Here’s The Truth

Being Good Isn’t Enough

You’re good at what you do but stuck under leadership that will NOT promote you. What do you do? How do you get your boss to move you up the ladder? Try these three tips.

First, let’s attack the myth that being good guarantees you’ll be promoted at your organization. In fact, it can mean just the opposite because you’re too good to let go. And if you’ve experienced this, it’s most likely not due to your boss being an evil dick, but rather the natural tendency to want to keep a good thing. I mean, don’t you want to keep your good things?

Of course, so what do you do? Try these three tips for good leaders who want to get unstuck:

  1. Create Other Leaders: don’t just be a star, create other stars.
  2. Have The Difficult Conversation: don’t think your boss knows how you feel.
  3. Be Willing To Leave: this gives you the conviction to have the tough conversation of being promoted. And as important it gives you another option to consider should things not go the way you want.

Here’s What Obvious

Now for a hard truth. These strategies are rather obvious, but what keeps us from executing them is that we are no prepared to LIVE them.

Here are a few things to consider:

  • How can you create other stars if you don’t believe you are in fact a star? Can you replace yourself? If not why? You may be good at what you do, but feel less than enthusiastic about leading and building others. That’s a problem.
  • How can you have the hard conversation if you’re not confident or have a fear of leadership? So although you may want to have the conversation, you haven’t and will not until you deal with the personal hang-ups.
  • How can you ask for a promotion with conviction if you haven’t even considered leaving? What’s stopped you from exploring other options?  You may be stuck because of your refusal to face facts. The fact you believe your position is what you truly deserve. Or the fact that you love your job more than upward progress.

P.S. these three tips are a great start to finding a way to get promoted. But if you want to take things to the next level, check out our rise of a leader program. We designed it to build strong leaders who Live It!