Growing at Work
Most people find out how promotions work after they have been passed over
Good work is necessary and often not enough. Promotions depend on whether there is a role to move into, whether the right people know your work, whether the level above is a different job from the one you do now, and how a decision is argued in a meeting you are not in. This session explains how those decisions are usually made, so people can ask better questions and stop guessing. It does not promise a promotion to anybody.
Explore this page6 sections
The decision is made in a room, and usually not by the person who knows your work best.
A promotion is rarely decided by one person reading one file. A manager proposes, other managers compare, somebody senior checks it against a budget and a level, and the result is often shaped as much by how well the case was argued as by the work itself. The employee is seldom told any of this, so a decision that feels personal is frequently structural.
That does not make effort pointless. It means effort has to be visible, matched to what the next level needs, and supported by someone who will speak for it. Companies differ widely in how formal this is, and a small firm can decide in a conversation what a large one decides in a cycle. The session describes the common patterns and is clear that every employer has its own rules.
What the session covers
34 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from how decisions are made to what to do afterwards. 6 apply to almost any business; the rest only in a particular case.
How the Decision Is Usually Put TogetherWho proposes, who compares, who approves.5
Not every employer has a formal cycle. In a small business the owner may decide, and the conversation is simpler and more personal. The useful question is always the same: how does a decision get made here, and who has to be persuaded?
- The manager's recommendation, and why it carries so much weight
- Calibration or comparison across teams, where it exists
- A senior review against a level and a budget
- The part HR plays, and the part it does not
- Why the same case can succeed in one cycle and fail in another
Doing the Job Well Versus Being Ready for the Next OneThe two are related and not the same.5
- Why the next level is often a different kind of work
- Scope: larger problems, more people or more ambiguity
- Working without being told what to do
- Being relied on by others, not only trusted to finish tasks
- How performing at the next level before the title differs from simply working longer hours
Finding Out What the Next Level NeedsAsk, and ask early.5
- Whether the company has written expectations for each level
- Asking your manager what the next level looks like in practice
- Asking what would make the case clear and what would hold it back
- Asking who else has a say
- Writing the answer down and returning to it
Making Your Work Easy to Argue ForEvidence someone else can use in a meeting you are not in.5
- Keeping a running record of what you delivered and what changed because of it
- Describing results in the language of the business, not just tasks completed
- Making sure your manager's manager can see the same picture
- Credit for team work, stated honestly
- Writing the case in a page, as if you were the one presenting it
Timing, Budgets and VacanciesThe parts no individual controls.5
- Why a deserving case can wait for a cycle or a budget
- Roles that exist and roles that have to be created
- A manager who is leaving, or a team being reorganised
- Company performance and hiring freezes
- Telling the difference between not yet and not here
Sponsors, Mentors and Whether You Are KnownBeing good and being known are different.4
- What a mentor can and cannot do
- What it means for someone senior to speak for you
- Working visibly across teams without performing for an audience
- Building relationships before you need them
When the Answer Is No, or Not YetIf it appliesWhat to do with a decision you disagree with.5
If you believe a decision involved unfair treatment, such as discrimination or harassment, that is a different matter from a promotion decision, and it belongs with your company's formal grievance routes or a lawyer.
- Asking for the reasons and the specific gaps
- Agreeing what would change the answer, and by when
- Judging whether the path is genuinely open
- Considering a move to another team or employer, honestly
- Not accepting vague reassurance without a next step
Questions to take to a manager
- What does the next level look like here, in practice?
- What would you need to see from me to put my name forward?
- What is the usual timing and who is involved?
- What is one thing that is holding my case back?
- How can I make my work easier for you to describe?
What this session is not
- Not a guarantee of a promotion or a raise
- Not a way to work around your manager
- Not advice on any particular company's policy
- Not a script for office politics
- Not a substitute for asking your own employer how it works
How the session runs
An experienced manager or senior professional explains how promotion decisions are commonly put together and answers questions about them. Participants then work on their own situation: what the next level needs, what evidence they have, and the two questions they will ask their manager. Discussion is in small groups and is kept general; nobody is asked to name a colleague or an employer.
What your students leave with
- A plain picture of how a promotion decision is usually put together
- The difference between doing a job well and being ready for the next one
- Questions to ask a manager about what the next level actually requires
- A way to collect evidence of their work that somebody else can argue from
- An understanding of timing, budgets and vacancies, which no individual controls
- A realistic view of when to wait, when to ask and when to look elsewhere
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
You cannot control the decision. You can understand it, and prepare for it.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.