Progression vs Promotion

Correlation between the two is not always high

旁观者清 - Onlookers see it more clearly

In January, I had a chat over lunch with a friend and one of the topics that came up was why am I where I am today given what he thought were my capabilities. Given that this is not the first time I have heard this comment over the last 2 years or so, I had a deeper conversation with him about it.

Through a deeper self reflection in the coming days, I realized that I am suffering from imposter syndrome which is something I read about very frequently but never know what it meant or felt like. I was sabotaging and short changing myself through self doubt.

Throughput vs breakthrough

In the early days of my career, I was very focused on building up my technical abilities and to be fast and accurate at what I do. My throughput expanded over the years until I became a manager in EY and I became the go to person for low budget projects that cannot accommodate a standard sized project team. Management knew I could deliver a full report by myself with support from an offshore team in India and they deployed me where they thought I could create most value.

Unfortunately, low cost (hence low revenue) projects are also low visibility projects at the top managerial levels and when it came to the annual roundtable reviews, my reporting manager then had to fight tooth and nail for me to achieve an average rating. After I left the firm, many people who continued staying in EY always thought I achieved a high performer rating until I told them otherwise.

That was my first encounter (and not the last unfortunately) with how a seemingly well designed performance appraisal process can fail.

In the short term, the ability to narrate and negotiate gets people ahead of those who hunker down and execute. Rainmakers will usually be more valued than “lubricators” who keep the gears greased and deliver efficiency or cost savings.

This is actually fairly common in large organisations, even at Google that is heralded as one of the Best Companies to Work For in the world.

Outgrowing your reporting manager and organisation

Promotion can also be highly dependent on the clout your reporting manager has within the organisation regardless of what HR or leadership tells you. Formal processes and job grading systems can go someway to mitigate this but never entirely. Human biases are a part of our society and is wired deeply into our DNA.

Long story short, if you create value under a weak manager, you can progress significantly in terms of personal development through heavy lifting and doing the work nobody wants to do. But without visibility beyond your reporting manager, you are still going to be passed for promotion.

Is that something we can control and influence? Yes and no.

• Are you comfortable with skipping the chain of command to demonstrate value to the boss of your boss?

• Are you comfortable at moving up the corporate ladder by making someone else look bad?

Incompetent managers could also be taking credit for your work with or without your knowing, although that can be detected pretty quickly and it is somewhat easier to develop enough conviction to skip the chain of command if that happens.

Optimise for progression

The takeaways from the above and also the advice I usually give to folks that are starting out in their careers is to optimise for Progression and not Promotion. Simply because the factors driving Progression is largely within your control but Promotion is not.

Promotion depends on i) the company’s culture, ii) social capital of your direct manager, iii) performance appraisal process, iv) how your work maps to the company’s key objectives which may change with or without your knowledge and v) your visibility to key decision markers for promotion (some say office politics).

Progression depends on only your will and hunger to find meaning in your daily work and continuously learn new things. Obviously, that will not pay the bills or buy you a new house in the near term but knowledge and know-how acquired can never be taken away from you. Over time, it compounds and there will come a time when the dots connect and you have your day in the sun.

Keep watering and fertilizing your soil everyone, keep growing and do it for yourself, not for anyone else.

Its’ common cents,

JOSEPH THIA