How to assess whether your organization is the right place to advance your career

One of the core things I teach my clients is how to 3x their vision for their career.

This involves opening themselves up to all the possibilities, dreaming bigger, and then putting a plan in place to reach these goals.

But, it’s not without its challenges.

As you know, a company is like a pyramid.

As you rise through the ranks, the opportunities for advancement into higher level executive positions become smaller and smaller.

So the question becomes: is this the right place to grow my career?

My name is Stacy Mayer, and I help corporate managers (like YOU) get promoted into senior level executive positions. In this edition of Your Promotability Factor, I will show you the three steps you need to take if you want to assess whether a different organization would be a better fit for you and your career.

Let’s go.

Step 1: Shop Around

This is where I see a huge difference between my corporate manager clients, and my c-suite clients.

My corporate manager clients often come to me with the mindset that they need to climb the corporate ladder within their current organization.

Meanwhile, my c-suite clients look at the corporate ladders across all organizations equally.

So, as you move into senior level executive roles, I want you to always be assessing whether or not this organization is the right fit for you.

How?

First, you need to understand your value as a leader, own the impact you know you are capable of making for an organization, and decide if you’re able to make that impact at your current organization.

Then, make sure you are building your network, having conversations, and figuring out what other opportunities are out there.

And remember: It’s ok to look for that next opportunity. It’s your career. YOU are the one who is driving your decisions.

#2: Assess Whether Your Current Organization Is The Right Choice

Here’s an example that recently happened to my client.

I’ll call her Kiara.

Kiara was actively looking for a job with a new organization.

So, during a coaching call I asked her: ‘Why aren’t you exploring opportunities within your company itself?”

It turned out that Kiara had been passed over for a promotion a few months earlier, and she was frustrated.

She felt that the organization didn’t care about her or value her leadership.

So I coached Kiara to reflect on whatever that was really true.

Yes, it was true that she had been passed over for a promotion. It may even be true that her boss or department doesn’t value her leadership.

But, that didn’t mean that other leaders or departments in her organization wouldn’t.

If you feel like Kiara did, I want you to ask yourself: Is there anybody else at my organization that will support my leadership? Is there another department that I could work for? Is there something else I could do within this particular organization?

#3: Assess Whether You Are Acting Like A Leader

This step is essential, because the reason you’re struggling at your particular organization could be the same reason that you will struggle at the next one.

As human beings, it’s really difficult for us to evaluate ourselves, and it’s much easier to blame something outside of ourselves.

Perhaps you think your organization doesn’t support you.

Or that your workplace culture doesn’t support promotions.

Or maybe Covid is the thing holding you back.

And yes, some of these things could be true, but you need to get some perspective first.

Here’s how.

  1. Get a coach. Have somebody on the outside who can point out some of the ways that you are actually creating these blocks for yourself.
  2. Ask your boss. Get an outside perspective from your boss or other members of the executive team. Ask them: What would it take to actually get promoted to that next level of leadership?
  3. Be honest with yourself. Take some time to reflect and ask yourself: What is the feedback that I’m receiving on a regular basis? (Hint: if the answer is just keep doing what you’re doing right, it means that you’re not showing up as a leader.)

Now, if you’d like to take this work one step deeper, I invite you to join the waitlist for my upcoming six-week group coaching intensive: Executive Ahead Of Time.

I designed Executive Ahead of Time to help corporate leaders like YOU access the skills, confidence and unparalleled support you’ll need to reach a higher level executive position.

Join the waitlist here.

PS: If you have a question you’d like me to answer on one of my upcoming Your Promotability Factor Weekly Q&A, direct message me the answer to this question: “If you and I were to have 30-minutes together and you could get my input on anything, what specific questions would you have for me today, this week, this month?”

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