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It’s a familiar story. You’re great at your job, you are hyper-productive, and you churn out excellent work. Your colleagues and manager respect you. But, you haven’t been promoted. You wonder why. Shouldn’t hard work and top performance earn you a fast track to the next level? For most people, the answer is no. Though it would be nice if corporate America were a meritocracy, it’s decidedly not. It takes more than just being excellent at your job to be promoted. If you are a high-level individual contributor who wants to be promoted and feels frustrated by your lack of movement, consider implementing the following strategies. If you do, you’ll be promoted within a year.
- Voice your intention to be promoted with your direct boss and skip-level manager. Though you may feel like it’s common sense that you want to be promoted, your manager can’t read your mind. Many people are happy to continue as individual contributors throughout their careers. If that’s not you, it’s important to say so. Once you’ve stated your intention, you must co-create specific and actionable metrics with your manager to help you get there. Consider using the SMART goals framework as you develop your metrics.
- Always keep in mind who you are training to be your replacement. Many high achieving individual contributors don’t get promoted simply because their managers are afraid to lose them. They are too valuable to the team. (This runs counterintuitive to the “if I work hard and do excellent work, I’ll get promoted” logic.) From day one in your job, look around you and decide who you are “training” to be your replacement. You may decide to have an explicit conversation with this individual, or to simply train them a bit more informally. Either way, it’s important to tell your boss that you have a replacement plan. That way, he or she can picture the team functioning without you.
- Look for opportunities to delegate and get strategic. Management requires delegation. You can’t increase your scope, manage people, and still be in the weeds of day-to-day projects. To show your boss that you’re capable of being a manager, you need to first demonstrate that you can zoom out, delegate without formal authority, and get out of project details. You may see opportunities to do this working cross-functionally with other teams, with the summer intern, or even with your direct teammates. Just be careful not to appear to be pawning off your work onto others.
- Create a personal board of directors. It’s crucial to have a group of diverse individuals who can hold you accountable to your goals and advocate for you. State your career intentions with your board, and be open to challenging conversations. Make sure to meet with these individuals at least quarterly.
Many superb individual contributors experience frustration when they are not promoted. By implementing the above strategies, you’ll be on a fast track to management. And remember, it’s not selfish to be intentional and advocate for yourself.
