Why aren't you promoted?

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This is my last post on Blogger as Bryan's Cafe has moved to a new host at Wordpress. New branding, haha!! Click here to go to my new site.

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One of the fine blogs I like to read is Kathiroly Raj's Wise Life Advice. Maybe it has something to do with my past life I dunno but I can relate to the articles he writes. :-)

His latest entry is about why people don't get promoted. Although I'm not employed in the traditional sense of the word, I do have some opportunities to peek into that world. Since this is gonna be a bit long to write it in Kathi's comments section, I guess I'll just do it here.

Going by what I see, the scenario Kathi paints is a common one. You're the quiet type who work your butt off. You come in early and stay late every day, maybe even skipping lunches to meet deadlines. Your boss has no complaints about you and habitually pats you on the back for a job well done. But that's where it ends. You get passed over for promotion every time by someone who talks more and delivers less. Feeling frustrated and betrayed, you think of resigning.

If you're in this situation, I think you're victim to one of the greatest fallacies of the workplace, one that many companies want you to believe, and that is the more hardworking you are, the more you deserve a promotion.

Actually getting more things done only means one thing - that you can get more things done. It doesn't necessarily mean you are promoteable material. And if your boss isn't interested to tell you what it takes to get promoted, its because either they themselves are blur sotong or in all honesty they don't see much value in you.

I notice that people who believe in this work harder-get more reward myth tend to be either of low rank or are technical oriented people who are trained to relate to things mathematically. You know, that 1+1 must always be =2. Well if its as simple as that, employers don't need humans. They just need computers and robots. They're cheaper and they whine less summore.

Secondly, when this conflict of expectation happens and the first thing that comes to mind is to resign, then its just further proof that you are not promoteable in the first place. It demonstrates (a) an incapability to comprehend that business is more than just about the thing that you're paid to do, and (b) the inability to take the bull by the horns and solve a problem. Business after all is about solving problems isn't it.

I also noticed that people who get promoted tend to be loudmouths, jerks and rule breakers, seldom the quiet, compliant and "gwai gwai" types. By their very character, the former are often people who like to push the normal boundaries of the business to see where it goes. Testing fences is risky behaviour yes but someone has to do it and prove the old formulas aren't working very well any more. If I'm the business owner, I rather have an insider prove I'm wrong than have my customer or worse, my competitor tell me.

Compare that to compliant people who sit quietly behind their fences, minding their own business and doing as their told, believing that the more pages they type the higher they can go up the laddder. I've often wondered why such people never enquire why nobody has ever been promoted to CEO after a 20 year typing job.

For me, whether a person is the reserved or noisy type, promotable people have one special characteristic. They can see work as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. They demonstrate it by going beyond their roles, even if it means just talking over lunch, to show that with a bit of imagination, you can achieve the same result quicker or cheaper, or you have a better idea that renders that piece of work redundant. They do this consistently, even if it sounds like they're just whining and complaining.

Consciously or not, over time the message they send is that they've outgrown the little job titles on their business cards. The boss's antenna is a lot more sensitive to this attitude versus talent thingy than any statistic showing you've churned out 10% more work this month than last month. Talent as you know is easily bought or rented.

In the end, I think promotability comes from a state of mind rather than a dry historical record of physical achievements. Are you delivering the work you're told to do? Well and good, it guarantees you get to keep your job. But to climb the ladder, you need the guts and the imagination to push some boundaries for some tangible breakthroughs. If you do it smart you may get thrown upstairs instead of out.

Not all bosses will appreciate this though. If your boss was himself promoted to his position through the Peter Principle or he's clearly a buffoon, then I say you're better off bailing and looking elsewhere for a job.


p/s Thanks Kathi for inspiring me to write this post :-)