How to Guarantee Your Next Promotion

Does your company have a “2-year before promotion” policy? Or maybe you heard one of your colleagues say, “On average, it takes two years before someone is considered for a promotion here”.

But average is precisely that - an average. That means some people get promoted before the 2-year mark and others after. And those who get promoted faster never leave it to chance. They take control of their careers and take intentional actions that make it almost impossible for their leadership not to promote them.

So don’t get fooled by your company’s arbitrary “2 Years before promotion” policy. Instead, copy the step-by-step action plan I used to get a promotion every 18 months over my 10+ year career.

What not to do if you want to get promoted

But first, let’s start with what I did not do to get promoted faster. I did not:

• Work 60-hour weeks

Barring my time as a field engineer when I worked 12-hour shifts, I can count on my fingertips the number of weeks I worked 40+ hours per week. The biggest criterion for a promotion at work is delivering on goals that move the needle for the company, not working more hours. By working more than 40-hour weeks, you are taking time away from other priorities in your life and reducing your effective hourly rate.

• Sucked up to my manager

I was always the first person to disagree with my manager if I didn’t align with their opinion and approach and if I had a solid reason backing up mine. Your manager doesn’t need a yes man (or woman). Your organization is looking for leaders, who have a backbone, are not afraid to take an unpopular stance, and can do so with respect.

• Took on the office housework

Ordering team lunches, scheduling the Christmas White Elephant, ordering office supplies, or taking meeting notes - all of these are office tasks that someone has to do, but it was not me. Treat your time like gold, and spend it only on the highest ROI activities like networking and coaching.

• Said yes to every project given to me

If a project didn’t align with my immediate work KPIs, long-term career goals, or personal passions, I said NO. This is not easy, especially if you are the kind who constantly worries that others may think you as less capable simply because you said no. But once I saw that I continued to be rated a top performer as long as I delivered on the needle-moving projects, saying NO became much easier.

A Step-by-Step Plan to Get Promoted 2X Faster

Here is my step-by-step plan that will help you get promoted within 18 months of joining any new role or company.

0 – 3 months

The first three months are about showing up with the right attitude. Do the following:

Learn the role

Spend the first few weeks soaking up everything you can about the role. This includes reviewing business requirements, technical specifications, customer feedback, process documents, data trends, product drawings, and any artifact you can lay your hands on. Ask your manager to share the organization’s north star metrics, 3-year vision, and monthly business update meeting minutes. Get yourself invited to sit in on project meetings and team updates, even if at the start, everything feels foreign. Finally, talk to several people who touch your role - your reports, peers, customers, and even stakeholders in Finance, Legal, and Marketing department to get their perspective on the goals, outcomes, and blind spots of your role.

Build rapport with the team

It is critical to get a lay of the land in the first three months of your new role, identify who’s who, and start building your stakeholder list. To do so, simply pull your organizational chart, and schedule a no-strings-attached introduction meeting with those in your vertical and lateral reporting line. You can copy the below template:

Hi Jane,

I recently joined as the [title] in the [team name], reporting to [your manager’s name]. I would like to set up a 30-minute call to make introductions and learn how I can support you in your role.

Regards,

Richa

Deliver quick wins to build momentum

You don’t need to wait for your manager to assign you quarterly KPIs and targets before you start delivering results. Identify a small process improvement or a minor feature update that you can execute quickly to score a win and demonstrate initiative. At Amazon, I created a template for a repeatable process, which reduced the time it took to get budget approvals from customers from 19 days to 5 days. In addition, since I took a task off my Finance Manager’s plate, it helped me gain brownie points with her. Now that’s a win-win.

3 – 6 months

The next three months are about being strategic about how you communicate your career goals. Focus on the following:

Communicate intent for career growth

It is never too soon to have a career discussion with your manager. Set up a “career conversation meeting” with your manager to bring up your intent to grow with the organization. Share your past experience leading large teams and scope and the results you delivered. Also, clearly understand what skills and requirements you need to meet to advance to the next level. Agree to set up a monthly career conversation to keep up with your progress towards your goals, and pen that in both of your calendars.

Co-define goals and KPIs with the manager

Once you have understood the requirements for next-level promotion, co-define goals, and KPIs that help you bridge the gap. Your goal is to define clear, unambiguous, and measurable targets to justify a promotion.

Identify strategic stakeholders

Start building your strategic stakeholder map. Ask these two questions:

"Who within the organization has an impact on your career growth?"

"What is the strength of my relationship with them?"

Start mapping this on a 2x2 matrix. For those who fall on the ‘high impact, low relationship strength’, start putting in place measures that help you move them to the right quadrant. This would include regular coffee chats with them, picking up small projects in their team, and supporting parts of their mandate.

6 – 12 months

Now it’s time to buckle your seat belt and get to work. Focus on the following:

Execute and Over Deliver

Execute and over deliver on your goals. It is much easier to ask for a promotion if you have delivered 2X of your goals. Document every result on the way, and share your wins in all forums possible - 1:1 project update meetings with your manager, team meetings with senior management, team newsletters, slack channel, etc. Here’s a quick template you can use to track your results with impact.

What was the issue?

“Budget approvals from customers were taking an average of 19 days. This led to delays in project transfer to the internal shared services team, and consequently poor customer satisfaction scores.”

What did you do?

“I templated the budget approval process. I also made the template available for self-serve access through the project work space.”

What value did it bring to the organization?

“ This reduced the average approval time from 19 days to 5 days, helping the team meet our onboarding SLA. In addition, our customers welcomed the transparency as they could now calculate their costs even before initiating the intake. This bumped our customer satisfaction score from 75% to 89%.”

Expand role and scope

Once you have demonstrated your ability to deliver results, ask for expansion in scope and exposure to higher visibility goals. Complement that with a business case on the budget and headcount you need to deliver on the expanded scope.

Continue monthly career conversations

Continue having the monthly career conversation with your manager. Before each meeting, share the agenda that should include a discussion on:

Your progress toward short and long-term career goals Any skills gaps and how to bridge them through training, coaching, or shadowing opportunities Feedback on your strengths and growth areas Introductions to other senior leaders that are relevant to your stakeholder map

12 – 18 months

Finally, it’s time to step on the gas and get ready for the ask. Focus on the following:

Identify next-level opportunities

Take a 3-pronged approach here:

• Sit down with your manager to identify the next-level roles that are opening up in the next 6 months.
• Connect with your internal network to explore any openings coming up in their teams.
• Once a week, look at the internal job search site (if you have one available) to search for exciting roles and set up informal coffee chats with the hiring managers to understand the fit.

Rally advocates for support

Start building stakeholder support for your promotion several months in advance so that your name is top of mind when it’s time for the promotion cycle. One easy way to do that is to ask your advocates to send you written accolades for a job well done, keeping your manager in copy. Also, leverage your mentors and advocates to learn the inner workings of the organization and tips that will help you prepare a strong business case for your promotion.

Make the business case for the promotion

Pitch your promotion to your manager and the selection committee with a solid business case. Showcase your results (that have far exceeded targets), the extra responsibilities you took on, and the increased scope you have already started to lead. Also, share your vision of the team and how you plan to deliver on that vision.

BONUS: Make a succession plan

One of your manager’s biggest worries is replacing you when you transfer from your job. Help your boss by creating a successful plan before you ask for a promotion. This makes your transition out of the team easy for your team and helps you gain invaluable skills in hiring and developing people.

Your next promotion will not come by chance. Use the step-by-step action plan to demonstrate that you are ready for the next level, and make it a no-brainer for your leadership to promote you!

Ready to level up and 2X your career, compensation, and impact? I can help.

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