Where is My Promotion?!?

Dear Corporate Friend,

We all have that one colleague always complaining they didn’t get a promotion. Or maybe we are that colleague...

While we sit and wait for others to acknowledge our value, we miss out on the most important thing: it’s nobody’s job to help you grow! I’ve heard so many times „my manager doesn’t do anything for me” or „the company doesn’t support me” so today I want to dispute this! Your manager will not help you grow! Stop thinking this is what should happen.

Ok, yeah, maybe you are part of the lucky 1% that have a great manager that will work tirelessly to provide you with your chance, but real life experience shows us that even this small percentage might be a myth. So instead of waiting around for something that might never happen, and becoming more and more frustrated, read this guide and get to work!

As mentioned, first and foremost, your personal development is up to you and it would be best not to expect this from others (as you can only control what you do and not what others do) so please reach out immediately to whomever you wish and ask for what you need, what you want to find out, to learn, to receive, etc. Practical example: I reached out on my own to someone that I admired (saw her in a presentation) and asked her to mentor me. For almost a year now I am having sessions with her. I chose the topics. This is what mentoring means, you come prepared with the topics.

Next, never assume that someone is too busy. This is not your problem. If you want something, ask for it. If the person you ask does not have time, you can establish together how to proceed.

Resources: in any company there can be a vast array of resources. Find out what your company has available. Few examples:

• ERGs on all sorts of themes (ex: latino, sports, women, cooking, etc). These ERGs organize different events. Become a member of one...or more.

• Speed mentoring: similar to speed dating but with managers. Here you will have a very short window to talk to multiple managers.

• Ad-hoc connections: you can identify a person (from your company or a different one) that you admire for any reason and ask them to have a 1:1 talk.

• Your manager: you can ask your manager to mentor you. As this is not included by default in the manager’s job description, you need to ask for it.

• Company organized mentoring programs: become a mentor or a mentee. Remember you can always learn something from anyone and you can always teach something to someone.

• Paid platforms for mentoring: these offer access to certified coaches.

• Request trainings outside your company: as they are to be paid by your company, they might be approved or not. You don’t lose anything if you try though.

• Trainings on Linkedin Learning or other platforms (ex: O’Reilley, Udemy, etc).

• Your benefits package: many companies have started to include access to certified coaches, lawyers, accountants, or other special type of support you might need.

• Internal trainings or presentations.

• Volunteering: find out where your help would be required and contribute. This does not have to be an organized event, you can also liaise directly with any department that you are interested in and just ask if you can be of any assistance.

• Brainstorm. What cool ideas do you have? Take them to your manager or to someone that might be able to support.

• Networking: inside and outside your company. Very important. Always keep in mind.

Please remember that there are ad hoc things you can do outside the company. Practical example: I paired someone that was interested in a certain domain with other 3 managers from the respective field. They talked and she got lots of advise and resources from them to support her growth.

You can, of course, buy your own resources on the topics of interest such as books (or maybe you have access to a subscription like Bookster) or inscribe in classes that you pay on your own in case the company does not approve the cost. Not to mention the free resources that exist online.

Mandatory trainings? Timing? Do not think this whole effort is mandatory. Do what you want and when you want it. Therefore, you can also put things on your „To do” list and start them in the future when you’re ready. We don’t need to push ourselves to do more things than we can handle at a certain point in time.

Important or not? Please evaluate every time if the topic you want to study is really helping you go in the direction that you want. It’s possible that this is not really the case. I didn’t pursue my PhD any longer as I realized it wouldn’t help me head towards the direction that I wanted. Of course, your desired learning experience can be a hobby, but, in this case, you need to treat it as such, and not assume that, once finished, it will have any sort of „result” or lead to a „promotion".

Consistency: please remember that the most important thing in order to achieve the desired outcome is being consistent, adding even a little contribution every day instead of expecting that you will reach a great result in a short time. If you book 15 minutes once every 2 days it might seem insufficient but in a few months you will have invested a number of hours in the respective initiative which you wouldn’t have touched otherwise.

Now that you have all these options, the only thing left to say is: GOOD LUCK!

From my cubicle to yours,

The D.