You’ve done the hard yards; gone the extra mile and you’re adding value to the organisation. You feel it’s high time your efforts are recognised and you get to climb up the next rung of the corporate ladder. So, how do you go about convincing the powers that be that you have promotion potential?
“When employees want to be promoted, it could be for a number of reasons: they want to be rewarded and recognised for their contributions; they desire higher seniority or status in the organisation; they are looking to contribute more significantly to the organisation; or they want to lead others and get a better salary or benefits,” says Gontse Madumo, Talent Acquisition Lead for Sub Saharan Africa at Mondelēz International.
“When employees feel they are ready, they need to interrogate what the need is really about. This is something I feel isn’t done enough. In my many years of screening candidates, when asking them why they would like to leave their current employer, they will usually say “growth” without clearly interrogating what growth means for them.”
Honest self-evaluation is critical
Is it a larger scope of work, for example, from a local role to a multinational one? Or is it the opportunity to lead others? Or is it about more income? When we understand this, we can more easily chart our course in terms of the opportunities that are best suited to us and those that are not. Being discerning will ensure we make good career decisions, to the benefit of our overall wellbeing and mental health.
One of the most salient skills of our time is self-awareness. To determine our own promotability, we need to ask ourselves the following:
- Am I meeting or exceeding the expectations of my current role?
- Would others agree with this evaluation of myself?
- Do I have the requisite qualifications, experience and skills for my next potential opportunity?
- Have I displayed a strong work ethic and can I be trusted with more responsibility?
- Will my promotion be within the same department or organisation?
Madumo says honest self-evaluation is more important than anyone else’s ideas of who we are or how others think we are contributing. “That said, it is not a bad idea to seek counsel from a line leader, coach, mentor or even colleagues, who know and experience our contributions to the organisation.”
This self-evaluation exercise is also an opportunity to identify gaps in our promotability. “Perhaps we find that although we have a stellar list of qualifications, growth is required in terms of our work ethic or leadership capability, presenting an opportunity for self-development,” notes Madumo.
What does success look like for you?
At this stage it may be “late” for us to learn that we aren’t where we thought we were. It’s a good idea to make self-evaluation a habit throughout our careers and not wait until we are completely frustrated in our current jobs to consider our promotability.
When entering any new organisation, career or role, we need to consider what success looks like for us – whether it’s a promotion or a lateral move – and what it will take to get there. With this in our view, we need to chip away towards it in everything we do. There may not be value in being loud about it, but certainly being vocal is necessary.
Madumo cautions that promotions are not common, because there are less opportunities at the top and typically a lot of competition for them. “We need to be kind to ourselves if it doesn’t happen as quickly as we anticipated and, importantly, we should not let the lack of a promotion take the wind out of our sails.
“Getting promoted requires a combination of hard work, dedication and strategy. Being intentional by setting goals, mastering our current roles, networking for success, being proactive, and engaging in continuous learning can do wonders in improving our chances and making ourselves noticeable. It may take time, but it is achievable with the right tools in our arsenals,” she concludes.
10 tips to showcase your promotion potential:
- Network and build your relationships within the organisation – sponsors speak for you in rooms where you are not present.
- Identify opportunities to shadow your leader or other leaders you can learn from.
- Attend meetings with your leaders.
- Request additional responsibilities where your leaders can observe your readiness.
- Take on the frogs – the tasks your boss doesn’t enjoy doing are a great thing to take off his or her plate and show your ability to deliver on them.
- Raise your hand at every opportunity.
- Request regular feedback from your boss and others.
- Continuous learning will set you apart from others. Do this by reading or even completing short courses.
- Become intimately familiar with the goals, challenges and day-to-day tasks that you and your colleagues deal with – herein lies potential innovation.
- Take on leadership opportunities in your current role by mentoring junior team members.
