If you’ve ever been performing at the level above your own, and your manager agrees, but you’re not able to get promoted yet… today’s post is for you.
The quality of your work isn’t the only thing in your way when you’re gunning for a promotion. Budgets, headcount, or even the right organisational structure might not be available. So what do you do while you’re waiting around for the business to be ready?
💫 First off, growth =/= promotion.
Promotions are about more than just your performance – they also have to be about the business’ needs at the same time.
Here’s a chart I refer to a lot, which helps you understand promotion timing a bit more clearly:
A matrix showing the business needs vs. individual readiness
While it’s disappointing, there are a few things to keep in mind when you aren’t able to land that promotion when you want it:
A title is just a title – the impact you have matters a lot more, both inside your company and also when you decide to move on to new roles. Titles don’t give you permission to increase your impact, you do that on your own.
A promotion is a lagging indicator – it comes after you’ve already demonstrated that you can consistently perform at that next level.
If you’re building your skills and growing, the time isn’t wasted because those are things you can take with you.
💗 It’s not always about you.
Focus on what you can control: your ability to perform at a higher level. Realistically, you can’t influence headcount planning or department budgets, so try not to worry about them.
If you decide you want to stay at this company because the promotion is a possibility in the future, then focus on building that rock-solid case about your impact and your performance so that when the business is ready, they don’t have any doubts about your capabilities.
☀️ So what can you control?
Until you can influence the title, focus on things you can actually control:
Increase your scope: look beyond your standard remit and find new problems to work on.
Increase the complexity: tackle harder problems with more complex implications
Build your influence: build relationships with stakeholders outside of your usual circle and demonstrate impact to people outside of your team.
Increase your visibility: work on getting to know other leaders and making your impact more clear to those outside of your usual team.
Build your transferrable skills: focus on developing skills that will serve you in your next role.
Save the evidence: keep notes about what you’ve done and the impact you’ve had on the business.
Don’t just sit around waiting for a promotion to come around, build that case!
While it’s always disappointing to hear that your company can’t support your promotion right now, it’s not always the end of the road. If you use your time wisely, you can build that case so that when the business is ready, it’s crystal clear that you are too.
What did you think of this week's post?
Author’s note: this post is written assuming that you’ve decided to stay at your company to wait for the promotion to come around. Of course, this won’t be the right decision for everyone – you may decide that it’s in your best interest to find another role elsewhere. But regardless, it is worth thinking about ways to demonstrate your seniority so that if you go for interviews, you can showcase how you were performing at that next level already.
