Leveling Guide for Promotions

Many (most) managers are afraid to have the “promotion conversation”. They avoid it like the plague. Then promo time comes along, and their directs are frustrated when they are told it will take another year or two until they get promoted. It feels like a slap in the face. The disconnect between the manager and the employee shocks their world.

Those very frustrated individuals frequently become almost instantly disillusioned, disgusted, frustrated, bitter, and angry. They start looking to leave and secretly tell those around them why they are frustrated and looking to leave. Which becomes contagious. These very same employees could have been turned into high performers willing to do the work needed and build team loyalty and cohesiveness if only the manager had been honest and communicative from the start.

Responsible for your Own Path

Make no mistake; each individual is truly responsible for their career growth, not their manager. Life isn’t fair, and there will be bumps in the road out of your individual control. Like a team that gets disbanded or a product gets deprecated. Or a colleague who is in the right place at the right time, and you are not. (And biases exaggerate the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time.) And my favorite, someone politically respected sees you as a threat and makes your life difficult even though you did nothing wrong - it happens to good people more than we in admit. But good managers and leaders will be honest with all their directs from the start, not just the high performers who do everything naturally or those willing to put up with slow promo paths.

Why Managers Avoid the Convo

There are hundreds of reasons managers avoid the promo conversation until they are cornered into it, but here are 6 common patterns I have observed:

1. Limited Opportunities - promotions and budgets are limited

2. Tough Room - it requires a fight, others are trying to win those limited slots for their team

3. Rite of Passage - it took them a long time to get promoted, and expect same for you

4. Fear of Awkward Convo - telling someone they are good but not great isn’t easy

5. Can’t Articulate the Details - it takes time to have a clean, concise list of what to work on

6. Politically Incorrect - It is seen as politically incorrect to offer up a relatively new employee for promotion, so their will to advocate for you is low

Most companies don’t promote people quickly and this, among other things, drives managers to avoid bringing up the topic of promotion until they have to do so. This is a major mistake for all involved.

Tool to Help

It doesn’t have to be that way. If you are a manager reading this, please use this tool to drive conversations early and often with all your directs; so they know what they need to do to perform well. Let them know where they stand. Learn where they think they are positioned within their level and how to move up.

The Tool

This is a spreadsheet (you need to be logged into Google to make a copy) you can use to list the company leveling guide milestones and then rate your product managers.

How to Use It to Plan

I have prefilled it with a generic PM leveling guide, but you can/should replace my leveling elements with the elements your company grades on. Note the cells are set to run some calculations so if you replace the content and you want the calculations to work only change the content in columns A & B.

1. Make a copy

2. Remove the tabs for levels that aren’t appropriate for you (or your direct report)

3. Have the direct report rate themselves on the various elements.

4. Before they share the spreadsheet with you again, ask them to hide their column

5. You fill in your rating (or if direct report, ask your manager to fill in the column)

6. Then you can look at differences and averages

7. Use the list to find items where performance is below expectation for the level

8. Create an action list for both manager and direct report

9. Create a plan and timeline

How to Execute

Now that you have gotten on the same page. You need to set a plan. Most of the actions need to be taken by the direct/employee, but often times a manager can help. For example, giving feedback on presentations, advocating for a direct report to speak at an all-hands or high-profile meeting, etc.

1. Be honest about how they are being measured

2. Put together a list of milestones with clear measurements of success

3. As a manager, take on some responsibilities such as finding mentors or

How Frequently

I recommend going through the rating process quarterly. With more junior PMs or as you get closer to promotion date, it might need to be good to run through the baselining exercise more frequently. As you build a good rapport with your team, you may find you no longer need it more than once or twice a year. I have found some very self-aware PMs don’t need it more than once or twice a year, but I still do it. I make it voluntary if I feel my direct reports really doesn’t want to do it.

How to Manage Up

If you are an individual contributor or manager who is looking to manage up to get your promotion, you need to find a way to drive this conversation with your manager. I find it is best to do it in your first week or month. Occasionally, I will advise that someone waits until their first 90 days are complete as that is a natural time for reflection and your manager has experience enough to start formulating an opinion. I prefer to do it in week 1 or 2 if you are more senior because you can get a sense of what they thought of you during the interview process, but sometimes waiting until you have proven yourself is the best path to follow.

Regardless of which week (week 1 or week 12) of your tenure you bring up this conversation, you want to have it long before promotion, so your manager doesn’t feel threatened. If getting promoted is crucial to you, having the conversation early let’s you figure out what to focus on.

Warning

Sometimes, even if you follow all the rules, your manager will avoid promoting you for all the reasons listed above. When that is the case, you can make an educated decision on moving forward with this company or team. In many companies, promotions are exceedingly hard to come by in under 2 years, regardless of what you do. But, if you have had this conversation with your boss monthly or bi-monthly, you will be learning how to advocate for yourself. You will have measured outcomes to sell your promotion internally. You can then use these bullet points to win over recruiters and hiring managers elsewhere.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash