The Promotion Gap

A Fractional COO left an interesting comment on one of my posts recently.

She saw something most employees miss and most managers struggle to articulate.

"Brilliant! I am using this in all my upcoming performance reviews."

I smiled when I read it.

Because most employees would never connect those two things.

And yet, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

I've heard some version of this hundreds of times:

"My review was great."

Followed shortly by:

"I didn't get promoted."

Most people think that's confusing. I don't.

WHAT

I call this The Promotion Gap.

The gap between being good at your current role and being seen as ready for the next one.

Most high-achieving women assume promotions are a reward for strong performance.

So they focus on doing more. Taking on more. Delivering more.

And while those things matter, they're often solving the wrong problem.

Because the question isn't always:

"Are you doing a great job?"

Sometimes it's:

"Can we see you succeeding at the next level?"

Those are very different questions.

WHY

This is why positive feedback can be confusing. Especially when nothing changes afterward.

I've met incredibly capable women who consistently exceed expectations and still feel stuck.

Not because they aren't valuable.

Not because they aren't talented.

Not because they aren't working hard.

But because they're getting feedback on their performance and making assumptions about their promotion potential.

The two are related.

They're just not the same thing.

A manager can genuinely think you're doing great work.

And still not be convinced you're ready for a bigger role.

That's the gap.

HOW

One of the simplest ways to spot whether you're closing The Promotion Gap is to pay attention to the conversations you're having with your manager.

Are you mostly talking about:

• What you've done?

• What you're working on?

• What support you need?

Or are you talking about:

• The business problems you're solving?

• The decisions you're making?

• The trade-offs you're navigating?

• The impact you're creating?

Years ago at Microsoft, I noticed the people who moved up fastest weren't always the hardest workers.

But they were often having different conversations.

They weren't just sharing updates. They were showing how they thought.

That's a very different signal.

One question I encourage you to ask is:

"What would need to be true for me to be considered for the next level?"

The answer will tell you far more than a performance rating ever will.

If you're wondering whether you're closing The Promotion Gap or simply getting better at your current role, reply with PROMOTED and I'll send you my diagnostic guide:

5 Reasons You're Not Getting Promoted so you can identify what's actually standing between you and your next promotion.

Until next week,

Jaspreet