Why even the best employees don't get promoted
Jonathan Yabut
The Apprentice Asia Winner, Motivational Speaker, Author, Digital Marketing Professional Contact: jonathanyabut@jycvasia.com
When I was 25 years old, I started becoming a boss of my own with 2 brand managers reporting to me. I sent and replied to emails fast. I executed projects on time and within the allotted budget. I hit my sales target every year. I made money for the company. People praised me. I was your typical model employee.
Any competitive worker like me expected to be promoted EVERY year. And so when another 12 months passed, I was expecting my name to be announced in the CEO’s email about promotions. For the first time, my name wasn’t in it.
I clearly remember dashing to my boss’s cubicle. “You asked me to finish projects 1, 2, and 3. And I did with flying colors. Why isn’t my name there?” I was fuming with anger and confusion.
“Jonathan...” my boss calmed me down. “Remember that day when you brilliantly aced a presentation to the CEO and I congratulated you for it? I asked you out for dinner and to tag along anyone you liked in the office. You brought nobody.” She added. “I was expecting you to bring your 2 brand managers who painstakingly helped you prepare those slides. You didn’t. And you never even acknowledged them.” I started melting with shame. I realized what I was missing all throughout.
“And this is why I’m not promoting you. You are insecure to share the limelight with other people. You refuse to share the stage. You don’t wear a corporate hat. You think it’s all about YOU.” My boss snapped. “You are a brilliant executioner Jonathan, but you have a lot more to learn about leadership. You can’t manage people yet.” She added.
This is probably one of the biggest and most painful lessons I’ve learned in my corporate career about leadership. There is a big difference between being individually good at what you do versus being good in managing people to do what they ought to do. Those who get promoted to leadership and managerial roles possess the latter.When I was younger, I often wondered what kept me from being promoted faster than how I expected to be, and I was missing the value of leadership apparently. At work, I have so many work colleagues who fall into the same trap---excellent individual players, but fail when they start working with teams or leading teams. They're like the folks in the picture. They sail with other travelers using the same ship with the goal of arriving at the same destination, but they insist to set sail on their own. They refuse to share the steering wheel, or let someone steer it once in a while.
Leadership is pullership, not pushership. Leadership is about serving the people who work for you, and not the other way around. Leadership is putting the spotlight on your team, and not on yourself. For all you guys out there aspiring to get promoted this year, make sure you are confident to tick this box. It’s not just about clocking the most time at work, submitting the best report, or hitting the most amount of sales for the company. Rather, social intelligence and emotional maturity to lead are the essential elements in promoting people to positions of higher power, and to positions requiring people management. Because in the end, the real role of leaders is to make more leaders out of themselves.
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Jonathan Yabut is the Season 1 winner of the hit business reality TV show, "The Apprentice Asia." He served as Chief of Staff or AirAsia reporting directly to Malaysian business mogul, Tony Fernandes. Jonathan is based today in Kuala Lumpur today and continues to work for the Tune Group of Companies. He recently founded his own leadership & marketing consultancy firm, The JY Ventures Consultancy Group.
His best-selling motivational book, "From Grit To Great" is available in all leading bookstores in Southeast Asia. Visit his website at www.jonathanyabut.com or follow him on twitter @jonathanyabut.com
Auditor at Department of Defense
5yFrom my experience, promotions are pure luck, they don’t have as much to do with us as they do to the type of management we work under. Many things we feel make us more valuable and more promotable actually work AGAINST us under a poor management. For example, being willing to move “laterally” to learn new skills and expand our knowledge is often considered “promotable” in professional articles. However, many managements will then throw us into other areas where their needs lie and use us to do those jobs, while keeping our pay and hierarchical level the same, WITHOUT showing any appreciation to us as employees through promotions or even formal recognition such as awards. I was once told that by helping in other areas, I was merely doing “other or miscellaneous duties as assigned,” according to my job description, when in reality I was doing the work at a level that was at least two or three hierarchical levels above my level, in ADDITION to my normal responsibilities. Some managements are simply extremely unappreciative and just exploit us. That may or may not change if we find a different job depending on the new management or new culture where we move on to next.
Technology Lead at WellsFargo India Solutions
9yGreat article.. Thanks.
Operation Management Specialist
9ynice one sir may i repost this???
Great Jonathan Yabut, it's all about "we".
Senior Sales Supervisor at HKR EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
9yMany people are given the designation as managers, unfortunately, a lot of them do not have the necessary "people skills" to lead, direct and inspire their subordinates in accomplishing the objectives. The best employees are often defined by their character, honesty and integrity.