How do I get promoted?


Moving up the organization is a phenomenal way to showcase your success - helps you do more for the firm and can be personally rewarding. But not everyone gets what they want, so is the case with promotions. Read this to prepare well for your next promo.


Before you start thinking about how to get promoted, the first thing you should understand is why do you want to get promoted. I know it sounds stupid to ask this question to yourself. I mean, why wouldn’t anyone want to get promoted? Isn’t it better to climb up the ladder at work? Yes, it sounds silly to ask this question, but it is very important to have a clear understanding of what you are looking for. That makes it easy for you to have reasonable expectations as well as potentially have a meaningful discussion with your boss about your promotion. 


Let’s look at some of the reasons why you think you need a promotion:

Each and everyone of us is made different, so our reasons could also be different, but no matter what your reasons from the above list are it’s super important you have that clarity as to why you want to get promoted. 


Say, you are looking for more money and don’t really care about the title you will get by getting promoted, you can have one kind of discussion with your boss than when you are really looking to flash that title next to you on your corporate Facebook equivalent or on LinkedIn and not too worried about your comp increase. 


The really interesting thing with promotions is that, the titles are visible to others but how much more money you got is not visible to others. So for what it’s worth, you could get promoted to an awesome title but say you didn’t get a big bump, your life probably didn’t get much better (assuming money is what gets you real things in YOUR life than what a title gets you). And I have seen people who cared about the social appeal of it than the monetary appeal of it. And that is perfectly alright to choose as well (maybe you are already making enough money to keep you happy in your seat). 


Regardless of whatever the reason(s) maybe, if you want to get promoted - here are somethings that you should seriously consider


Understand what the next level demands of you


It’s always good to understand what sort of things you’ll need to do if you get promoted. This will help you in a couple of ways. 

1) Helps you understand if you really like to get to the next level 

2) Your target is a bit more clear now and not super hazy anymore


I’ve seen people where once I’ve discussed what is expected of them at the next level, they’ve expressed interest in staying at the same level. For example, managing a team of personnel is not of interest for everyone. Some folks like to stay as Individual Contributors on the team. They are hard core Subject Matter Experts and would like to remain the same without having to dilute their attention or skills that it takes to manage a team. And it turns out, in all of these scenarios, their expectation is that they would get a bigger raise if they had gotten promoted. Now having this understand made it easy for them and for me so that I could solve their core ask and avoid putting them in a role that they don’t enjoy and could potentially fail them and the team. Once you know this and you still want to pursue a promotion, go to the next step. 


Discuss with your manager on what it takes to get promoted


This is a really important step. DO NOT assume that your manager is going to automatically promote you. Now, I won’t say it won’t happen, but your chances are improved by getting your interest on his/her radar. The best way to do this is by asking him/her something like “hey X, I would love to have a conversation with you about what all things I should do so that I have better chances to get to the next level”. Notice how this statement is different from say “hey X, I want to get promoted, so tell me what I should do to get there”. The former is, IMHO, a more polite and subtle way of asking for a promo but also not putting pressure on him/her. The latter is a more rigid way of asking for help and also putting pressure on him/her. Wording matters. And almost always, I’d ask for this in-person or on a call and never in writing. That way you make it personal, can read the reaction and prepare accordingly. Email or Messages has a chance of taking out the personal nature of this ask. 

Now, two things could happen. Your boss could appreciate this and actually give you some feedback as well as next steps to get there. Or he/she could shrug off or procrastinate and not bother about helping you out with this. If the former happens, great! But if the latter happens, do not lose your heart. You now have an additional data point - i.e. you need to work on convincing your manager about your value add so that they can take your career aspirations a bit more seriously and help you. 



One of the most important aspects of having a successful career is to ensure that your boss sees your value add (of course on professional matters). If your boss doesn’t see your value add and is not supportive of you, for whatever reason, the chances of your growth are reduced. I won’t say they are eliminated, but you now have significant headwind because he/she has to put forward your name for the promotion. If they don’t see your value add or if you are not in good terms with them, chances are high that they may not put you up for a promo. You might think it’s unfair, but corporate sector has its own inefficiencies and this is one of those. Promo cycle is a highly management driven exercise, so it is really important for you to be aware of the stakeholders that can help make the decision as well as support it and make it happen. 


If you think you don’t have a good rapport with your manager, do not lose your heart yet. There’s always a chance to improve things. But you need to really make it work. And at the end if it doesn’t improve because your boss is really unwilling to recognize you, hey, the world is too big for you to be stuck with someone who doesn’t appreciate the value you bring to the table. Go find another job and maybe this time you will get a better boss - but also make sure to start the relationship on a positive note next time. 


All the best & let me know if this helps you!