Own Your Career Growth and Get Promoted by Creating a New Path

"How do I get promoted?" Questions about career progression have come up increasingly often in my last couple years leading a large team (~130 and counting) of uber-talented, super-motivated digital marketing, content, and technology folks at Clearlink so I've put together an 8-part construct to guarantee success (insert disclaimer here) in your next career advancement efforts.

Because of the immense personal and professional benefits I've been afforded through Clearlink's growth I'm passionate about providing similar opportunities for people on my team. I've committed to always make time for anyone who asks for help in advancing their career and we place a strong emphasis on promoting from within whenever possible.

In fact, over the last year and a half we've promoted around 40 folks in role (e.g. from specialist to senior) or to a leadership position in our division. Not bad!

Nonetheless, there's certainly room for our leadership team to provide more access, better tools, and improved training centered around career development.

In fact, over the last year and a half we've promoted around 40 folks in role (e.g. from specialist to senior) or to a leadership position in our division. Not bad!

While we continue to invest in programs to develop individual skills over the long term, what I've found through many one-on-one conversations, and more recent questions surrounding the topic of advancement in our monthly town hall meetings, is many folks could benefit from a more detailed construct - a how-to on uncovering and capitalizing on new opportunities that may already exist in the business.

Since we tend to promote or transition people to net-new roles without a formal job description or opening fairly often at Clearlink, I thought it'd be most valuable to focus my energy on providing a framework [def: a basic conceptual structure] for creating a role from scratch for yourself.

ONE: Be honest with yourself and own your state

What are you looking for in your career, exactly? Any meaningful career progression comes from some introspection and a commitment to doing a bit of self discovery. No one else but you knows what really makes you tick. What do you value? What do you find fulfilling?

If you're having a hard time answering some of these broader questions, that's okay! If you're reading this thinking, "Wow, this is some pretty heavy bulls**t," then I'd encourage you to dig deeper and really own your state of mind.

Are you really committed to advancing in a new or meaningful way or are you looking for an incremental way to add skills to your day-to-day job? No biggie either way, just be honest with yourself!

This part of the framework might be the most important of the eight I list here and requires a level of self-awareness that's hard to gather in our daily grind. Make time for it. Greg McKeown, author of the book Essentialism, argues for literally taking a day or two's vacation to get away by yourself, reduce distractions, and come away with clarity around your life and career objectives.

As a fairly straight-forward way to hone in on your individual values, I really like Brene Brown's values exercise from her book, Dare to Lead. It goes something like this:

1. Take a few minutes to read through this list of ~50 values.
2. Take 5 minutes to select 5 values that resonate most with you.
3. Take an additional 5 minutes to select 2 values from your list of 5 that best suit you.
4. Reflect on how those are represented in the way you're approaching your work and life.
5. Revisit as needed.

When I did this for myself, I landed on growth and authenticity as my two core values. Afterward, the exercise provided me a basis for reflection to I ask myself, "How do my actions align with these values?". Where there's dissonance or lack of clarity, there's room for further discovery. Good luck!

TWO: Demonstrate consistency and focus in your current role

This point is easy to overlook as you consider opportunities for growth or a change in role. Demonstrating an ability to make an impact in your current role and owning the connection between your work and the value it provides the business is a crucial step in gaining clout with leadership before suggesting a new role or asking for promotion.

I'm not implying there's some one-size-fits-all sort of time-in-role cutoff or that you need to be with an organization for three busy seasons before it's reasonable to suggest to your manager you'd like to shift or expand your duties.

I am suggesting it's important to be honest with yourself about how much of an impact you've had in your role and in some roles that takes longer than others. Also, having the opportunity to demonstrate how you handle failure or challenging obstacles in your role is key step in establishing trust with your team too - don't avoid the hard things! Crushing it in your current role is a surefire way to an easy conversation about career progression with your manager.

Crushing it in your current role is a surefire way to an easy conversation about career progression with your manager.

Ideally, all of us are making note of our accomplishments or milestones in our careers along the way so they don't get lost or forgotten. If you've ever sat down to re-write your resume after not touching it for 3 years you know how hard it can be to recall some of the accomplishments that seemed monumental in the moment.

Try keeping a log in a Google doc or Notepad as you or your team hit milestones so you can reference them down the line.

Note: We can all fall victim to the self-serving bias (the tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner), especially if you're working for a company that has made significant investments in tools, talent, or other programs that have built a foundation for growth. So do your best to be specific about what you've contributed to your team's overall success when you're tracking milestones or accomplishments.

THREE: Maintain an open dialogue with your manager

Much of what I describe in this article depends on some pretty important underlying assumptions:

1. you work for a company which holds employee development and advancement in high regard,
2. you have a reasonably committed manager who is making time for you in a 1:1 setting, hopefully on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, AND
3. you're equally willing and committed to come prepared to discuss your career with your manager.

In my experience, many employees lose sight of the third point and put too much of their career progression in the hands of their direct manager. The truth is, no one cares more about your career - or your life for that matter - than you do. Own it.

This doesn't mean you should inundate your manager with pressure to be promoted or ultimatums in every 1:1. You should, however, be maintaining a common thread of discussion around your interests, questions about where the business is headed, and asking for advice from your manager about how to proceed in learning new skills and advancing your career.

Here are some examples of points of discussion or questions to bring to your 1:1s to spark deeper conversation with your leader:

• What do you think are the biggest challenges our team is going to face this year?
• Is there a project you're working on right now that you could use some help with?
• Did anything of note come up in your most recent leadership meetings?
• Are you working toward any career goals at the moment?
• Are there any skills you think could be important for me to develop as our team/department/company evolve over the next year or so?
• I've been attempting to improve around X skill, would you mind giving me feedback on our next few projects so I can progress more quickly?

These questions are low stakes entry points to help get a glimpse into your manager's thought process, current workload, and opportunities to apply yourself for future growth. Do your best to put yourself in your manager's shoes - be empathetic and genuinely try to understand where they're coming from.

For some folks, establishing a relationship where questions like the ones above flow naturally might be the hardest part. In that case, I highly recommend Kim Scott's Radical Candor. While it's written with management in mind, Radical Candor covers a broad range of tactics to develop relationships of trust, empathy, and mutual respect I believe are beneficial for all professionals.

If you like the concepts in Kim's book, try recommending it to your boss as well!

FOUR: Be mindful of what you enjoy and what you're good at

This is definitely related to the first section, but more tactical. It's easy to go through our days mindlessly completing required tasks, meetings, and project work with limited insight into which of these efforts we prefer. The things we enjoy least tend to stand out more prominently than the opposite.

I recommend regularly asking yourself what parts of your job you enjoy most. To start, try dedicating a section of a notebook for writing down your most enjoyable tasks over the course of a week. As you're in the midst of something you get excited about, take a second and make a note.

Spend 5 minutes at the beginning and end of the day to reflect as well. At the end of the week review your notes. Hopefully you have a decent list to work with. If not, try this for as long as it takes to gather 10-20 (or more) tasks, duties, projects, people, etc. that stand out as engaging, interesting, or fun.

Basically, you're creating a short-term gratitude journal for your job. Hopefully there are more enjoyable aspects of your day-to-day than you initially realized! Beyond the benefits of recognizing what you're good at or what you enjoy most, Amy Morin, psychotherapist and author, suggests people who commit to expressing gratitude tend to experience a ton of other benefits, such as:

• Opening the door to more, and deeper relationships. Focusing on the positive elements of your role will spur you to express gratitude to others and say thank you more often, which has the obvious benefit of making it more likely for co-workers to engage with you.
• Improving self-esteem. Recognizing things you're grateful for or skills you excel at can improve your self-esteem and provide the confidence necessary to have some of these otherwise intimidating conversations with your leader.
• Developing grittiness. Studies have proven people who express gratitude more regularly are more resilient than average. Being grateful can provide better perspective when you're up against a tight deadline or need to push through a particularly challenging project.

FIVE: Observe your surroundings, listen intently

We are all overwhelmed with countless points of communication on a daily basis. In our organization, for example, employees are fielding emails, Slack messages, Google Hangouts messages, texts, and phone calls, as well as face-to-face communication during meetings.

How you prioritize and distill all of this information is paramount in understanding the current state of the business and identifying potential opportunities for your career.

• What themes are you noticing in broad communications from leaders in big team meetings, emails, or messaging platforms? Take time to make note of them and ask your manager if you're interpreting the messages correctly.
• What are common points of stress or frustration for your co-workers? Is there an opportunity for you to suggest a process-oriented solution to your manager or step in to help out?
• Are there aspects of a recent communication or announcement you don't understand? Ask your peers what their interpretation was.

Daily Slack messages and meetings aside, you should 100% be taking advantage of any potential access to leaders in the business. I don't mean to suggest politicking or manipulating people for your benefit, but using short bursts of time and access to pose questions and start conversations to gain context and leave a mark can be invaluable.

Here are some ideas on how to approach and leave an impact with leaders in your organization:

• Are some leaders in early and/or late? These times can be good opportunities to get some face time outside of the typical work day's obligations.
• Are there leaders in the business you admire who you know have mentored your peers or you wish you could pick their brain? Just ask! Posing your initial request as a quick chat to seek the person's advice can be an easy way to start the process. Check out these additional tips on how to find a mentor.
• Are leaders asking people to provide feedback (positive and critical) or ask questions in a bigger forum, say a department-wide meeting? Speak up! You'd be surprised how lasting an impression in this environment can be.
• Is your colleague crushing it lately? Have you noticed their growth or impact on a specific project? Speak up! Cheer them on in a group-setting. Praising your peers goes a long way in leaders identifying you as someone capable of leading in the future.

In the context of advancing your career or potentially navigating an uncharted path for yourself, your main goal here should be centered around seeking understanding and deriving themes or strategic insights to better align your skills and interests to a need or opportunity in the business.

SIX: Connect your interests, skills, or ambition with a specific business need

At this point you should be comfortable with what's important to you, what you like most about your current job, and what tasks or elements of your job you excel at.

Assuming you've been observing and identifying trends or themes in your business, department, or team, you should also be in a good position to connect or apply your skills outside of your current role to a need in the business.

BUT! Apply yourself to the type of work you're considering before you suggest a role change formally. This experience will give you both the insight into whether you will enjoy the change and proof that you can deliver when you pitch a new role to your manager in the future.

Here are some ideas on how to approach honing the skills you'll need to excel in a new role or trying some of the work you're thinking about:

• Schedule time with a specialist currently in the role (or similar role) you're interested in. Setting aside time formally with a calendar invite or a lunch outing provides you the time to develop questions to get the best advice from said specialist.
• Read! There are so many resources online and available in books for basically any imaginable topic. Do the work and apply yourself to learning on your own. Don't skip this part.
• Ask for assignments outside your day-to-day. If you're a writer and you'd like to become a content strategist, for example, ask a strategist if they could use help on any upcoming projects. Continue delivering on your day-to-day responsibilities!

SEVEN: Propose a new role in a formal capacity

At this point you've done the work to identify your values, strengths, and interests at work. You've recognized an opportunity to advance your career that aligns with a need in the business and you also committed time to exploring some of the tasks or work associated with a potential new role. Now it's time to propose the role formally!

Depending on the organization, this part can vary quite a bit. For example, large companies may have strict budgets and hiring practices that require you to propose a new role or promotion well in advance of having the opportunity to fill the role - be respectful of the pressures your leader may experience in this process and prepare accordingly.

Other organizations are more nimble and will be quick to act on a well thought out plan to impact the business by rewarding a formal proposal with a relatively swift move. In this environment, clarity around immediate business impact and specific examples of projects may be all your manager needs to move forward.

No matter the organizational needs, I recommend a number of items are completed in advance of your proposal:

1. Research the role you plan on proposing. Do similar roles exist in other organizations? If so, start compiling common elements from job descriptions. Pull out themes around duties, required experience, etc.
2. Write a job description for the new role. It should include a summary of the role, required experience, and (most importantly) a breakdown of the day-to-day duties of the role. Note: Consider this a rough draft and you should expect, and be asking for, feedback on this when you share it with your manager or other leaders in the business.
3. Make a list of the business needs the role addresses. Focus on value. Go beyond "We don't have anyone in a social media role so we need one and I can fulfill the needs of that role." Instead, hone in on the value having someone in this role provides the business and why your personal values, skills, and career goals align. What are the KPIs for the role? How would you measure success if you were managing a person in this new role?
4. Craft a proposal and ask for time to talk about it. This sounds daunting, I know. Just start with an email to your direct manager though. Include the "What" (role and duties), "Why" (value to the business), "When" (proposed timeline for transition) and "How" (Specific transition plan) as succinctly as possible. Link to, or attach, all the documents you've been creating for reference. Finish the email by suggesting or asking for a time to discuss the proposal and your manager's feedback - ideally in your next 1x1.
5. Don't forget about Salary. Don't assume your manager or other leaders will be thinking about salary as a part of a [lateral] move. If you think this role change warrants a bump in pay, back it up with a bit of research. Talk to an HR specialist at your company. Browse Salary.com or other job boards to get a sense of what a competitive rate for the role might be. Connect specific projects you could attack in the new role to business results to make your case stronger. Don't be aggressive too early - it's best to align on the construct of the new role before pushing too hard on salary.

EIGHT: Be willing to work toward a mutually beneficial outcome

This part is pretty simple. Just because you've been working diligently on the possibility of moving to a new role, thinking about it constantly and preparing for a career transition, doesn't mean other key stakeholders will be prepared to jump on your proposal immediately. Prepare yourself before starting discussions that the move could take some time.

Be empathetic to your manager's stressors and concerns and anticipate them having strong or unclear concerns initially. Even if you've been chatting with your manager about the possibility of transitioning to a new role, they may have a first reaction that's more visceral than objective, and could be asking themselves:

• "What does my employee proposing a new role imply about their relationship with me or my management skills?"
• "How can I possibly propose a new role for so-and-so in the midst of annual planning [or insert any other potentially stressful time period]."
• "Oh great. How am I going to backfill this role if so-and-so moves on?"
• "Should I convince so-and-so to stay in role on my team instead of moving on?"

If you can anticipate some of these questions or concerns and answer them proactively and empathetically, it can facilitate jumping into the details of your proposal sooner. Take time to consider the impact on your manager and how you can help them as you move to a new role.

Be open to an entirely different proposal from leadership. Perhaps they see potential for you to lead another initiative or support the business in an entirely different way that you hadn't yet considered. Commit the time to having an open dialogue about all possible outcomes.

Finally, followup! Keep the conversation moving forward. As stated before, no one cares more about your career progression than you so hold your leader accountable to continuing the conversation by bringing it up regularly.

Here are some examples of role changes and promotions I've seen proactive individuals make over the years:

• SEO Specialist to Front-end Developer
• Digital PR Specialist to Employee Development Specialist
• Local Search Specialist to Live Chat Channel Lead (This person was actually in the culinary field before marketing!)
• Sales Rep to Digital Marketing Specialist
• Copywriter to Lead Journalist and Brand Ambassador
• Mountain Guide to Developer
• Social Media Specialist to Account Management Leader (Seen this one more than once, oddly enough)
• Digital PR Specialist to Project Manager

Creating a new role for yourself can become a reality. Trust the process.

This framework doesn't need to happen linearly or in some drawn out sequence. However, I have observed enough people in my career make meaningful career transitions to know the items I've listed above are key components of landing swiftly and smoothly into a new role.

I wish anyone interested in making a move the best and encourage you to take the first step today. Focus on your values and interests and go from there - you never know where that may take you!

Do you have any career transition tips you'd give your younger self or others looking to make a change? I'd love to hear about 'em in the comments below!