“My boss doesn’t recognize that I’m ready for a promotion. How do I help them to see what they’re overlooking?”
I recently participated in a public conversation in which an anonymous community member asked a question that could be paraphrased that way. I’m honestly surprised at how frequently that sentiment comes up in conversations with emerging leaders.
Behind the perception is a truth that someone has been performing very well in their current role. Perhaps they’re even exceptional. And they expect their high performance to qualify them to move into a role with more responsibility (and with it, more respect and more pay).
What these high performers fail to realize is that promotion decisions (at least good ones) don’t weigh their skills in their current role as strongly as they think.
When you find out you didn’t get a promotion that you thought was possible, it’s tempting to put your attention on how you can change the current decision – on highlighting your current skills and successes to prove that passing you over was the wrong decision.
But you’ll be much better served by listening carefully to the skills and behaviors that your company is looking for that predict your success at the next level. If you’ve been told, “here’s what we’re looking for,” then congratulations! You now have the skeleton of your development plan.
If you haven’t heard what qualifies someone for promotion, find that out. Instead of spending any time trying to change the current decision, invest your energy in uncovering what you need to start demonstrating now so that you’ll be ready the next time a promotion opportunity arrives.
And if you’re having trouble learning what that is, let’s talk. Visit https://stevedwire.com/talk to schedule a complimentary conversation.
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