Promotions

Annual promotions were announced recently at my company.

Occasionally, someone works for me who actively disdains getting promoted. "Not my objective," is what they say. I applaud the attitude, but I do sometimes wonder about the underlying assumptions.

While it is accurate to say that it is not a primary objective, it should be an objective because getting feedback should be an objective. A promotion is one of the biggest feedback mechanisms. I'm a big fan of receiving feedback.

I think these employees feel the promotion process is corrupt and inaccurate, and therefore not an accurate reflection of what they do. Another version of this complaint: "only those who are trying to get promoted actually do," the implication being that more kissing up to the boss is required. Surely that happens in some cases, but the vast majority of promotions that I participated in or had detailed information on were openly debated and resulted in the right people being chosen.

But, even if you accept the premise -- that the promotion process is useless as a feedback mechanism -- asking, "What are the specific things I would have to accomplish to be promoted?" is a very good way of finding out how to succeed. This creates a conversation about what is considered excellent work and what isn't.

At the end of the year, if you didn't get promoted, but you hit all the achievements, you'll know you did a great job, which is the primary objective. Then again, maybe you will get promoted, and you might find you like it.