5 Indicators that You're Ready for a Promotion

TLDR: There are 5 important indications that you're ready for a promotion. Three of them are commonly discussed. Two of them are rarely addressed. Read below for #4 & 5.

I recently delivered a webinar on how to Make the Most of Mentoring. During the Q& A one of the attendees asked:

"How do I know if I'm ready for a promotion?"

if I were to go simply by my Myers-Briggs preferences, I would say,

"You will know because you feel ready for a promotion."

And while part of that's true, it's not the whole truth.

Five Indicators

So, let me explain 5 indicators that you're ready for a promotion.

1. Feeling Ready. The first, of course, is that you feel ready, but in this sense - you're bored with what you're doing. It's not challenging you. You're feeling compelled to ask yourself, what more could I be doing? Your job has become relatively easy.

That's the first indicator.

2. Successor in Place. The second indicator, if you are a supervisor or manager, is that you have developed a successor.  There's someone on your team, who has the skills and knowledge and experience to take over for you when you move out.

3. High Performance. A third indicator, is that you're performing at a very high level in your current job and - barring any strange dynamic with your current manager - you will have his or her support for moving on.

Those 3 are commonly discussed as indicators that you're ready for a promotion.

Here's one that's not so readily discussed in general, although I have touched on it in other editions of the Be Business Savvy podcast or blog.

4. Ready to Step Up to Higher Expectations. That is understanding what it means to perform at the next higher level, what the expectations are, and to have a sense that you are willing to step up and contribute to the organization using the new skills and identity you will be required to add in order to succeed at that level. I have touched on this before:

• The Most Important Thing to Know When Seeking a Promotion
• New Level? New Mindset!
• 5 Career Tips Not Related to Business Savvy

This is for sure not to say that you have to Have 100 percent of the skills required to succeed at the next level, but it is important to believe that through disciplined practice you can add those skills and that you understand why they're important.  One of the added benefits of doing this work is equipping yourself for the most excellent answers during your interview for the position.

As always, I make a pitch for you to think about your business, financial, and strategic acumen. The expectations in these three arenas are always elevated by a promotion.

And if you find that you aren't ready to contribute to the organization at the next higher level, Do look around for opportunities to build out the lattice career rather than the ladder career at this stage - which leads me to the 5th indicator.

5. Do You Really Want a Promotion? The fifth indicator that I want to discuss is that you're clear on understanding why a promotion is going to be the right answer for you. Sometimes we think of a promotion as a reward for our good past performance, instead of seeing it as a demand for elevated future performance. And while we may feel itchy and ready to go on to something new, it might be a lateral move. to gather a broader perspective on the organization rather than a move up, which might require us to shift our identity and acquire new skills that we aren't necessarily captivated by.

I think about the many individual contributors - oftentimes men in my experience - who have been promoted on the basis of their technical skills, but have no interest in or even aptitude for engaging the greatness in the team members that now report to them. Avoid this situation!

Let's Recap

Today I've talked about five indicators that you are ready for a promotion.

1. One is that you feel ready.
2. Another is that you're itchy.
3. Another is that you are ready. are  high performing in your current job.
4. Fourth is that you understand what it means to step up to a higher level. 
5. And the fifth is that you want it for the right reasons.

What's a Woman To Do?

If you satisfy conditions 1, 2, and 3, be sure to examine your motivations. That addresses number 5.

And do your due diligence in relation to what's required to be successful at the next higher level. Satisfy number 4.

Signing off from beautiful South County, Rhode Island. Here's to your great career success.

Catch you next time.
Susan