting a yes or no answer, especially if this is your manager's first time hearing about it. Instead, have an open discussion with your boss as early as possible on what you can do to prepare for the next step in your career. Mutually work on a roadmap you can revisit at least quarterly to always keep a steady pace and a laser focus on the goal. This isn’t an ultimatum with your boss; it's a slow, gradual process to get what you both want.
3. Promotions Require Just As Much Luck As Skill
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much work you put in, how adeptly you navigate office politics, or how exceptional you are in your role. The hard truth is that luck plays a significant role in securing a promotion, sometimes even more so than all of those other factors combined.
Why is that? There are a few reasons for this.
For starters, you can’t secure a promotion unless the right opportunity opens up. It usually isn’t a matter of ticking all the boxes and then seamlessly transitioning into a new role; luck comes into play when the role you’re seeking to be promoted into opens up due to a departure, or something entirely new emerges that matches well with your skills.
Your boss also plays a crucial role here, specifically in terms of their own growth potential. In many cases, I’ve observed employees being promoted earlier than expected simply because they had outstanding bosses who paved the way for them by securing their own promotions. Essentially, it's about riding the wave to more opportunities. Nothing will make you luckier than an exceptional boss who always gets promoted.
To take things even further, promotions are sometimes linked to the strategic direction the company is expected to take. Whether it's expanding globally or creating a new product line, each of these factors could result in one employee being promoted faster than another, simply based on their location or active involvement in the new product line.
In short, being exceptional may lead to consideration for an opportunity when it arises. However, the opportunity itself often depends heavily on luck.
4. Promotions Require Proof of Potential, Not Just Skill
From a manager's point of view, every promotion can be seen as a risk, as it involves not only placing an employee into a new role with new skills but also creating a gap in the position that particular employee is leaving behind. When viewed this way, a manager may find themselves with two roles to fill if the promotion doesn't work out for any reason.
To mitigate this risk to a reasonable level, many managers now expect the employee to not only demonstrate the mastery of skills and relevant experience required for their current role but also exhibit the potential to succeed in whatever comes next.
That's why it's critical to consistently think and play the long game for your career. Volunteering for new challenges, actively participating in highly visible projects, and placing yourself in uncomfortable situations are usually excellent ways for personal growth that demonstrates potential externally.
The question you need to ask yourself is, "What's next?" For instance, if you aspire to take on a managerial role or lead a department, key areas of responsibility will include people management, cross-functional leadership, and conflict resolution. If you currently don't have these responsibilities, how can you demonstrate your ability to handle them to the relevant stakeholders?
And a hard truth within a hard truth, showing potential takes a great deal of effort. It’s hard to master your current role, while slowly adding in tasks of the role your gunning for. However, it’s often necessary to get ahead.
5. Promotions Often Require A Village
Another hiccup I often observe is the perception that your manager has THE key decision-making authority regarding your promotion.
This is far from the truth. Often, there are multiple layers of approval, ranging from your boss's peers to the finance team that controls the budget and ultimately makes the decision to act on your promotion. In other words, two key factors are at play here. First, sometimes coworkers with whom you barely interact with or who have little interest in your career are part of the decision-making process. Second, the people you do work closely with, especially more senior members of the company, are often asked for their opinion of you.
To put this bluntly, every project that you manage and every relationship that you don’t build can come back to haunt you during crunch time. Winning your manager over will, more often than not, just result in a boss who is truly impressed with your skills and speaks highly of you. As I mentioned at the start of this article, no one really cares about your career and if you get promoted, especially if they barely know you or have a bad impression of you. It’s up to you to build those relationships and ensure that you only deliver exceptional work.
Where your manager can play a role on your behalf is by advocating for the promotion and highlighting your capabilities to the key decision-makers. So yes, you initially need to win your boss over by addressing all the hard truths mentioned above, with the understanding that there is still another layer in your way.
So what can you do with all of this? To me, it's simple. Always work on your personal brand by focusing on your capabilities and potential, regardless of the audience. Building relationships across multiple business lines in your company will make that additional layer less of a hurdle than it might otherwise be.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article sheds a bit more light on what it actually takes to get a promotion and puts you on the path to getting there. Remember, not everything will be under your control, and things will most likely take a turn outside of your favor, but that’s just the reality of the situation. Your job is to keep as many doors open in your favor as possible, so when a few do shut in your face, it’s not as big of a deal.
Lastly, no one is really looking out for your career. The world of work is just too hectic and overloaded with stuff for people to have the time to care. The work rests in your hands, which, in my opinion, is where it should be.