How to Get Promoted
By Gideon T. Rasmussen, CISSP, CRISC, CISA, CISM, CIPP

This page focuses on what you need to execute or deliver on to demonstrate leadership. It also provides leadership qualities and practical advice to help you develop a plan to advance in your career.

  • Fulfill your current role to a high degree of quality.
  • Ask your Manager what what you need to execute or deliver on to demonstrate leadership.
  • Ask what behaviors you need to exhibit to prepare for your next role.
  • Develop self-awareness:
    - Request Stop, Start, Continue feedback.
  • Work on your areas of professional development:
    - Review feedback and set corresponding goals in your performance plan.
    - Include skills you need for your next role (e.g. financial acumen).
  • Adapt your communications for the next level:
    - Focus on the audience of each manager and executive.
    - Become concise, crisp and business focused.
    - Develop and hone a Communications Plan.
  • Obtain a Mentor.
  • Put yourself at risk.
    - Ask to lead a challenging project.
    - Stretch yourself.
    - Step outside of your comfort zone.
  • Groom a Successor: This is especially important if you are already a Manager.
  • Dress for the part.
  • Develop your professional brand:
    - Become known for providing solutions
  • Realize it may be necessary to leave the team or group to be promoted.
Keep in mind being promoted is not all 'fortune and glory'. Be realistic about that. As you are promoted, the expectations of your base performance increase. You work-life balance will be impacted. The volume of administrative routines increases (e.g. timesheets, performance reports, budgets and presentations).

These tips can be used to throttle or control your career advancement. Do not allow yourself to be promoted prematurely.

Keep in mind this process may take two or three or four years. It takes a consistent pattern of execution and behavior to be promoted. Senior leaders are conservative. It takes time to prove yourself 'ready now'.

Click here for more professional development tips