by Roberta Balagopal
First of all, a promotion is not a reward for good performance, or length of service. Rewards are things like bonuses and increments and other tangible benefits, and if you are doing a good job, you have a right to expect them, depending of course on the terms and conditions you signed up for when you started your job.
Promotions are a promise that you will get more work to do, very likely harder work, and possibly be supervising others or managing a project yourself. It’s a vote of confidence in your ability to take on something bigger.
Not getting a promotion could mean a lot of things. One possible reason is that you are very good at what you do, and your boss doesn’t want to disturb that. This is a pretty common one actually. If you truly want a promotion, you have to do more than perform well at what you do. You have to demonstrate potential to do even more.
Now, here is where you have to ask yourself: what do you want? Do you want a bigger job scope, more responsibility, tougher challenges and possibly being a boss? If you are up for the challenge, then great! Think about how you can achieve that. However, if you like what you are doing already, and just want some minor changes (for example, more say in how you meet deliverables, or a new job title that better reflects what you do, etc) then you can get those through other means than a promotion.
If you’d like to explore strategies to bring your career to the next level (whatever that turns out to be), contact us for a chat.