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Before we look into the 3 steps to guarantee your promotion, let us first think from the perspective of our managers.
Why do they seem so stingy handing out promotions in the first place?
Understanding these limitations will help us understand how to get the promotion you deserve.
Below are 3 of the most common reasons given by managers to turn down promotions:
1. Limited Company budget
I bet you heard this one before. Every department has a fixed pool of money that the department manager can distribute among her employees.
Because the pool of money is fixed, a promotion to you (a.k.a. more money to you) means less money for other people.
Therefore, from management’s point of view, unless your performance was off the chart, it is in her best interest to give you an average grade.
In such organizations, top performers will be upset and even consider leaving the firm for being underappreciated, while the mass will be satisfied. This situation is more common when the manager is conflict-averse.
2. Similar Performance
Another common argument is that everybody is doing a good job.
This is more true if what you do consists mostly of back-office work: accounting, legal, administrative, etc.
There is always work that needs to get done. But the work you do is not directly connected to the profitability of your firm—you help the engine run but the engine will keep running even without you.
For example, you can be an excellent accountant. But unless you are the CFO who gets to decide your firm’s most appropriate debt to equity ratio to save cost in the long run, you will most likely carry out operational tasks that do not have a direct impact on the firm’s financials.
In such an environment, it is difficult to stand out; therefore, management does not have any reason to promote you over other people who are working just as well.
3. Unclear Metrics
It gets even more complicated if the work you perform is different from other members within your department.
For example, I work in the Corporate Planning Division.
In this division, there are people who are involved in network testing, scheduling and arranging large events, supporting the accounting team, and so on and so forth.
Everybody’s task is different from that of everybody else. So it is tricky for management to discern who’s work is more or less difficult or valuable. Then, how can they possibly know who is doing a better or worse job?
But here is the good news. If you follow the next 3 steps, you will be able to overcome all these obstacles and convince management why YOU deserve a promotion:
- Clearly communicate your expectation to your manager
- Perform up and beyond what was agreed
- Schedule regular check-ins to review performance and subtly hold your manager accountable
Let’s jump right into it.
1. Clearly communicate your expectation to your manager
You must clearly inform your manager of your expectation to be promoted by a certain date.
It seems obvious, but I am surprised at how little people actually tell their manager that they want to get a promotion.
People hope their manager will understand their hard work; however, the truth is, if you do not communicate your expectation, chances are that she will just gloss over you. Managers are busy and do not think of you as much as you think they should. Therefore, it is critical that you find time to communicate your expectation.
The next step is to get your manager to agree on the criteria for success—the key tasks and KPIs associated with each task that will guarantee your promotion by said period.
To pull this off well, you must be prepared in advance. Before you meet your manager, think from her perspective.
What tasks, if done well, will make your manager want to promote you?
Step 1: Plan Ahead
Look at the next 6 to 12 months and prepare in detail the key tasks you will perform. Also, set quantifiable KPIs linked to each task to hold yourself accountable. Make sure that the tasks are ambitious and challenging enough to grab your manager’s attention.
A helpful tip here is to set ambitious yet manageable goals. The keyword is ‘manageable’. You do not want to push yourself to the extreme—just enough to impress your manager. The last thing you want to do is jeopardize your health or social life for a promotion. Leave enough wiggle room to slack off here and there. Obviously, you should hide this fact from your manager!
Step 2: Get Buy-in From Manager
Then, present your plan to your manager and see if she agrees with it.
She might not agree. But that’s ok. Ask her what else she would like you to do. Tweak the tasks and KPIs until she agrees that your plan is aggressive and challenging enough to merit a promotion.
It is very important that by the time this meeting ends your manager agrees with your game plan.
This is because the game plan you made that she agreed to will lock her into a deal with you and will hold her accountable.
Leverage Accountability
The keyword to remember here is ‘accountability’. When people feel accountable for something, they commit. Nobody wants to be exposed as a liar.
By holding your manager accountable for agreeing to your game plan and promotion, it is more likely that she will give you the promotion.
I used the word ‘accountability’ quite bluntly here, but the last thing you want to do is come off as bossy and imposing accountability on your manager. Your manager should always perceive you as humble, respectful, and kind. You want her to feel accountable but you do not want to explicitly make her feel this way.
2. Perform up and beyond what was agreed
Next, you must live up to your manager’s expectations by performing up and beyond what was agreed.
It always helps to overperform so that your manager feels comfortable with giving you a promotion.
Remember I mentioned you should add some wiggle room in your game plan? You can use that wiggle room to increase your output quality and impress your manager.
Mind you, overperformance does not mean working longer hours. It means to working effectively—delivering what is needed in the shortest time possible.
To achieve high performance, you should master the following:
1) Understand what you need to do
You need to have a crystal clear understanding of what your task is. Make sure you understand what is being asked and actively ask clarifying questions to define the exact scope of your work.
You do not want to end up solving the wrong problem.
2) Align on the success criteria
You cannot boil the ocean. If you do not align with your manager on the expected output, you could pour in all the time and resource in the world and still get a B- performance.
Dig deep into your manager’s head and try to understand what her expectations are—align on what she defines as ‘success’.
3) Make a game plan
Leverage the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule: “80% of the result is caused by 20% of the cause”.
There can be a million approaches to solve a problem, but you do not have the time or resources to explore more than a handful. Focus on the 20% that will create 80% of the result you are aiming for. The key here is focus, focus, and focus.
It is helpful if you master MECE thinking and drawing Issue Trees. If you would like to learn more, I wrote extensive articles covering this topic here, here, and here.
Build a game plan that prioritizes the most important branches that will meet your manager’s ‘success’ criteria.
4) Ruthlessly execute in short sprints with frequent check-ins
You should overcome the desire to present a perfect output to your manager.
Imagine your task is a hot potato. The longer you hold onto it, the more it burns. You want to get rid of it as soon as you can.
What this means is, once you have a rough draft complete, toss it over to your manager so that she can provide feedback for improvement. (Of course, the ‘rough draft’ should be presentable and insightful enough to merit your manager’s attention!)
Once you get your manager’s feedback, work on improving your deliverables, and then toss it back to your manager for second feedback.
There should be a tight loop between working on your manager’s feedback and seeking your manager’s feedback until there is nothing more to improve.
Doing this will help your manager understand that you are a good listener, work fast, and are diligent.
5) Present like a boss
Once you know that your output is up to management’s expectations, all you have to do now is nail the final presentation.
By this point, your manager knows all that you had to go through to get to this point; therefore, when you present, start with the conclusion first. Then, dig deeper into evidence and example if requested.
When you present, number your ideas. What I mean to say is, for example, instead of saying:
“to boost revenue we should increase marketing spending, increase sales staff, and build a tiered pricing plan”,
you should say:
“There are 3 things we should do to boost revenue. First, we should increase marketing spending. Second, we should increase sales staff. Third, we should build a tiered pricing plan”.
Having items numbered makes it easy for the listener to remember what you are saying. It also has the additional benefit of making you look smart.
If you are interested in a tailored 1on1 class where I sit down with you and help you maximize performance and continuously impress your manager, click here.
3. Schedule regular check-ins to review performance and subtly hold your manager accountable
I have already explained this in “4) Ruthlessly execute in short sprints with frequent check-ins”. But I pulled this part aside to emphasize the importance of this step.
You can be the smartest person in the room, but if you are not good at exposing your work, you will not get recognized. This will negatively impact your chances on getting a promotion.
Remember, if you clearly communicated your expectation on being promoted by a certain date and your performance matches your manager’s expectation, your manager will be highly inclined to give you a promotion. But if you do not check-in regularly with your manager to go over your performance, your hard work may evaporate into thin air.
The only way that she will feel accountable for giving you a promotion, is if you frequently show up and demonstrate that you are doing a good job.
Having this in mind, it is helpful to schedule a check-in with your manager once every 2 months to go over your tasks and KPIs to make sure that you are going down the right path to promotion.
Be careful, however, not to show off or brag about how good you are.
There is a brilliant (and a bit evil) book called “The 48 Laws Of Power” written by Robert Greene. The first chapter of the book is titled “Never Outshine Your Master”.
If you are a rising star, your manager will want to put your light out rather than have you shine brighter if you overshadow or jeopardize her career.
Therefore, if you are ever in this situation—being better than your manager—make sure to downplay your role and help your manager shine.
Unless your manager is a sociopath, she will greatly appreciate your humility and help promote your success throughout the organization. Help achieve her goal and she will add wings to your career so you can soar high.
TLDR Summary
In today’s article, we explored 3 things you must do to secure the promotion you deserve.
First, align with your manager on your future tasks and set quantifiable KPIs that would be enough to ensure your promotion by a certain time. It is important that your manager agrees with your game plan. The objective here is to make your manager feel accountable for giving you a promotion if you complete the tasks and achieve KPIs that she agreed to (without you explicitly saying so).
Second, do as promised, and go up and beyond your manager’s expectations to meet the promotion criteria you both agreed on. You cannot expect to get a promotion without working. The key here is to not working long hours but working effectively—delivering impactful results in a short time period. If you would like a customized 1on1 lesson where I sit down with you and teach you how to consistently deliver high-quality output, click here.
Third, check in regularly with your manager and demonstrate how your performance matches the promotion criteria. Your work loses value if you are not able to present it well to management. Therefore, frequent check-ins on your progress are essential to reminding your manager that you are doing an excellent job.
These are the 3 steps that I used to become promoted to manager this year just 6 months into my new role. I hope it helps you on your career journey as well.
Let me know what you think. If there are other helpful advices you picked up to quickly climb the corporate ladder, please let me know! I would love to learn and improve. 🙂