Getting Promoted Essentials: Get the INSIDE SCOOP on Your Firm’s Promotion Process
What distinguishes the high potential, high-performing, promotable rock stars from everybody else?
One thing I discovered in my interviews with executives about this topic is that the rock stars actively seek to find out how the promotion and talent management processes work in their company. Specifically, they look to uncover how the company identifies who they want to invest in and who they feel has the potential to go to the next level. Then they reverse engineer their career development and perception management efforts accordingly. And those conversations begin to foster alignment and trust.
Consider the impact of that action. Now they're competing for the best development the company has to offer and future leadership roles with their colleagues who maybe don't know how the process works, who are quietly waiting to be recognized based on what they're doing intuitively, and whose actions may not be best aligned with what needs to be done for them to be perceived in the best light. And they may not feel like they're even entitled to ask.
That divide changes the landscape entirely for those in the running for a promotion.
If you're interested in understanding how your talent management process or your promotion process works, there are questions you can ask in conversations with trusted advisors that will help you get at the root of what will make a difference in terms of how you position yourself to be promoted. I’ll share a few of them with you below.
Before you start having these conversations, you want to assess the openness with which your organization treats talent management leadership development planning, and succession planning. Some organizations, on one end of the continuum, are very discreet, closed and secretive about it, and some are more open on the other end. You want to see where your company is on that continuum before you start having these conversations, because you may need to be more discreet than not.
I'm curious if you've explored in your company how talent management works and what you've found out? If you've explored it and you're feeling generous let us know in the comments below what you found out about how it works and how to best navigate it.
Right. While these might not be the right talking points for a cocktail party, with trusted advisors and mentors, these conversations may uncover nuances that are important to help you position yourself appropriately. Here are ten options to get the conversation started.
- What are the key factors that are considered important for fit for senior leaders in our organization? What behaviors make it work? And what behaviors make it not work?
- When you think about your own promotion process, what do you know now that you wish you knew then?
- Think about someone who was considered as a possible successor for one or more key executives. When you think about the most important factors that distinguish that person, what would you say they are? What behaviors, what traits, what capabilities, what skills?
- Think about somebody who you thought was promising but was not considered as high potential by the organization. What do you think were the factors that distinguish this person from the high potential pool?
- What would you say are the factors or attributes that attract a sponsor in our organization and have them be willing to support or help somebody gain traction to move forward in their career?
- Think of a time when you had to compare two candidates for an open position or leadership role or promotion. What were the factors that had you consider or choose one person over the other?
- Think about those who most proactively prepared for promotion effectively a year in advance, two years in advance, maybe six months...what were the actions that they took that made a difference?
- Which relationships are highest priority in the promotion process? Who do you think are the most important ones to develop?
- Can you tell me about somebody (without names) who had a career limiting blind spot and was able to figure it out and address it? Or can you tell me about somebody who had a career limiting blind spot but was unable to figure it out and address it and what happened?
- What factors help you or hinder you in convincing a colleague to vote for somebody's promotion when you're standing behind somebody? What makes it easier or harder to get others on your side for that person?
Learning about promotion and talent management in your organization is one step in a bigger process. If you want to learn more about my eight-step system to take your career to the next level with more ease and grace, download it at fullpotentialrealized.com/advance.
