When To Ask For A Promotion.

In the last 6 months, some of my clients have asked me this question; "I believe I'm ready for a new challenge, so how do I ask my boss for a promotion?"

In response, I always ask "how do you know you are ready for a promotion?"

Some of answers I've heard are:

• I've learned all I need to learn.
• I need a new challenge.
• I'm a hard worker and I've been in this position too long.
• I've acquired new skills which have prepared me for a new role.

While these are all good and legitimate reasons which should be factored into asking for a promotion, they should not be the key reason(s) why you ask for one.

Let me clearly state that this article is about "asking for a promotion," and not about your boss or company offering you a promotion.

A promotion means leaving your current position and moving to a more senior one. (Seriously Kene, did you need to explain that?) This sounds simple. But in the simplicity lies the complexity of the process.

You can ask for a promotion when you've outgrown your position. You outgrow your position NOT by knowing all there is to know, but by developing 1-3 team members to replace.

You are ready for a promotion when you've worked yourself out of your job by developing others to do all you can do.

It's simple but not easy.

A few years ago, I was speaking at conference to regional leaders of a national not-for-profit (name withheld to protect the innocent.) The talk was about bringing value to the organization, and my third point was on "working yourself out of a job." I quickly sensed the resistance from the audience. Folks who had been laughing at my previous stories and jokes were not looking happy anymore. My audience was no longer connecting with my speech.

LESSON: If your audience ever disconnects from you, stop speaking, acknowledge the disconnection and start asking questions. What about my statement do you not agree with? You want to hear from them. Don't be defensive. Shut up and listen.

I immediately went from a keynote to a Q&A session. What part of my statement do you not agree with? As the answers came, I followed up with "why and tell me more." The core issue we unearthed was that they did not trust their organization, and they felt the only way to keep their job was to be the person who knew how to do everything. These managers were hoarding knowledge. I won them over with my explanation.

You are good worker when you do your job well. You are a valuable worker when you increase the capacity of those who work with or for you.

When you develop your team members, you increase the capacity of your team. When you increase the capacity of your team, the productivity of your organization increases.

When you've developed your team to the point where you are no longer needed, you are indeed ready for a promotion. And HR won't need to go through hiring hoops as you already replacements in place.

If you are a person who is always developing team members and increasing team capacity, you are a valuable team member. Most organizations want, and will promote, people who are multipliers. I say most, because there are a few small minded bosses who will happily fire a valuable employee and replace them with a developed team member for a lower salary. That is just plain stupid; you shouldn't work for such a person.

So, when should you ask for a promotion? If you've reached your ceiling in your current position AND you've developed others to do all you can do, you are ready for a promotion.

Go for it!!

Kene Iloenyosi is a career coach who helps his clients discover and work in their career sweet spot. To learn about his coaching service, go to www.talentrevolution.me .

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