Congratulations if you’ve ever received a promotion in your career!
You understand the hard work it takes to navigate through the challenges of your role as well as the confines of your company’s (sometimes) politics to progress to the next level. For those who have experienced hardship, and an inability to progress in your career, I feel you. I understand it can be exhausting, challenging, and in some cases a hopeless battle, but you can do it.
There was an article written by Georgene Huang in 2017 in Forbes titled, “Minority Women Really Are Least Likely to be Promoted in Corporate America.” This article hit home for me, because as a minority woman in Corporate America, I have in the past witnessed myself and people who look like me collide and smash into the glass ceiling without any luck of shattering through it.
After speaking to many women who would see their peers and counterparts climb up the corporate ladder, with what seemed like little to no effort, many women I knew spoke about a common idea. An idea, that was not specifically stated by those I spoke to would refer to this idea of a culmination of different tactics, essentially describing one’s ability to “PROMOTE THEMSELVES.”
When I say this, it does not by any means mean, YOU are the only one contributing to a successful promotion, but it means YOU take charge of what needs to be done to be able to get promoted.
One really strong message someone once told me is, not to concentrate on the end result (in this case being a promotion). But focus on how and what you need to do to get there. This includes:
- Maintaining and building strong relationships
- Working HARD and delivering above what’s expected
- Understanding your company’s promotion process by speaking about when and what you need to do to get promoted
- Identifying your area of opportunities while being receptive to feedback
While this list is not exhaustive, these four tips are pertinent things you can use to understand what it takes and how you can get promoted. It’s vital that you truly understand what the promotion process looks like for your company (to the extent that it can be shared) so that you understand what it takes to get to that next level.
A few words that I’ll leave you with is:
- Own your own career.
- Don’t expect anything to be handed to you, regardless of your length of time in your role.
Working hard isn’t always the only thing that will get you promoted. Focus on the relationships you build, and how you work with people. Make sure you’re always promoting yourself by the work that you produce, the interactions that you’re having with people, and your ability to work with others. All of your contributions give an indication to how you’ll work at the next level. This absolutely impacts your readiness to promote to the next level.
What are your thoughts and experiences on promotions at your current and past work experiences? I would love to hear!
Disclaimer: All advice and blog posts are my own opinion and are not associated with any company or organization.
Photos are not owned by Corporate Curly.