Reverse engineering your advancement: first steps

Understanding the criteria for advancement and emphasizing your aligned attributes accordingly, or working hard and expecting to be recognized for your contributions. Which strategy do you prefer? Many women, myself not excluded, wittingly or unwittingly have employed the latter. I think we can do better.

Two work experiences illustrate the importance of understanding the system and positioning yourself appropriately. In one case I was responsible for Diversity at an Investment Bank where only a handful of women had risen to the highest level title, Managing Director. I was researching how promotions worked so that I could better support creation of more balanced leadership teams.

I found that a large committee reviewed the candidates who were up for promotion to MD each year. The committee broke the list into three groups: those who were an obvious no, an obvious yes, and the maybes. The candidates in the obvious yes and obvious no groups were barley discussed; the committee spent almost all their time deliberating the candidates with the less certain fate.

This is where having a wide network of advocates really made the difference. Some candidates had made great contributions but did not have enough committee members who knew them and were willing to spend their political capital on them – and they did not get promoted. Other candidates with similar level performance who had won the support of more backers or more influential backers were promoted.

In a different company, as part of my responsibilities leading Talent for a large business unit, I played a role in vetting candidates for MD promotion. As risk management was a key criteria for MD eligibility, I interviewed colleagues and internal clients of MD candidates about the degree to which those candidates consistently demonstrated effective risk management in their decision making. Those who did not meet this criteria were quietly removed from the candidate list.

Even if the colleagues involved in your organization’s promotion process support your advancement, they need to be effectively armed to do so. Without being able to illustrate how you meet and exceed the criteria, they may not be able to assertively and credibly advocate for you. And if you have not provided them with the clear examples they need to support your case, they might not know what you’ve done. They might not have the evidence necessary to persuade others on your behalf. Sometimes a sound bite is enough to throw the vote one way or another.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to best navigate your company’s talent management process, check out my free Positioning Checklist. I’ll provide you with a series of prompts you can use to better understand both the players and criteria that determine who moves forward at your company, and begin to assess the degree to which you are aligned with both. Keeping in mind your visibility and perception, you can start to craft a plan to communicate and demonstrate your capabilities in a way that will move the needle for you.