Stop chasing promotions that don't exist

You’ll miss out on millions if you keep chasing promotions that don’t exist.

Every career coach will tell you the same thing about how to get promoted to a senior leadership position. Think strategically, work cross-functionally, develop other managers, get more wins for your department. And look, all of that is good and will be rewarded, if and only if there exists a clear path for you to grow into AND leadership has the willingness or the intent to put you in that position.

Because if that doesn't exist, then no matter what you do, you won't make the jump from manager to director. You could become a senior manager at best, managing other managers. And they’ll only give you that promotion in order to keep you retained. Not to give you a seat at the table.

Hope as a way to avoid discomfort

Honestly, it is often futile to do everything in your power to get promoted internally while hoping it happens when there's not a realistic path. And many people actually know this, yet they keep hoping for it to happen.

We had a client who was stuck at senior manager for seven years. She was doing the cross-functional work, she was developing her team, she was thinking strategically. Doing everything you're supposed to do. But the path to director simply did not exist in her company. And she knew it. She just didn't want to deal with the discomfort of making a switch. And that's what I see over and over again. The hope of an internal promotion is really just the avoidance of discomfort. That's the real reason people stay stuck.

The people who switch at the right time

But time and again what we see is that people who make a switch at the right time are the ones who end up seeing exponential growth in their career. They come in, they deliver a big ask, they train other people to replace themselves, and then they find a role at a different company that clearly has an appetite to absorb a leader like them and can pay them generously. Both in terms of money and responsibility.

So, if a lucrative internal opportunity exists, then of course, take it! That avoids the whole hassle and pain of making a switch. But I would not place internal promotion on a higher priority than finding something externally. The bottom line is, find what works for you. Whether it's the same company or a different one. The choice between Internal and External is irrelevant if you're trying to optimize for career growth.

The numbers

If you want to look at it in numbers, staying in a stagnating role will at best net you three to four percent raises. For some years you might not get even that. But while making a strategic move, ten to fifteen percent raises are common. And small differences like that compound over decades. We've seen $200K to $300K difference in total comp between people who moved at the right time and people who stayed. In some cases, the difference in annual pay is half a million dollars, only because they made the right moves.

We help senior leaders do exactly that. Book a call with my team to get started.