Case Study “I am being overlooked for promotion?”

“I think it is time to move on. I have been the top performer in my division consistently over the last 2 years, but they brought in a manager from another division, when my boss moved on, rather than promote me” was the opening line from my client.

My client has been in business development for the same professional services firm for 4 years. He claims he has had excellent performance reviews over the last 2 years, has appeared in marketing campaigns, and is recognized at annual conferences.

“Why was I overlooked for the promotion?” was his question. “Why do you think you were overlooked?” was my question. He then displayed quite clear frustration behaviors, became quite agitated and defensive, attributing blame to the company and his previous manager; he could only see barriers to his progression. 

I was reminded of the Marshall Goldsmith book “What got you here, won’t you there”. Being a being performing individual may not in itself be enough to be enough to be a performing manager of others.

On reviewing promotion evaluations across many market sectors and levels, there seem to be 4 common areas being considered:

Performance: Do you perform with consistent delivery to a level that demonstrates your ability to execute against the key business drivers?

Behaviors: Do you demonstrate the appropriate qualities and behaviors, such as adaptability, self-awareness, positivity, and resilience that others would aspire to?

Ambassadorial Attitude: How loyal and supportive of your managers and organization have you been? Can you be trusted to represent the culture?

Growth Orientation: Do you display the desire and capacity for personal growth and support the personal growth of others?

I have helped dozens of clients prepare for promotion interviews and the 2 key questions to ask yourself are:

1. “Do I know what the criteria is upon which I will be evaluated?”
2. “Have I demonstrated that I meet the evaluation criteria?”

Therefore, the key area for my client to consider was to change his mindset from anger and disappointment to a growth mindset, finding a more positive way forward, and doing something about it.

He agreed that he could not just rely on his personal performance criteria for advancement. We discussed how he could position himself so that he would be a more worthy candidate for promotion in the future. We chose that he asked he should sit down with his manager and review his last appraisal against all the promotion evaluation criteria,

Now demonstrating his desire for growth, they developed a personal development plan which included his manager taking a more coaching approach and his commitment to be more willing to accept feedback.

“If you don’t know what they are looking for in a candidate, it is much harder to show them what they want to see”

Simon Crockett,Founder and Head Coach

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