"How do I get promoted?"

[UPDATE: To see a companion video to this blog post click here!] 

A mentee of mine once asked me "How do I get promoted?"

Whenever I get a question like this my first thoughts always are around "what's behind the question?". Independent of whether I agree this person is ready for the next level (and it's likely not my decision as a person's mentor is usually not their manager) it's important to understand the individual's motivation for the question. By the way, as a manager I'm also very interested in this exercise!

For many folks the word "promotion" is shorthand for something else. It can be anything from "more money" to "more responsibility" to "better work" to "getting recognized" to "getting an office" to "getting a secretary", etc. etc. More likely they'll say it's a combination of those but there's usually one reason that stands out for someone over the others.

My first step in answering their question is to understand this all important reason and then ensure that they understand it themselves. Even when we're not in one of the most difficult economic downturns in a century promotions are usually few and far between. Mind you, I have worked in organizations where promotions were given out like they were going out of style but in those cases either the company simply did not know what it was doing organizationally (which is very bad) or was playing catch up with well-deserving folks (a better reason than the first but still not great). The path to promotion, certainly in a mature organization, is usually a long one and one that does begin with their initial question "how do I get promoted?".

Once we have the answer - say for Person A "getting promoted" equals "getting recognized" it's time to then delve into the next level and ask them what that (i.e. "getting recognized") means to them. At this level too you'll receive a myriad of answers and it's extremely important as a mentor to once again ferret out a crisp definition of what the person wants. For Person A "getting recognized" might mean having the head of the division or the CEO mention them at an all hands. Perhaps "getting recognized" means getting taken out to dinner or attending business conferences or working more directly with customers. "Working more directly with customers" straddles "more responsibility" as well but that's fine.

The next step is to find out whether they believe the only way to get what they want is through a promotion. In Person A's case surely there are many ways to "get recognized". As their mentor you could encourage them to first speak with their manager and ask if there's anything more they could be doing to be deserving of that kind of "special" recognition from time to time. I would ask Person A if they've ever requested to attend a business conference. You'd be surprised how many people want their managers to simply guess at their desires. While the really great managers do ask the individuals on their team questions about what makes them tick there are plenty of managers who skip over that kind of important conversation and never find out what people want or need. But had they the information they would go out of their way to satisfy those desires for their team members. I know many good managers who would do anything for their team - they just never ask the initial question to find out what it is they should be on the lookout for! (This will be a topic of a future posting).

Another thing I'd suggest to Person A is to find a peer who did get what they want for themselves and ask them how they did it to model that behavior. I'd also ask Person A to act in a way as if they're already getting what they want. Usually reframing a situation for a person will invite a new behavior which itself invites the kinds of things they want to attract into their lives.

Parallel to the above steps I would ask a mentee interested in getting a promotion if they think they're actually ready and why. I talk through with them what their work life would probably be like after getting a promotion and remind them of things like: "you'll be traveling a lot more and be away from home", "you'll be less technical and coding a lot less", "you'll have to write and give people performance reviews twice a year", etc. etc. I've had cases where someone I'm mentoring didn't really consider everything that a promotion means and it gave them pause - which is great! You want to make sure the person is confident in themselves and in what they want through and through before moving forward on the promotional path.

Finally if we do determine together that a promotion is the optimal way forward and is well deserving then there are steps to take for that....but that's another day's posting!