What do you do if you're overlooked for a leadership promotion?

But here's how to turn it into a positive: Seek Feedback (Respectfully): Schedule a meeting with your manager. Ask for specific areas where you can improve your leadership skills. Focus on Growth, Not Grudge: Channel disappointment into action. Identify training or mentorship opportunities to address any identified weaknesses. Showcase Your Skills (Subtly): Volunteer for projects that demonstrate your leadership qualities. Take initiative and inspire others. Revisit Your Career Goals: Is this the right leadership path? Maybe it's time to explore a different leadership opportunity within or outside the company. Keep Shining: Don't let this setback dim your light. Maintain your positive attitude and strong work ethic.

Instead of viewing being overlooked for a promotion as a setback, consider it a potential redirection. Perhaps your talent and energy would be better utilized elsewhere, in a different role or even a different company. This can be an opportunity to reevaluate your goals and uncover a path that aligns more fully with your skills and passions. Sometimes, missing out on what you thought you wanted leads to discovering something even better.

In the face of being overlooked for a promotion, harnessing your Motivational Intelligence (MQ) to reflect and recalibrate is essential. Request feedback to understand the decision, viewing it through a lens of constructive growth, not criticism. Reaffirm your vision for leadership by setting clear, strategic goals to demonstrate your potential. Engage in opportunities for professional development and signal your readiness to assume greater responsibilities. This proactive approach showcases resilience, underscores your commitment to personal growth and positions you as an undeniable candidate for future leadership roles.

Such news can be highly disappointing and take you down a rabbit hole of self-pity, anger, frustration, or imposter syndrome. Hence, the smartest thing to do now is DO NOTHING. Take some time off, and use the 'Pause and Reflect' strategy. Write down all the reasons why you couldn't be considered for this role. These don't have to be reasons that blame you, your boss, or your organization. While writing down the reasons, assume that everyone has your best interest in mind and that they have the best intentions for your career growth.

"I know why I wasn't promoted... it's this necktie, isn't it? I knew I shouldn't have worn it so often!" ?? While reflection is generally beneficial and seeking feedback is an even better approach, there's a limit to how much we can reflect on certain outcomes. I caution against overthinking and creating elaborate stories about why things happened as they did. This can lead to a deep rabbit hole of self-analysis that may waste time and energy, not to mention negatively impact our mindset. Not every decision that disappoints us was intended to harm us, and some decisions have much less to do with us than we believe. If you need to find out more, then do so. Gather feedback.

Being overlooked for a leadership promotion can be discouraging, but it can also be an opportunity for growth. Approach your superiors or HR for feedback on areas where you can improve, which shows your commitment to growth and may help you understand why you were overlooked. Use the feedback to create an improvement plan. Focus on enhancing your skills, expanding your knowledge, and showing your leadership potential in your current role. Being overlooked for a promotion can be a valuable learning experience. By seeking feedback and developing a growth plan, you can position yourself for future leadership opportunities.

It is vital to know that feedback is a gift, so always be positive when you request it. Once received, prepare to work on developing new skills. This opportunity may have passed, yet the next one is coming. Be positive and stay curious.

Feel comfortable sharing ideas, concerns, and feedback. Actively listen to their input and address any issues promptly to stay on track.

Meet with your manager and express disappointment about the decision, but you recognize there are some areas for improvement. State your desire to be the choice for the next promotion and ask for a specific list of what needs to be improved and exactly how. Then it's important for you to toot your own horn and in your 1:1s let your manager know specifically what you've achieved.

Once you have done the above, set up a one-to-one meeting with your boss and have a heart-to-heart conversation. Express your disappointment in the most mature and sane manner possible. Ask them their point of view on this whole issue. Ask them to share why they made their choice this way. Again, avoid blaming them or yourself for it. Once you have this information, compare your previous notes with your boss's opinions. These could prove to be precious information to help you formulate your future strategy accordingly.

Based on your boss's opinion, enhance your skills and add more value. Work on the things that will make you more visible to the leadership. This will allow you to showcase your capabilities and manage yourself and your teams effectively. If you are already doing all of these, and despite being ignored for leadership positions, there must be some other issue that your boss or the company cannot solve. In such a situation, it might be better for you to look outside and prepare for a new role in a new company where your career goals can be fulfilled.

This is the moment for strategic networking expansion. First, talk to individuals you trust and who are competent in career development, seeking feedback to gain insights into gaps or blind spots. Make the most of these insights by participating in professional development opportunities (workshops or courses), which enhance your skills and provide a networking platform. Industry forums could also allow you to demonstrate your expertise and capabilities. Another networking occasion comes from cross-departmental projects to increase visibility and showcase your skills to a broader audience. Simultaneously, cultivate relationships with mentors and industry leaders outside your immediate circle, offering to collaborate or seeking advice.

Building relationships within the organization is essential to climb the corporate ladder. The same applies to executive presence, presentation, industry knowledge, people management, skills, etc. Start building on these one at a time, and transform how you present yourself at the workplace.

Show them your value, not only as an employee but also as a leader. A lot is at stake when you want to be considered for a leadership position, and your work quality alone will not make the cut. You need to demonstrate the 360-degree value you bring in. These could be how often you take the initiative, how innovative you are, how you present yourself in front of internal and external stakeholders, and how mature you are when it comes to building professional relationships. Show all-rounded value to your boss and the rest of the organization, and soon, a leadership position will be yours.

I think part of staying positive is assessing your own objectives honestly. What was it about the promotion that was important? Was it the money? (that's ok if it was). Was it the status? Was it something else? Really dig into what was important. Then examine if your missed promotion was really the only (or even just best) way to achieve those goals. It's easier to stay positive when you understand that you have options and agency.

This has happened before where my contributions single-handedly evolved the departments engagement and collaborative care techniques. The Executive BH Manager valued my work and created training to support other teams across the state to move toward integrative care. My leadership skills were used often to pilot programs and I was encouraged to go for a voluntary advisory council president position. When it came time to promote SW, The organization elected to promote (during 2 occasions) those less qualified than myself and no one who looked like me. So, I strengthened my skills on my resume and took my talents to another agency where it and I were valued. I felt they pimped my talents for their gain, but did not want to give me my flowers

Se você já buscou feedback e tentou se adequar aos requisitos técnicos e comportamentais para uma posi??o de lideran?a e n?o teve retorno positivo, talvez seja a hora de considerar buscar em outra empresa esse lugar. Pesquise por empresas que tenham culturas com as quais você se identifique e sejam mais parecidas com seu estilo pessoal e monitore as vagas abertas ou até mesmo aborde os recrutadores da companhia demonstrando seu interesse.

"I'm a failure. I've been overlooked. I'll show them! This isn't the last they'll see of me! Those ______??!" I'll repeat: not everything that happens is meant to harm us. Be cautious of the stories you create in your mind. Numerous years ago, I worked with a client who didn't receive a promotion for a role she greatly desired. The senior executives believed that the role would drain her energy and saw the potential for her to achieve more in upcoming roles that weren't announced yet. Regrettably, she viewed this as a personal failure and decided to take a job elsewhere. The internal monologue we have playing in our mind can often be more challenging (and damaging) than the actual situation or decision that upset us.

Yes it definitely stings to be passed over indeed. At the recent women in leadership conference I attended in Dubai, Sam Adeyemi said, “Being fired or passed over for promotion is not a vote on a person’s destiny, it can be turned into an opportunity for the person to find their rightful place” I once said to my coach The reason I started to work out my exit after being passed up for promotion was the person that got the promotion My opinion “If that is who they want, there is no way I would ever have got the job. We are very opposite to each other which means I don’t fit their vision. I need to find where I fit. This analysis is what I call the #growth environment analysis If you are not growing, you are dying