Take Charge of Your Career: Get The Feedback You Need, Now

“Keep doing what you’re doing” is a tough thing to hear in your performance review. It’s unhelpful, demotivating, and frustrating, particularly if you are expecting a promotion. Don’t assume that your boss has deep context and understands your work, or that your efforts will be recognized and rewarded. Unfortunately the opposite is often true — if you are really good at managing fires in your workload, your boss may be blissfully unaware of all the effort required.

The good news is that you have built a high level of trust with your boss. The bad news is that they may not be able to provide you with the critical feedback you need in order to level up your career.

If you are trying to get promoted, you need to know what your boss is optimizing for

When it comes to building a case for promotion your boss is likely looking for one of three things:

• Your impact on the business.
• The scope of your role and your comfort with it.
• Your time in role (aka butt-in-seat).

Before you get the next round of “you’re doing great! Sorry, still no promotion,” ask your boss which of the three things they are optimizing for. Once you understand where the objection may be coming from, it is easier to get greater detail and strategize for the next performance review.

If they are focused on impact to the business, ask:

• How could I have increased the business impact of the project(s) I worked on this quarter?
• What projects to you see having the greatest impact? How can I get involved there, or what I can learn from how that project is designed?

If they are focused on scope, ask:

• Where do you see opportunities for me to take on greater scope?
• What are the key initiatives where I could be using my skills to further more strategic goals?
• How are projects with broader scope resourced? Who would I need to talk to in order to be included?
• How can I better support you in your role?

If they are optimizing for time in role, ask:

• What achievements or skills would I be demonstrating that would make you confident I was ready to take on a larger role?
• What kind of timeline should we plan on, and what milestones would be helpful for us to know that I am on track?
• Are there any stretch opportunities coming up that would give me the kind of experiences you are looking for?

Use these questions to ensure the unspoken expectations are clear — your manager should be able to clearly articulate the difference between “meets expectations” and “exceeds expectations”. Being targeted about the feedback you are asking for can help you (and your boss) understand the gaps and work to close them.

If you are ready to take charge of your career, explore our 8-week program designed to help you build confidence, develop strategies, and pursue your success!