How To Get Promoted As A Woman (The Real Reason You're Not Getting Promoted)

There are many factors involved in a company’s leadership team making the decision to promote someone, and many employees erroneously think it is solely about working hard and getting the most things done, with high quality and on time. Outstanding work ethic is very important if you want to keep your job and be viewed as reliable but it isn’t what will actually get you promoted. In today’s blog we will review five critical yet often overlooked qualities a high performing woman must display if she is to be a serious contender for promotion.

1. The Right People Don’t Know How Great You Are (Lack of visibility)

As stated in the introduction to this blog, many of us are under the mistaken belief that if we just work hard we will magically ascend the corporate ladder, and when that promotion doesn’t come we buckle down and work harder and harder. Eventually weeks, months and years go by and the opportunities for promotion continue to evade us and despair just sets in. The problem isn’t that we don’t have hard work ethic, or that we don’t deliver results, or even that we don’t have the depth of expertise required. The problem is that the right people don’t know about our amazing contributions and the value that we bring so we are consistently overlooked. Hard work doesn’t speak for itself, if no one is listening. We need visibility! We haven’t put ourselves out there in front of actual decision makers, so that these people can play a powerful role in our career advancement. The truth is, we can’t really work our way to the top, but we need to network our way to the top! Check out this blog for more on the important role that mentors, coaches and most importantly sponsors can play in getting a promotion.

2. You Are Too Busy Being A PERFECTIONISTIC Worker Bee (Not Strategic Enough)

The practice of putting our heads down & just getting the work done is a grave mistake many women make. There is a difference between being seen as the worker bee who just executes what is given to her and one who is seen as the thought leader who is strategic, innovative, & game changing.

A perfectionist mentality focused on doing everything perfectly right 100% of the time impacts our ability to spend time doing things such as asking the tough questions, seeing the big picture, observing trends in our industry & building strategic influential relationships. We try to get everything perfectly done because our self-worth is based on never getting anything wrong vs. knowing that we are worthy and we are enough just being who we are. We need to know when to apply the 80/20 rule. We only have a limited amount of time in each day, so it’s important to think about what a worker bee perfectionist mentality causes us to neglect in terms of being a trailblazer on the forefront of transformation. Strive for excellence, not perfection so that you can free up time to do the things you don’t normally do so that you can ascend as you haven't before.

3. You’re Over-relying On Hard Skills And Overlooking Soft-skills

We are often told that we must know our stuff, down cold and be the best at what we do, and this is very sound advise to gain credibility and respect. Nothing beats having the expertise in your field of industry. However, expertise isn’t enough and it isn’t the thing that will help you make the shift from an individual contributor to leadership. Soft skills such as executive communication, knowing how to negotiate and influence, and the ability to have difficult conversations become more and more essential as you move up in an organization. So many women stay inside their comfort zone of being the go to expert but hit a glass ceiling because leadership positions require more. They require a new skillset that ambitious women need to go out and get (i.e. develop).

4. You Don’t Know How Great You Are (Self-Doubt)

In tip number one, we talk about the fact that not enough people know how great you are and the value that you bring - but what about you? Do you know how great you are? Are you confident of and own your brilliance? Self-confidence is one of the single most important mindsets that high performers have and can have the biggest impact on one’s career if they know how to develop it. The energy that is spent trying to overcome negative internal chatter and self-doubt can be re-directed towards innovative solutions and taking bigger risks to propel your career ahead. Read this article for more information on how to develop stronger self-confidence.

5. You’re Not leveraging the powerful relationships that you have

Women often network to build friendships and relationships rather than allies that can support their career and cause. Studies show that men build relationships in a professional setting for transactional reasons. They are not just collecting friends out of a desire to be liked without cashing out on the goodwill. Relationship building is a natural strength for women being that we are relational by nature so don’t let this inherent strength go to waste, leverage it, and ask for help. People want to help you. Give them the opportunity to by just asking!

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