A common mistake people make as they grow their careers is that promotions come from showing up and delivering on objectives and key results. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that hard work is hardly noticed. Another mistake people make when growing their careers is thinking promotions are due based on tenure. Gone are the days of lifetime employment. The harder you work, the less your boss notices you. Consequently, the less you get. So how do you get a promotion when the competition is high and good work alone goes unnoticed?
Many of us were raised with the lie that hard work speaks for itself. But, unfortunately, when growing your career, that isn’t enough to get a promotion. While playing office politics to climb the corporate ladder might turn you off, there is nothing wrong with wanting to have your hard work noticed. Getting a promotion is the pinnacle of recognition for most people. So how can you get recognition for the value you bring and ultimately a promotion you have earned beyond showing up and working hard?
1) Talk to your boss
Your boss needs to know you want to grow your career. Furthermore, you need to know what it will take to do so. Therefore, talking to your boss is required to get a promotion. However, you don’t want to flat out ask them for a promotion. Instead, there are subtle ways to get the message across.
- Present your progress by talking about how you feel you are meeting the current expectations and ask for more responsibility
- Make their job easier by offering to take on problems they are working to solve
- Volunteer to be their back-up when they go on vacation
- Identify gaps within the department and offer to take on closing them
There are plenty of ways to ask your boss how you can get a promotion without actually asking. Get creative and look for a problem to solve.
2) Start campaigning
Building relationships around the organization is important. Start having regular check-ins with your peers. Find out what they are working on, where they are struggling, and what you can do to help. More importantly, ask how they are doing in general. Provide positive feedback on recent achievements and wins they’ve recently had. Taking a genuine interest in your peers professionally and personally demonstrates care for people, which helps you get a promotion.
Additionally, start having regular check-ins with senior leaders. Here again, you want to take a genuine interest in what they are working on and the problems they are facing. Next, identify how your role helps or hurts their ability to reach their goals. Finally, find out what you could do differently in your role that would help their team. Regular meetings with senior leaders give you visibility up and down the organization, which will help you get a promotion.
What you learn from meeting with peers and senior leaders will give you ideas on what issues need solving around the organization. You will also identify the need for a cross-functional team to solve those problems. And that creates an opportunity for you to lead a team or project. Even more, you will have a solid understanding of the pulse of the organization. That information is invaluable to senior leaders because they want to maintain a positive culture and have happy employees. As a result, you are becoming well-positioned to get a promotion.
3) Enlist an executive or other leader as a mentor
Having a diverse group of mentors will help you get a promotion. However, I don’t recommend that you approach someone asking them to be your mentor. Instead, it should develop naturally over time. As you go about your campaigning, you will find opportunities to ask for feedback on your work and advice on reaching a daunting goal. Additionally, you can ask for advice on something you are working to implement or a gap you have identified within the organization. Finally, ask if you can role-play a difficult conversation you need to have with someone.
Over time your mentoring relationship will grow organically, which is the best kind of mentoring you can get. Not only will the senior leaders provide valuable coaching, but they will become strong advocates of you behind closed doors to other executives. Furthermore, they will introduce you to other senior leaders, which will help you get a promotion and protect you from negative publicity. All of these benefits will help you get a promotion.
4) Keep a journal of achievements and key learnings
During conversations with your boss and while campaigning, having a list of achievements and key learnings (AKA failures) is helpful when you want to get a promotion. For example, track your accomplishments, how you exceeded a goal or timeline, shoutouts you’ve received, and any metrics you were responsible for meeting. In addition, track what didn’t work so well, what you learned from the experience, and how you will apply that learning in the future.
Being able to speak to the great work you have done or how you learned and pivoted due to a mistake is the evidence you need to get a promotion at work. The list will also help you demonstrate your keen soft skills that show you can work well with others, problem-solve, and manage competing priorities. All of these things are necessary when your boss is considering you for a promotion.
5) Find or create opportunities to join a cross-functional committee
Being a part of a cross-functional committee is crucial when you want to get a promotion at work. Working in employee committees and cross-functional project teams will give your visibility and expands your skills. In addition, they present networking opportunities to build relationships around the organization and give you a deeper knowledge of the organization’s inner workings.
Organizational committees and cross-functional teams are opportunities to demonstrate initiative, leadership, and communication. If you want to get a promotion at work, ask to participate in one of these groups whenever the opportunity arises.
6) Ask for feedback and apply it
Feedback is a gift. Taking feedback with grace and without getting defensive demonstrates that you are ready to get a promotion. But don’t restrict feedback to your boss. Ask for feedback up, down, and across the organization. Doing so helps you understand your reputation at work. Ask junior and senior employees and clients if you have direct client contact.
Next, meet with your boss for feedback. Present your progress, key learnings, and the strengths and weaknesses you identified in the previous step. Tell your boss what areas you want to tackle first and ask them for advice or guidance. Find out if they agree with what has been identified and how you prioritized what you want to focus on. Asking peers, senior leaders, and your boss for specific feedback helps you get a promotion.
7) Identify and offer to solve problems no one is talking about
If you want to get a promotion at work, you have to think about what the company needs to solve. Every organization wants employees to contribute, but they highly value the employees who solve their biggest problems. Additionally, solving the problems that keep the C-suite up at night puts you on the fast track to getting a promotion.
Identifying and offering to solve problems no one is talking about improves the value you bring to the organization. In addition, the process exposes you to a broader range of company initiatives that expand your knowledge, skills, and experience. Even more, it will lead to opportunities to grow your career and get a promotion.
8) Recognize and motivate others
Getting a promotion at work requires the ability to inspire and motivate others. Unfortunately, too many people make the mistake of self-promoting. Recognizing others has a positive impact on making yourself look good. Additionally, recognition tends to be reciprocal.
Offer to run your team meetings and bring recognition and motivation to the agenda. If you find yourself on a cross-functional team, do the same. Leading team meetings showcases your ability to coordinate group efforts and communicate status updates and demonstrates you can lead and motivate your team members. All of these traits are necessary when you want to get a promotion at work.
9) Become a positive presence around the office
You need to demonstrate many traits when you want to get a promotion at work. Top among them is the ability to remain calm and positive when faced with pressure. Help your team navigate the many emotions of change by keeping their spirits high and staying positive. Doing so results in a more conducive work environment for all. Additionally, you are solving a problem for your boss because they won’t have to deal with much of the drama that usually ensues a change within the organization.
Leaders are expected to maintain a positive attitude. Establishing yourself as a positive presence around the office keeps people feeling good when they hear your name. In addition, having a reputation of being positive and a can-do attitude will help you get a promotion at work.
10) Ready your succession plan
When is a good time to train your replacement? The day you start your job. If you want to get a promotion, someone will need to replace you in your current role. If you’ve been hoarding information and keeping your processes in your head, it is time to start documenting. Cross-train your peers on how to do what you do. Document the processes and job aids that are easy for someone to pick up and run with. Start developing others on your team to take on some of your responsibilities.
By having a succession plan in place, or well-documented processes, you can show your boss that the team will continue to deliver as you take on additional responsibilities. Solving who will replace you by having thought through how you will hand off some of your responsibilities is a sign you are ready to get a promotion. Additionally is shows confidence because most people are too afraid to train their replacement out of fear they will be replaced.
11) Stay resilient
Growing your career and getting a promotion can be a tedious journey. You may not get the promotion the first time you try, or even after several tries. So, when you want to get a promotion at work, you have to stay resilient and positive. You will have to push through any setbacks and consistently deliver at the highest level. You must maintain your motivation so your effort continues to shine.
When you feel your motivation slipping, ask yourself why you want to get promoted and why you should. Remembering your why will motivate you to continue working hard and keeps your promotion plan moving forward.
12) Maintain your strong work ethic
Work performance is the ultimate deciding factor when it comes to getting a promotion at work. Therefore, it is vital that you consistently show up every day and demonstrate a solid work ethic. Set the bar of what an exceptional employee looks like and become the standard.
Your current performance should demonstrate you have mastered your role and are ready for more challenging assignments. Following these tips will distinguish you as promotion-ready.
The twelve tips outlined above are habits you should develop and practice all the time, not just to get a promotion. Because if you only follow these tips to get a promotion at work and then let them fall to the wayside, it becomes manipulation.
