What are the most important things to do to prepare for a promotion in Social Impact?

Vision is great, but from experience I'd say the biggest factor affecting people's promotability is whether they've identified (and trained) someone who can take over their current role. If you haven't taken steps to solve this succession issue, then you're painfully "indispensable" in your current role. And that makes it hard to promote you. It's more likely that roles above your current job will be filled by outside hires, which is not what you want. As you get ready to aim higher, think about who within the organization could take over your current role. That's especially crucial if you're a crew leader on the front lines, seeking a higher paying, more strategic management job. Solve your boss's problem, and it's easier to rise

Listen. Analyze the data to determine what attitudes and behaviors must change to attain the final goal. Have a clear understanding of the current emotions, and the emotions you need to evoke encourage the new attitudes and behaviors. Continuous feedback loop - what is working, what do we need to do differently next time?

Vision is good but from experience would say having a broader alignment with the existing strategy that has been created by the current leaders and finding solutions for the current problems they have helps move ahead. In addition adding other nuances to your work where you take initiatives and lead projects across functions helps to set you apart from others to showcase you in multiple facets. Also delivering on whatever you have promised is a key, no matter what vision you have since that is the first step of the process. In addition trying delegating as much of your role to others and move towards doing more in the higher position to clearly showcase you in the role you are aiming for.

Creating social impact in any sector is like a science; it takes cycles of listening, getting feedback, and iteration. Growing a personal network of skilled, diverse Changemakers is a critical aspect of arriving at a strong social impact approach!

A network is the most important element in social impact. Unlike the for profit world, the social impact world still functions on a human element where people want to form relationships and understand who they are working with. The more you form a network both in the organisation and outside, it will set you apart from the rest. An internal network makes you a key node where people share , come to you for advice and slowly you become a hub and hence someone your boss, peers and all can rely on to know what is happening in the organisation. This also gives you the power to influence people. External is essential from a fundraising, partnerships and growth perspective. Anyone who has this is a valuable person to promote .

Expand your network so that you have people from many different fields. They usually gives you more separate ideas than the experts in your own field.

Make sure you have data points that measure the impact. Both quantitative points and qualitative anecdotes are helpful to paint a story of the impact of your work. Growth figures and benchmarking data also helps provide an overall view of growth as well.

Showcasing your impact is very important. It helps to attract people to your business. Thus you can grow your business substantially. Your impact shows what you really believe.

Absolutely essential if you need a promotion in social impact and otherwise. From a personal perspective as a woman globally and as a woman of colour when I was in the US, I knew I had to ask. Once you ask, you have to state the reasons why you deserve the promote and push people to give you a fair chance to rise to the next level. Your gender, age, color etc. all of them are definitely barriers and so push to set yourself apart and be proactive to ask for what you deserve. What you have to know is when you ask, you may get a no and in that case ask for the reasons why. If the reasons come with words like "Gravitas" or "likability" it might be time to look for another organisation.

Read and communicate : Should know what is happening in social impact in your country and globally. From research to regulation, you should try and understand and be knowledgeable about it. This will help to become someone who can contribute effectively in conversations and add value to the overall dialog. If you can write long form or are good with digital communication write on forums like linkedin or post on instagram or other platforms. This will help create a unique voice for yourself and set you apart in the organisation and outside. While you do all this make sure it is from a perspective of contribution and collaboration and not from a view of confrontation which is not perceived in a positive light.