Over the years, I have watched many talented mid-level executives work to develop their skills and expertise, aiming to get noticed and promoted. However, most hard-working people are immersed in their daily duties and personal whirlwind and rarely see where they are going. They then wonder how to get promoted at work.

As I compare those who made themselves eligible and those who were successful, I have discovered a key point of differentiation: Those who excel at getting promoted at work are the candidates who can see over the horizon and maintain a balanced perspective.

11 Ways to Get Promoted

Getting a promotion means thinking beyond the day-to-day. Here are some tips for getting promoted as well as challenges to help you be more strategic:

1. Be a student of your industry, not just your firm. To learn how to get promoted at work, you absolutely must care about the big picture. Staying in your company’s bubble will only make you stagnant.
2. Read your industry’s trade journals to research the competition and broader trends. Then, compare what you see to what your company is doing, and don’t be afraid to bring new ideas to the table.
3. Follow your competitors carefully and never dismiss what they are doing. Statistics indicate they will be correct, at least sometimes. Learn from them and keep an open mind. Your company processes might not be the most efficient ones on the market.
4. Read business publications, specifically the Wall Street Journal and business magazines. They can teach you a lot about how to get promoted at work and deepen your leadership skills.
5. Hone your understanding of your firm’s financial statements and how they compare to the rest of your industry.
6. Seek out industry leaders and ask them questions. If you want to be genuinely great, learn from others who are truly exceptional. The best way to learn how to get promoted at work is to emulate people living the career path you desire.
7. Ask your company leaders why their goals and strategies are essential to the future. Again, it’s important to signal that you’re thinking long-term.
8. Work on addressing your experience gaps through external workshops and seminars. Your organization might even pay for these opportunities if you ask.
9. Find a mentor within your firm who is a senior-level strategic thinker and listen to their advice on getting a promotion. If you can’t find a mentor, hire a business coach to keep you on track.
10. Craft your personal goals so that they link up with corporate strategies. How do you prove you should be getting a promotion? You point to specific goals you’ve completed that align with the company’s vision.
11. Enlist your boss to help you work on your career path at your company. Asking for a promotion should never blindside your boss: instead, you should be working together on a plan for your eventual trajectory at your company.

Getting a promotion requires forethought and careful planning. Just as a ship captain must anticipate the weather beyond the horizon, you must see the bigger picture instead of just staring at the work in front of you today.

How to Get Noticed at Work

Have you ever been passed over for a promotion? Whether this has happened to you in the past or is something you’d like to avoid in the future, it’s a daunting prospect to try getting a promotion only to be shot down. But is being overlooked for workplace promotions a reason to quit your job, or are there other factors at play?

Why do I keep being overlooked for promotions at work?

Getting passed over for a promotion can shake your confidence, but there’s no cause for immediate alarm. Instead, there are concrete steps you can take to improve your performance and get a better idea of your future trajectory at your workplace. Here are some things to consider if you fear being denied a promotion at work.

• Seek feedback and be open to constructive criticism. You should do this immediately after not getting a promotion, but you should also be in regular contact with your higher-ups to hear about your performance all year. Ask for regular reviews and be open to feedback. Learn what they’re looking for when promoting employees.
• Communicate your goals to your boss. Make sure your manager knows you’re aiming for an internal promotion. Create career goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Ask what benchmarks you need to reach to be a viable candidate for getting a promotion, and see if you have their support.
• Build strong relationships with your colleagues. Soft skills are as critical as technical skills for getting a promotion. You can be great at what you do, but you’re unlikely to be promoted if you’re prickly or challenging to get along with.
• Take the initiative on additional responsibilities. One way to stand out is to be proactive. Look for opportunities to take on new projects or find ways to improve existing processes to make them more efficient.
• Develop new skills and stay up to date in your field. New technology is being developed every day that can radically change an industry. Stay on top of these advancements by attending conferences, taking online courses, and reading industry publications to keep your skills sharp.

Should I quit if I was passed over for a promotion?

Getting passed over for a job promotion is not necessarily a reason to leave an otherwise decent job. If you can make improvements, you can try for the promotion again next time.

Sometimes, if you’re a phenomenal employee, a business would prefer to keep you in your current position rather than getting a promotion, either as a cost-saving measure or because they would need more time to replace you. On the other hand, one of the higher-ups might be blocking your career progression for their own reasons.

In either case, your circumstances are likely to remain the same. It’s a good idea to ask a mentor or a business coach for an unbiased opinion of your situation before deciding. If it turns out that your job is stagnant with no hope of getting a promotion, you might want to start looking for a new one.

20 Career Tips for the Newly Promoted

So you’ve just been promoted. Congratulations! You now have the opportunity to become a better leader and positively affect change within the business. But getting a promotion doesn’t mean you can kick back and relax; there are a few post-job promotion tips you should abide by to ensure success.

Here, I’ve collected some of the best career advice I’ve encountered throughout my decades of working in the leadership field. If you follow this career guidance, you can knock this company promotion out of the park.

1. Be prepared to show the boss what you’re made of. They picked you to represent your team in your new position—you must demonstrate that you’re worthy. Showcase what makes you different from the rest.
2. Don’t underestimate the importance of influencing and leading people. Be approachable, understated, humble, and willing to listen. Some of the best career advice on good leadership drives home this point.
3. Learn time and self-management skills before you report to work, and preferably before you get a promotion. It’s up to you to develop your leadership skills on the job and in your spare time. Listen to podcasts and read books to glean career guidance outside of work.
4. Regardless of your job, you must understand the operating statement, the balance sheet, and the cash-flow statement. Learning how the business works is critical to working well within it. Know where the money comes from and where it goes.
5. Resist the urge to implement all your ideas at once. Employees can resist change under the best circumstances, but haven’t learned to trust you, especially if you’re a new leader. Instead, after getting a promotion, sell them on your vision and work on implementing changes gradually over time.
6. You will be paid to do the planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling, but your leadership skills will determine how far you go. The truth is that anyone can be a manager, but not everyone can manage well. One of the best pieces of career advice I can give is to work on becoming a good leader and a good manager.
7. Take control and ownership of your training and development. You must be tenacious and aggressive. Nobody will care more than you do about your personal development. If you do this right, you can also share great resources with your team.
8. Practice your communication skills. This is much more important than you realize. Treat others with respect and be mindful of your language so as not to cause confusion or project a sense of superiority. It’s also a good idea to improve your public speaking.
9. On that note, written, concise, and error-free emails and letters are critical. This is a fundamental point on which you will be judged, but it is also one of the easiest to improve. Be sure your team knows your communication style.
10. Successful communication is best done in person. Please don’t rely on emails, letters, memos, or texts for critical matters. Video conferences or in-person meetings are better than emails.
11. Always write down good ideas and input. You won’t remember the good stuff without it; the activity helps you sort out your thoughts.
12. Never take credit for the team’s successes—only the failures and the lessons. Give credit where it is due, but know that, ultimately, you are responsible for your team’s success. If any individual fails, it is because you have forgotten them somehow. Work with every team member to be sure everyone has the resources they need to succeed.
13. Avoid all office politics and anything that makes you look good at the expense of others. Understand the game, but don’t play it.
14. Have an open-door policy after getting a promotion. Foster two-way solid communication with your team members. No one wants to tell the boss when they’ve made a mistake, but if your team is comfortable coming to you when something goes wrong, you can work together to fix it faster.
15. Positive reinforcement is everything to an employee. If they only hear from you when they’ve messed up, they will feel like their work isn’t valued and will stop making an effort. So be sure to praise your team when you provide feedback to your employees—it makes the hard conversations much easier when you need to critique.
16. Be willing to change companies if needed. Don’t get locked into believing that one firm will nurture and do the best for you over a long period. Your career is a long path, and the days of staying at one company your entire life are long gone. If another company offers the experience and opportunities you want, don’t hesitate to go for it.
17. Be extraordinarily passionate about your role, or do something else. Nothing will burn you out quicker than showing up daily in a role you couldn’t care less about. Sometimes this problem can be solved by changing the job description, but sometimes it means leaving the company altogether. So do what it takes to get fired up about your work.
18. While your career is still young, look into relocating to the biggest city you can stand. Be adventurous while you can. Pay your dues and earn your “chops” early.
19. Be willing to relocate in the future. Those who do get bigger jobs and more enormous salaries. Some of the best career advice I can give you is to be open to any opportunity that comes your way.
20. Encourage your team members to become good leaders. A team of leaders can change the company culture forever.

Getting a promotion is a huge accomplishment, but it’s no cause to slack off on your work ethic. Work on yourself and your career!

Want to learn more about getting a promotion? Click here to sign up for my weekly blog articles on the keys to entrepreneurial success. If you need small business coaching to help you achieve your goals, click here to schedule a free consultation to discuss how to get ahead at work.

Coach Dave

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Dave Schoenbeck

CEO at Dave Schoenbeck - Business & Executive Coach

Dave Schoenbeck is a professional business and executive coach who translates complex business methods, processes, and strategies into actionable plans to dramatically improve financial results. Read more about Dave here.

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