The Promotion Pie and The Secret Ingredients to it.

The secret ingredients to the Promotion Pie.

If I can pull your eyes away from that delicious looking fruit pie, it is making me hungry just looking at it, we are here today to talk about the Promotion Pie and why success is about so much more than just performance.

I speak with lots of C-suite and Director level individuals and many are in the pursuit of career advancement. Many professionals focus intensely on their performance, believing that delivering high-quality work is the key to climbing the corporate ladder.

While performance is undoubtedly important, there’s a crucial element that is often overlooked which I refer to as the "Promotion Pie," a concept derived from Harvey Coleman’s Performance, Image, Exposure (PIE) Model.

According to Coleman, career success is influenced by three main factors:

• Performance: The actual work you deliver and how well you meet job expectations.
• Image: How others perceive you, including your reputation, personal brand, and the impression you leave on colleagues and superiors.
• Exposure: The visibility you have within your organization and industry, and how well-known your work and contributions are.

According to the PIE model, surprisingly, performance accounts for only about 10% of what drives career success. The other 90% is a mix of image and exposure, two factors that many professionals, particularly women, may inadvertently neglect. Understanding and leveraging this model can be the difference between stagnating in your current role and rising to the top.

Performance: The Crust of Your Pie

Think of performance as the crust of your promotion pie. It’s the foundation, essential, but not enough on its own. Without a solid performance, there is no pie, but just having a crust isn’t going to impress anyone. In the workplace, this means meeting your objectives, delivering quality work, and consistently demonstrating your value. This is where we see a lot of great talent get stuck and often overlooked for that next step, or finding that next step difficult.

Image: The Filling that Defines the Taste

Image is the filling of your promotion pie—the part that defines its taste and appeal. Your professional image is shaped by how others perceive you, which can be influenced by how you dress, communicate, and interact with others. This includes your ability to be seen as a leader, a problem solver, or someone who is indispensable to the team.

In a recent podcast, Steven Bartlett was talking about his career and how people he worked with in his twenties, people he worked for, supported, or went to for advice, to learn and grow, in his thirties he now considers some of his key allies, investors, friends even. He said that throughout his career he was interviewing and being interviewed by the people around him.

Creating a positive and powerful image requires self-awareness and intentional branding. Are you seen as a go-to expert in your field? Do people associate you with high standards and excellence? Do you say what you are going to do and then do it? Cultivating the right image can make you more memorable and open doors to opportunities that might not be available based on performance alone.

Exposure: The Topping that Makes the Pie Irresistible

Exposure is the topping, the final touch that makes your promotion pie irresistible. It’s about making sure the right people know about your achievements and your potential. This doesn’t mean self-promotion for its own sake, but rather strategic visibility.

This is where having Allies and your own curiosity can literally raise you to a significant height.

To increase your exposure, consider seeking out projects that have high visibility, volunteering for leadership roles, or helping to support a leader you want to learn from, or want to know you, or even networking with key stakeholders within and outside your organisation. The goal is to ensure that decision-makers are aware of your contributions and see you as someone who is ready for the next level, are willing to help and who are willing to introduce you to their network.

Achieving career success requires the right balance of ingredients. High performance is critical, but without the right image and exposure, your efforts might go unnoticed. By focusing on all three elements of the PIE Model, you can create a robust strategy that not only highlights your strengths but also positions you as a prime candidate for promotion and opportunity.

The next time you think about your career progression, remember: it’s not just about how well you perform; it’s about how you manage your image and ensure that the right people know what you’re capable of. Make sure that you are being noticed by the right people for the right things.

I help CEOs, COOs, HRDs and business leaders improve the diversity, success and retention of their new leadership hires across Customer, CX, Operations, Transformation, AI, Insight and Planning, providing recruitment consultancy and Executive Search services. Helping you deliver a much improved performance and ROI. If you would like to talk more about your unique challenges and to see if I might be a future resource for you, Book a call today.