It’s that time of the year again when performance reviews are right around the corner. Are you expecting a promotion or looking for tips on how you can prepare to be on track for a Mid-Year promotion? Preparing for the promotion conversation doesn’t have to be difficult if you know the steps you can begin to take. You are the driver of your success when it comes to career growth, and it starts with believing in yourself, not being afraid of rejection, and knowing that when one door closes, another one will open.
Let’s Begin.
Share Your Career Goals
The first step to landing the desired promotion is to ensure your manager knows your career goals. Have you discussed with your manager how you’d like to grow your career with the organization? This will help your manager share any gaps you may have so you can begin working on them to ensure you’re ready for the promotion when it becomes available. Remember that sometimes the promotion you want might not be available on the team by Mid-Year or even the End of the Year. Having career conversations with your manager will give you insight into timing. If it doesn’t align, you can decide if you want to explore opportunities on other teams or outside the company. Then on your 1:1 check-ins, you can share and discuss any new updates on opportunities and the progress you’re making so you can know if you are on track or off track with being promotion ready!
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Get A Sponsor
In most situations, your sponsor will be your manager, who will be an advocate for nominating you for a promotion. However, having more than one sponsor that can speak your name in rooms your manager may not be in would be beneficial, so you get the exposure you need to secure the promotion. A sponsor will also be someone that will also be invested in your growth and development that can help you learn new skills necessary for taking your career to the next level.
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Volunteer For Projects
You may not want to hear this, but you should be volunteering for new projects, which can even be outside your dept. The goal is to have opportunities to network and build new relationships to show that you can take on more responsibilities. A promotion usually involves taking on more, so by volunteering for additional work; you can show you can successfully manage various priorities and work with cross-functional teams.
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Create A Brag List
Does your manager know all the projects and works or kudos you’ve received? If not, you should create a brag list that includes any kudos you’ve received from Stakeholders, Clients, or Customers so you can share them on your syncs with your manager. Your manager is busy juggling many things or possibly disengaged, which is a story for another day, so they will not know all your great work if you do not share the successes with your manager.
Now it’s time to start creating the agenda for your next career development conversation with your manager!
