Job Promotion, an HR exec explains what it takes to earn your next jump

Job Promotion, an HR exec explains what it takes to earn your next jump Why the Job Promotion  is a mystery What we call potential and our managers call potential are two different things. Confirm what potential looks like! Why the Job Promotion  is a mystery Landing  a job promotion isnt  easy. This isnt surprising  because most of us don’t know or understand what we need to demonstrate to our managers.   When was the last time your manager coached you on exactly what it takes to land your next job promotion? Today we clear up the mystery. Unless we have a mentor or a proactive manager, we are not given specific advice as to  HOW we  land the next  a job promotion. Most managers will let us know when we are doing well, thats easy. Some managers will give us feedback to improve when needed. This takes courage and not all managers have it. Very few managers provide a direct path to a promotion. Probably because their own path to promotion wasnt demonstrated to them. They are not holding back, they just dont realize how much it can help or dont have the time.   In an ass-backward way, we are usually told about a promotion after the decision has been made. The explanation was simply “We promoted you because of your  hard work and results”. Specific examples beyond “hard work” or realistic advice on what it takes to land the next promotion is usually not mentioned. This becomes more confusing  because the requirements for a job promotion changes as we climb the ladder. What got us to manager won’t get us to director. What got us here wont get us there.   Advice for the Job Promotion Over the next few weeks, I will de-mystify the path to promotions at different levels. What does it take to go from: Individual contributor to Manager Manager / Sr. Manager to Director / Sr. Director Director to VP If you are looking for your first promotion or trying to figure out why you rose so quickly through the ranks and then plateaued, the next few posts are for you. Career path  advice, the good and the ugly Long hours and hard work isnt always enough for a promotion. My goal is to focus on the specific behaviors and results that will land us a job promotion and why. Where should you concentrate your hard work and those long hours?  As mentioned above, career advice falls into two categories: (the bullets are just examples, your managers qualification requirements can differ) Worthless Career Advice “You are being promoted because you did really well on your last couple of projects and put up good results.” Vs. Valuable Career Advice I can promote you when you are: Recognized as a Subject Matter Expertise Perceived as a leader among your peers Respected by the other  managers in the department, I know you’re an SME. You have demonstrated leadership amongst your peers by leading the team on the last integration  project working with various departments. Let’s work on getting you visibility with the management team!” We dont know what we dont know I’d rather hear the second set of commentary. Without any coaching, we could easily check the “Subject Matter Expertise” and the “Perceived leader amongst peers” boxes. But with only 2 of the three boxes checked, our careers would still remain stagnant. We THINK we are doing well because no one is providing  feedback to the contrary. Because no one mentioned “respect of the other managers”, we have no reason to think it is important. The feedback makes complete sense when we hear it, but until we hear, “respect from other managers”, we keep swinging and missing.  We continue to focus our efforts on what earned us the positive feedback; SME and Leader amongst peers.  If our manager doesn’t have the courage to give us feedback on what we need to work on, this leaves us in the dark. We keep asking ourselves, “WhereTF is my promotion? Why am I not being considered?” Its difficult to become promoted when we dont know what it takes or what our managers are looking for In this example, most of us are only thinking about making an impression with our current manager. Pro-actively gaining the respect of other managers in the department isn’t something most of us think about. If your manager doesn’t have the professional savvy or intestinal fortitude to give you honest feedback, we will never  know.   Concentrate on what will get you hired We can narrow our efforts and save everyone a lot of time and heartache with the second explanation. Over the next few posts, I will provide the HRNasty guideline to promotions. I will outline a few standard qualifiers to earn a job promotion. These are not hard and fast rules. These are guidelines which could vary from company to company and can change depending on company size and culture. Dont worry about differences between companies. These posts will: Give you a solid foundation for  what  managers and HR is looking for Provide a framework so you can drive a conversation with your manager on what it takes to land the next job promotion. If you are not talking with your manager on a regular basis, (at least monthly) don’t expect to be promoted. Job promotion politics and the dirty secrets Before we go into what it takes to land a job promotion, I want to share a few  of the dirty secrets that get in the way of most job promotions. There are two sets of questions going through most  managers mind when direct reports ask for a promotion. The manager will usually think about  the first question, but in most cases, you wont hear about their concern. Rarely will they admit to the second set of questions.   What managers think about but dont  mention out loud? What will the other individual contributors on the team think about you receiving this promotion? Will team members disagree? Do I need to defend this promotion to the other managers in the department? Second set of questions: Will other managers feel that someone on their team is more deserving of the same promotion? How much shit will I have to deal with from the other managers that might want to grant a similar job promotion? How easy will it be to defend my guy/gal?   Although it may not sound fair, there are politics at play. Remember, other managers have asked if they could promote folks from their team and were declined for one reason or another.   Put yourself in your managers shoes Do you want your peers and other managers thinking “Why did YOU  get promoted?” We  want your peers to say “It’s about time you were promoted”. You don’t want our peers asking “Why him/her?” The best outcome is they are  saying “Its about time, you deserve this job promotion”. Credibility will put us in the second category. Your manager will be putting their reputation on the line and needs to be able to defend your promotion to their peers. The easier it is to defend your promotion, the sooner you will be promoted. In the next post we discuss what qualities leadership looks for to be promoted from Individual Contributor to Manager and Manager to Director. See you at the after party, HRNasty nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone who is good at something. “He has a nasty forkball. If you want to ditch the corporate ladder, take the elevator and subscribe to the weekly updates here. Knowledge drops are free and I promise, no spam. “Like” us on Facebook here, I read all comments below. Thank you!