Imagine you’d like to take on more responsibility, complexity, scope, impact, and/or be promoted to the next level in your organization. How much time is enough time to start your promotion planning before you hope to move forward?

Leaving ample time to prepare yourself and implement your promotion plan is part logistical and part mindset issue. Allowing enough time to thoroughly research your proposed advancement can help you put your best foot forward.  As we’ve already discussed, before you ever initiate a promotion conversation with your manager, you would have already: 

·          Ensured your performance has differentiated you positively 

·          Gotten to know norms and people involved in the promotion process 

·          Established and begun to build trusting relationships...

I’m walking home from the bus.  I realize I’m about to do something radical. I’m going to leave my cushy change consultant job and start a non-profit. I want to do something that makes a real difference for women. I need to, and now. “I have no idea what I’m doing” I tell my husband, “but don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.”

You know how you always read these walk-away stories where people leave their corporate 9 to 5 and stumble into humongous success and change the world? This is not one of those stories. I did start the non-profit though, and based on what the women who went through our programs have told me, we did have an impact. And it was an amazing, life-changing adventure.

What I got out of it was that I love working with women and helping them to step boldly into their future. And I have something valuable to offer them. All these years later, this possibility still lights me up.

How my work experience informs...