Promotions, The Hard Part

After writing a lot about promotions for the last two weeks, I’m certain there is a valuable book to be written on the topic. The work around promotions encapsulates many skills you need to develop as both an individual and a leader, but… someone else needs to write that book. I’ve got two books in the queue and can’t afford another yet.

The second half of the Promotion article is more actionable. It’s the part I wrote first before I wrote how to understand your particular promotion process better. I am going to avoid repeating the article in this announcement except for a key message:

Please do not assume that your manager is doing the daily work to make sure you are on track for promotion.

This is not to say that your manager is a bad manager or doesn’t have the skills; the role of a manager is a constant game of prioritization. If your manager is anything like me, we’ll cross the easy stuff off the to-do list first and push the hard stuff to later when “I can devote a proper amount of attention.” This flawed prioritization is one of the root causes that your manager ignores the promotion process until it’s too late.

The work of your next promotion is work that needs to occur all year, and I’m of the belief there is both a burden and an opportunity on you to make sure there is constant progress.

Happy Tuesday. I hope you enjoy the piece.