Most people want a promotion for various reasons: to make more money, advance their career, put underutilized talents to work, etc. People differ in exactly how much they want a promotion, however, and likewise how quickly they want a promotion. For those who are interested achieving a promotion in the very near future, what exactly can you do to increase your odds of success? Consultants and HR experts agree on a couple common, effective strategies that we plan on discussing in this article.
Before doing all of the hard work of transforming yourself into a person who belongs in whatever position you’re looking to get promoted to, get yourself mentally in the right place ahead of time. Ask yourself all of the important questions related to the promotion you can think of, starting with why you want the promotion in the first place. The answer to that question is critical. If it is not strong enough then when things get difficult, most likely “too” difficult, you will be much more tempted to either give up on the promotion or put it on the back burner. If the answer is strong enough, then you will remind yourself of that answer when things get difficult and it will be your motivation to power through.
Another helpful question to ask yourself is why you would not get the promotion if you asked your company about it right now. If after a lot of introspection you cannot think of any true or strong reason for them to deny you a promotion, then you may be ready to go in and ask in the very near future. Most people can think of a few things their company would say to prevent a promotion. These same things are the key areas of improvement a person trying to achieve a promotion should focus on first. By turning all of your weaknesses into strengths or at the very least mitigating any potential weaknesses, it puts the company in an even more difficult position to say no.
One more helpful question to ask yourself is “what are the major ways you bring value to your company?” This is helpful for 2 reasons: 1) this list of things will be a key part of your pitch when you actually ask for your promotion and 2) it gives you specific things to attempt to emphasize/strengthen even further. Some people may think promotions come naturally after a person has just worked with a specific company after a certain period of time. More savvy employees know companies are all about value, so if they’re going to award a promotion to someone, it’s most likely going to go to the person who will bring more value to the company.
Before doing all of the hard work of transforming yourself into a person who belongs in whatever position you’re looking to get promoted to, get yourself mentally in the right place ahead of time. Ask yourself all of the important questions related to the promotion you can think of, starting with why you want the promotion in the first place. The answer to that question is critical. If it is not strong enough then when things get difficult, most likely “too” difficult, you will be much more tempted to either give up on the promotion or put it on the back burner. If the answer is strong enough, then you will remind yourself of that answer when things get difficult and it will be your motivation to power through.
Another helpful question to ask yourself is why you would not get the promotion if you asked your company about it right now. If after a lot of introspection you cannot think of any true or strong reason for them to deny you a promotion, then you may be ready to go in and ask in the very near future. Most people can think of a few things their company would say to prevent a promotion. These same things are the key areas of improvement a person trying to achieve a promotion should focus on first. By turning all of your weaknesses into strengths or at the very least mitigating any potential weaknesses, it puts the company in an even more difficult position to say no.
One more helpful question to ask yourself is “what are the major ways you bring value to your company?” This is helpful for 2 reasons: 1) this list of things will be a key part of your pitch when you actually ask for your promotion and 2) it gives you specific things to attempt to emphasize/strengthen even further. Some people may think promotions come naturally after a person has just worked with a specific company after a certain period of time. More savvy employees know companies are all about value, so if they’re going to award a promotion to someone, it’s most likely going to go to the person who will bring more value to the company.
