Passed Over For Promotion? Do These 5 Powerful Things To Get Ahead, Fast

Being passed over for a promotion can be frustrating to say the least. It can negatively impact your mental health, performance, motivation.

Certainly not a mindset you want to be in if you want to succeed in your career.

If you were overlooked for a promotion, do these 5 powerful actions now to get ahead, fast, and maximise your chances of success.

1. Reflect: Where do I want my mind to be?

It’s completely normal to experience a whirlpool of emotions when you didn’t get a promotion – resentment, anger, pity, and judging.

To see for yourself, do this quick exercise. Ask yourself the 1st set of questions and observe how you feel. Then ask yourself the 2nd set and see the difference.

Notice how the first column of questions make you tense, moody, pessimistic, and stressed. Does the second column make you more optimistic, thoughtful, and curious?

How do you want to feel? Do you want to direct your energy and focus on the former or the latter? Which one is more likely to move you closer to achieving your promotion goal?

This exercise sets you on the right path to do the next item on the list.

2. Review your development plan

Let your career go with the flow as most other people do and you will find yourself drifting towards waterfalls and rapids such as being passed over for a promotion, loss in motivation, low career satisfaction, lower income than what you can make, work thrown at you. Plan your career path and you’ll be on track for success.

If you don’t have one already, check out this article on how to write a good personal development plan.

If you already have one, it’s time to review it together with your manager and/or senior manager because ultimately, they are the ones taking the promotion decisions.

• Are the goals I set for myself the right ones to get me where I want to be?
• What other skills and knowledge do I need to develop to be next in line and avoid being passed over for a promotion again? How can I get in charge of my career?
• Do I need anyone else’s support, such as mentor or coach?
• How did I do at the interview? Can I do better at convincing the hiring manager I am the best person for the job? Here’s a thorough guide how to nail your interview.

3. Network strategically

You are in the driver’s seat of your career, but you need navigators by your side to help you on your journey.

In her book The Politics of Promotion, Bonnie Marcus argues women evolve from Naive Nancy who believes hard work alone will earn her a promotion, to Strategic Sarah who actively develops pivotal connections with leaders who can help her.

Which of the two is more likely to be passed over for a promotion do you think?

Know your value proposition and you can self-promote without sounding braggy and without surrendering your integrity. And if networking is now your key strength, use these thought-provoking networking questions for the best results.

Passed over for promotion: The role of your manager

To start with, having the support of your manager is vital for success. Firstly, make sure they are aware of your aspirations. Secondly, engage in development conversations with them, in line with your development plan (see above).

But if you and your manager don’t have a coaching relationship already, convince them how you developing certain skills or knowledge will benefit the whole department including them as individuals.

Passed over for promotion: The role of your network

But if you really don’t have a supportive advocate in the face of your manager, find other people in your network to be your mentors and advocates. They will play a critical role in identifying those opportunities to learn and grow. With a curious and non-judgmental mind, ask yourself:

• What kind of actions and work does my company prize?
• Do leaders know about my work and its value to the department and the company’s strategy?
• Which leaders should I get to know better?
• Which of my colleagues receive promotions?
• Who do they know?
• Why do decision-makers view them favourably?

Once you’ve identified a potential mentor or senior leader you need to know better, check out these tips from The Muse how to approach them.

Ahead of your meeting, check out these powerful networking questions to ask to have a meaningful conversation with them.

4. Seek feedback

Our upbringing, experience at school or university, our strengths, shape our working style. But your current working style may not be the best to get you in a management or leadership position.

In fact, without internal reflection and external feedback, you are likely to fall down a blind spots pitfall.

Your manager, peers, stakeholders, clients can provide you with useful insights on how to better utilize your strengths and what your blind-spots are.

Some companies offer formal and confidential 360 Feedback tools. So do check with your HR if you can make use of those. Alternatively, here are some great resources and templates to gather useful feedback yourself: resource 1, resource 2, and resource 3.

5. Embed learning in everything you do

Most of us think of a boring classroom or Zoom training when we hear the word learning. But we learn throughout our lives, whether we realize it or not.

New project or product rollout? Change in reporting line? New job?

In all these scenarios, you need to learn on the go and adapt in order to succeed.

In fact, spending time on your learning and professional development is linked to 5 powerful outcomes: self-fulfillment, competitive advantage, higher salary, and promotion opportunities, improved adaptability, confidence, and health.

So embedding continuous learning in everything you do will only help you reach your goals!

3 ways to embed learning in everything you do:

1. When confronted with a challenge at work, instead of jumping in to provide quick answers, ask yourself
   • Can we do things differently?
   • What are the other possibilities to tacke this challenge?
2. After every meeting, ask yourself:
   • What was most useful for me in this conversation? This will focus your mind on what truly mattered and will make you feel positive even after the most exhausting meeting.
3. In a situation where you disagree with someone at work, instead of judging them (that judger mindset again), ask yourself
   • What’s useful about their point of view?
   • How can I see this situation differently?
   • What can I learn here?

If you want more, check out these 15 easy personal growth activities which take little to no time. You’ll be learning new things, thus making yourself more competitive, without even disrupting your busy schedule!

Conclusion: 5 things to do if you are passed over for a promotion

Being overlooked for a promotion stinks.

But falling down the judger pitfall will only make you feel worse and will move you away from your goal. It’s such a dreadful career mistake to make!

Instead, switch to a learner mindset, review your development plan, seek feedback from others, network strategically and embed learning in everything you do.

You will feel better and success will inevitably follow!

And if you conclude that leaving your current job is best for your career right now, here are 5 critical things you must add to your CV if you don’t want to end up in the rejection pile!