One of the most dreaded weeks at work is when you’re going through the performance appraisal process. It’s when you lose your sense of control because someone else is given the power to decide your fate. You’re anxious, unable to sleep or focus on the tasks at hand because all the chatter going on in your mind distracts you and keeps you busy.
Will I get promoted this time?
What if I am overlooked again?
Will the mistake I made recently impact their decision?
What will others think about me if… ?
Finally, the day comes. You walk up to the room where your manager is waiting to declare their verdict. You feel your heart beat faster, your shoulders are tense and there’s even a flicker of anxiety in your gut—what will they say? You scan the room for clues: Is their smile warm or forced? Are they making eye contact or trying to avoid it? Do they seem upbeat about this conversation or there’s hesitation in their voice?
Irrespective of how much you’ve prepared yourself mentally, knowing you haven’t made it is a devastating experience. You’ve been doing all the right things—working hard, hitting deadlines, delivering results, staying away from conflict, helping others and even staying late when needed. What more do you need to do to prove you’re ready for the next level?
You feel stuck, under valued and unappreciated as others seem to move ahead while you’re being stalled in the same position. You blame the system and maybe even your manager for being biased and unfair. You show your frustration at those who got promoted because you think they deserved it less. Instead of identifying what held you back, you adopt a victim mindset and fail to do work that will increase your chances of getting promoted in the next cycle.
Remember this: All these negative feelings aren’t going to get you promoted. Yes, it’s frustrating. Yes, it’s discouraging and may even be unfair. But, ruminating about it isn’t going to change the decision or make you appear more worthy.
Try giving up all the thoughts that make you feel bad, or even just some of them, and see how doing that changes your life. You don't need negative thoughts. All they have ever given you was a false self that suffers. They are all lies.
― Gina Lake
Instead of complaining,
Your work is invisible
One of the most frustrating experiences at work is feeling invisible despite your contributions. You may be putting in the hours, delivering more than expected and even taking initiative to help others and find creative solutions to problems, but despite doing great work, you constantly face disappointment and dissatisfaction of being overlooked and neglected.
You may be delivering results, but no one knows the full extent of your impact because you may prioritize work at the cost of building relationships. You don’t engage with people who shape decisions. You don’t take an initiative to speak up in meetings, share updates or advocate for your contributions. Quietly working behind the scenes makes you unpromotable.
Promotions aren’t just about how well you do your current job. They’re about how visibly and strategically you position yourself for the next one. How you showcase your strengths and present your skills is just as important. Keeping your head down and doing good work makes you come across as reliable, not necessarily someone who’s ready for bigger and better responsibilities.
Visibility matters. You don’t get credit for invisible work. Doing great work quietly and hoping someone will recognize it isn’t a strategy—it’s a gamble. The harsh truth is this: The perception of what you do matters more than your capability.
Making yourself seen at work is important because when your work is visible, not only are you likely to land with better opportunities, you are more likely to get promoted too.
But you can’t rely on your manager to do this for you. Your manager is often busy, juggling competing priorities and stretched across multiple initiatives—they may not track your progress or be fully aware of the extent of your contributions unless it’s clearly communicated. Without knowing your achievements, they may be flawed and biased in deciding who gets the opportunity, who has knowledge and skills and who’s ready to succeed at the next level.
Self-promotion is a leadership and political skill that is critical to master in order to navigate the realities of the workplace and position you for success.
― Bonnie Marcus
Self-promotion isn’t boasting. It’s not bragging if it’s based on facts. If you don’t share your wins, someone else will take the spotlight—possibly for your work. Make your work easier to see—share what you’ve built, solved or improved. You’ll get promoted if you not only contribute, but also make it easier for others to see the impact and the value you created.
You stay within your expertise
You may be the go-to person for your domain—someone who acquired knowledge and experience by keeping at it for a long time. Others value your expertise and rely on your depth because you may know the problems inside out. But when it comes to extending beyond current scope, you may choose to stay in your comfort zone and refuse to take one step outside it. You avoid bigger challenges and don’t sign up for stretch assignments. You refuse to build the next level of skills.
Excelling in your current role doesn’t automatically prove you’re ready for the next. When you keep solving what you’ve always solved, you come across as someone who isn’t ready to stretch—it keeps you trapped and operating in a narrow lane which makes it hard for others to envision you outside it. Your zone of expertise makes you reliable and keeps you stuck in the same role because you keep opting for safety over learning and growth. By avoiding risk, you signal that you’re not ready for more responsibility.
Promotions don’t go to people who operate from a familiar territory, but those who take initiative outside their current responsibility, who can think cross-functionally, navigate the uncharted territory, stretch beyond boundaries, connect the dots and make decisions with limited information and thrive in complexity.
Growth requires stretching beyond comfort into the unknown. It doesn’t require giving up what you’re good at, but applying it in new projects, new challenges and new areas of responsibilities. Volunteer for work outside your current scope. Sit in on meetings that involve multiple cross functional teams. Share your insights in different forums and contexts. Build on your expertise instead of sitting comfortably in it.
Growth isn’t found in comfort—it’s born in courage. The familiar may feel safe, but it rarely asks more of you. Staying where it’s easy keeps your potential out of reach. To rise, you must be willing to risk, to stretch, to stumble and stand again. Discomfort is not a punishment—it’s proof you’re evolving. It’s the space where your skills sharpen, your faith deepens, and your character strengthens. Each brave step into the unknown expands your boundaries and reveals what you’re truly made of.
― Mlungisi Simelane
You can’t sit in your comfort zone and also signal that you’re ready for the next level. When you stick to what you know, you miss chances to grow beyond it. Don’t just deepen your skill, broaden its impact. You’ll get promoted if you’re willing to grow, explore and look beyond your lane to apply knowledge in new and creative ways.
You resist feedback
You may be producing excellent work, but if you resist feedback—dismiss input, get defensive or quietly ignore it—you come across as someone who’s difficult to coach or not open to change. Not taking difficult feedback constructively makes it hard for others to have a productive conversation—they not only avoid sharing criticism, they may hide critical information that’s necessary to communicate and collaborate. You’re met with silence, avoidance and fake nods—anything to avoid friction, resistance and conflict. This widens the gap between how you see yourself and how others perceive you leading to inadvertent blind spots.
You may be highly skilled, but you aren’t perfect. Not showing maturity to handle hard truths signals you aren’t serious about growth. It shows that you’re more focused on being right than being better. Feedback is uncomfortable but it’s also an opportunity to reflect and evolve. Facing your shortcomings stings a little, but you don’t have to take it as a personal attack.
Promotions aren’t given to people who treat feedback as a threat to their success. It’s given to those who show openness to being challenged and close any skill gaps.
Being promotable means being teachable. It’s not treating feedback as a yardstick to measure your competence, but rather as a tool to grow and develop. People who not only welcome feedback, but actively seek it, use it as a fuel for improvement—they show curiosity to ask questions, intelligence to identify what’s relevant and humility to act on it.
Those who handle feedback more fruitfully have an identity story with a different assumption at its core. These folks see themselves as ever evolving, ever growing. They have what is called a “growth” identity. How they are now is simply how they are now. It’s a pencil sketch of a moment in time, not a portrait in oil and gilded frame. Hard work matters; challenge and even failure are the best ways to learn and improve. Inside a growth identity, feedback is valuable information about where one stands now and what to work on next. It is welcome input rather than upsetting verdict.
― Douglas Stone
Defensiveness shuts down learning. Instead of protecting your ego, work on evolving your edge. Use feedback to identify exactly where and how you’re falling short. You’ll get promoted if you embrace feedback without judgment and show willingness to evolve.
You prioritize harmony over impact
Being likable at work is not a bad thing, but in trying to be one if you constantly avoid conflicts, fail to challenge ideas, question decisions or push for what matters, you come across as someone who’s agreeable, not influential. When keeping peace, making others comfortable and people pleasing are your goals, you refuse to take a stand, hold back hard truths and nod in agreement even when every bone in your body is shouting “I disagree.”
Without influence, you can’t persuade others to adopt your ideas, support your initiatives or align them on mutually agreeable goals. Influence also plays a key role in resolving conflicts, handling negotiations and inspiring others to take action. De-escalating tension, creating win/win situations and uplifting others by encouraging them to take ownership of their responsibilities are highly valued skills that can draw attention from higher-ups and make you stand out at work.
People who get promoted learn to navigate tension, not avoid it—they prioritize what’s right over what’s easy, share disagreement respectfully, push back on important matters and take a stand when it matters the most. They build trust not by
Conflict is constructive when it improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and curiosity among group members, provides the medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released, and fosters an environment of self‑evaluation and change.
— Stephen P. Robbins
Keeping the peace might make you likable, but it won’t drive results or earn you a promotion. Promotions go to those who can handle tough conversations, make hard decisions and put goals before comfort. Real impact requires the courage to speak up, even when it’s uncomfortable.
You confuse busyness with value
If you’re busy throughout the day jumping in to solve every crisis at work, saying yes to everything that comes your way, attending every meeting that shows up on your calendar and responding to emails as soon as they show up, you may mistake motion with value creation.
Being overwhelmed and swamped with work makes you overcommitted and under-strategic about where you add value—you keep hustling to stay afloat instead of stepping back to steer. Your energy gets spread thin. Your contributions have low impact. You’re seen as someone who may get the job done, but lack vision and judgment to take on more responsibilities.
Promotions aren’t given to those who do more, but those who do what matters—those who step back to look at the big picture, dedicate their energy to high impact activities and filter noise to say no to work that will keep them occupied but won’t move the needle. They don’t mistake output with outcomes, motion with progress or time spent with value creation. What sets them apart is not how busy they are, but how deliberately they choose where to invest their effort.
To break from the busyness trap, pause, zoom out and reassess where your time is going. Identify what truly drives results and let go of the rest. Don’t fill your day with endless tasks, make strategic choices about what to take on, what to delegate and what to say no to.
Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant. Being selective—doing less—is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.
― Timothy Ferriss
Busyness creates an illusion of productivity which keeps you moving without taking you anywhere. To get promoted, focus less on being constantly occupied and more on adding value. Strategic impact and not sheer effort is what gets noticed.
You outshine the team instead of elevating it
If you constantly hog the spotlight, take credit for work and try to be the smartest person in the room, you may achieve individual goals, but fail to work as a team. Making every project about your ideas, your inputs and your goals limits collaboration. It creates an environment where team members feel undervalued for not getting the recognition, hesitate to contribute because you hijack conversations and worry about being overshadowed, especially if anyone but you takes the lead. In your desire to grow, you may leave no space for others to grow around you.
Dominating rather than empowering makes you come across as someone who’s difficult to scale. You’re being doubted not for your competence, but your capacity to lead, inspire and lift others up. Your potential is measured not only by how well you perform, but how effectively you help others perform. If you can’t create space for others to grow, contribute and shine, you can’t be trusted to lead bigger teams or drive more complex initiatives.
Promotions don’t go to people who shine a light on their own brilliance, but those who amplify the collective intelligence of the group. These people not only produce exceptional work themselves, but also lift others up by leaving room to grow. They build trust by sharing credit, highlighting team wins over personal victories and creating space for diverse voices to thrive.
Start by sharing credit generously by framing success as a team win instead of a solo effort. Invite others to contribute by asking for their ideas, listening actively and making space for different voices to be heard. Instead of taking over discussions, coach and mentor—help others think through challenges and build their own confidence. Step back strategically and let others lead when the opportunity arises, even if you could do the job yourself.
When people work with Multipliers, they hold nothing back. They offer the very best of their thinking, creativity, and ideas. They give more than their jobs require and volunteer their discretionary effort, energy, and resourcefulness. They actively search for more valuable ways to contribute. They hold themselves to the highest standards. They give 100 percent of their abilities to the work--and then some.
― Liz Wiseman
Individual growth and team success are not mutually exclusive. You don’t rise by outshining others, but by helping them rise with you. When you elevate those around you, you show not only what you can achieve, but what you can inspire. That’s what sets you apart and positions you for the next level.
You chase false promises
Sometimes it’s not you, but your manager who can get in the way of your success. They may not be invested in you and may use tactics like vague promises or false reassurances to retain you without committing to real growth. They can encourage you to keep going without any timeline or a plan for your advancement. They can delay conversations, shift expectations or keep moving the goalpost, leaving you working hard without clarity on what it takes to move up.
Maybe the next review cycle.
Just keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll be promoted soon.
It’s not your turn this time…but soon…
Vague reassurances can keep your hope alive. Instead of pausing and identifying what’s holding you back, you double down your effort—taking on more projects, working longer hours and continuing to exceed expectations. You keep performing and keep waiting for a reward that never comes.
People who get promoted don’t settle for false promises or vague timelines. They seek clarity, set boundaries and ask direct questions to take charge of their career path, instead of letting others define or limit it. They get into the specifics—timelines, expectations and metrics for growth—to align on a common understanding of where they’re now and what needs to be done to get to the next level.
What does growth look like?
What milestones matter?
What’s the realistic timeline?
Don’t confuse encouragement with commitment or loyalty with progress. Instead of waiting passively, initiate conversations, document agreement and follow up on outcomes. When growth stalls despite effort and transparency, explore opportunities outside your current role and job where your growth is taken seriously and where progress isn’t just promised, but planned and pursued.
The most common mistake you'll make is forgetting to keep your own scorecard. Very little at work reinforces your ability to do this, so you will have to be vigilant. When evaluators give you an assessment, they are just guessing at who you are; they certainly are not the ones who know your potential. They can rate you and influence you, but they don't get to define you. That's your most honorable assignment: to define, every day through the way you deliver your work, the scope and nature of your inherent abilities.
― Charlotte Beers
Don’t wait for recognition that’s never clearly offered. Chasing vague promises keeps you stuck in limbo. If your growth feels indefinite, it’s time to stop waiting and start leading by asking clear questions, setting boundaries and owning your next move.
Summary
- Doing great work isn’t enough if no one knows about it. If you’re not making your impact visible by sharing results, aligning with stakeholders and building credibility, you risk being overlooked when it’s time for advancement.
- Mastery is important, but promotions go to those who show they can stretch, adapt and lead beyond what they already know. Sticking only to familiar tasks limits your perceived potential and readiness for higher roles.
- Defensiveness or avoidance in the face of feedback signals that you’re hard to coach. Growth-minded people treat feedback as fuel, not a threat and demonstrate that they can evolve with the demands of the role.
- If you avoid tension, never speak up or always say yes to keep the peace, you may be seen as agreeable but not impactful. To be promotable, learn to navigate disagreement, push for better outcomes and challenge the status quo when needed.
- Filling your day with tasks and staying swamped doesn’t guarantee strategic contribution. Promotions go to those who prioritize what matters, filter out noise and focus on outcomes—not just activity.
- When you make every success about yourself, you may hit individual targets but fail to demonstrate team spirit. To get promoted, lift others, share credit and create space for the team to shine.
- Relying on vague encouragement or delayed recognition keeps you stuck. People who advance take control of their path by asking for clarity, measuring real progress and walking away from empty promises when needed.
This story was previously published here. Follow me on LinkedIn or here for more stories.