Seven reasons why you did not get promoted - 1
The company you work for has just completed its people review cycle and one of the outcomes expected from this process is the promotion announcement. It is very typical in your organization for heads of departments to send an email to their entire team listing and congratulating individuals within the team who have been promoted to the next level by management. You are looking forward to the promotion announcement because you believe that your name will be on the forthcoming list. There is a widespread understanding within the company, based on historical trends, that on average, an employee will be promoted every three years. You have just completed your third year in your current job position.
Finally the announcement day arrives. You are heading back from your lunch break and there is a buzz in the office. The promotion announcement is out. You walk briskly to your desk, your heartbeat racing faster from exertion, anticipation and suspense. You can already hear congratulatory greetings around you. You turn on your laptop, navigate to your mailbox and click on the email from your head of department. You skip reading the preamble and scroll down to the list of names. Five people have been promoted and to your consternation, you are not one of them. You feel the blood drain from your face and fall back into your chair. You are devastated and deflated. You feel a sense of shame. The absence of your name from the list seems like an indictment. You lose all motivation for work and your entire afternoon, day, week, month and possibly year have just been ruined. You spend the rest of your afternoon staring mindlessly at your computer screen, wondering why you did not get promoted.
Sometimes life will throw you a curve ball, like a missed promotion opportunity. When such unexpected disappointments happen, the best strategy is to step back, review and take course-corrective actions if necessary. It is not the right time for a protracted pity-party. You owe it to your development to understand why and how it happened, and what preventive measures you can put in place to stop it from happening again. I have described below seven possible factors that, in my opinion, may have contributed to your being passed over for a promotion in your organization.
1.You don’t know the rules of the game
Promotion opportunities in many corporations are like funnels, since most companies have a pyramid structure. The higher you go in the organizational hierarchy, the fewer the job positions you will encounter. There are, therefore, more promotion opportunities at lower levels of the organization than at the top, and competition can quickly become intense and fierce. Additionally, promotions are both a cost and benefit to the organization. Management must believe that moving you to a higher rank and scope of responsibilities will be a net benefit to the organization, before they promote you to the next level.
Supply will always outstrip demand at higher levels of the organization. Supervisory, management and executive responsibilities are critical to any organization’s success. Decisions made at these levels have higher probabilities of changing the fortunes of the company for better or worse, than decisions made at lower levels. Much more, therefore, is required from the individuals that assume such leadership responsibilities and they are expected to demonstrate qualities that are not commonplace. Only those who understand that promotion decisions are ultimately business decisions stand the highest chance of being handpicked and/or groomed for such roles.
2.You made assumptions and did not ask the right questions
You believe that promotion is a right, and it should automatically accrue to you. You forget that your employment contract with the organization does not guaranty you promotions. Promotion is at the sole discretion of the people who lead and manage the business and they use it as a reward for employees who are outstanding in their job performance and have demonstrated an aptitude for increased responsibilities. You assumed that tenure was the primary criteria for promotion decisions and never confirmed this with your manager. You did not communicate your interest in moving to the next level, nor did you ask your manager to tell you what it would take to get promoted.
You avoid performance feedback like a plague and when your manager says “you are doing fine”, you assume this means you are doing a great job. You never ask your manager to define what “fine” means to him and ensure it is the same definition as yours. Does “fine” mean you are meeting management’s expectations of individuals in your job category or exceeding expectations? Additionally, you do not enquire how well you are doing compared with your peers who will be competing with you for promotion opportunities.
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