So you’ve been passed over for a promotion…what should you do next?

Have you recently been passed over for a promotion you thought you were perfect for?

Perhaps you thought you were a shoo-in for that next Senior NAM or Controller role?

How did that rejection make you feel? I’ve been in this situation several times throughout my career and I felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment and shame.  This led to me making rash career decisions which I’d later regret.

In this article I will look at the options you have in the aftermath of missing out on your promotion. 

Exercise “blameless discernment” rather than judgment.

The natural reaction to this sort of setback is to start the process of blame and finger-pointing.

You may feel as though the person who got the job is less qualified than you .  You may feel anger about potential nepotism in the business. 

You must resist the temptation to judge others or the circumstance itself.  The most important thing you can do is to exercise “blameless discernment”, which is the process of objectively evaluating the possible reasons you missed out on the promotion.

Make sure that you have a face-to-face conversation with either your line manager or the recruiting manager for that role.  If you can apply objectivity, you may be able to discern some potential reasons for why you weren’t the best fit for the role at this time.  You may discover that you have a glaring skill gap, or that the business has a different succession plan for you. 

Get to the root cause(s) of why you missed out to help you move forward to the next step. 

Find the gifts and opportunities in this challenging situation.

In any challenging situation there are gifts and opportunities which can be found.  This is true for all forms of rejection.  Positive Intelligence™ refers to this process as the “Sage Perspective.”

With regards to the predicament of not being promoted, try to find 3 types of gifts: gifts of KNOWLEDGE, POWER or INTENTION.  Let’s individually review each of these types of gifts. 

To find the gifts of knowledge, ask yourself “what knowledge would I have to acquire to ensure that I leave my business with not a shred of doubt that I am ready for promotion the next time this opportunity arises?” Perhaps you need to sharpen up your commercial skills? Or maybe you need to cultivate and demonstrate a more strategic mindset?

If we look at the gift of power, think about any abilities you need to improve or gain.  Maybe you need to dial up your power of empathy to better influence internal and external stakeholders? Or maybe you need to find ways to trust your intuition to speed up your decision-making?

Lastly, try to find a gift of intention.  Once you’ve identified possible gifts of knowledge and power, set a clear intent to motivate you to act.  Your intent could be as simple as making a firm commitment to your personal development to put you in the best possible position for promotion next time.  Or this could be the start of a bigger journey to climb even higher up the corporate ladder.

Establish next steps and actions to convert these gifts.

After pinpointing your gifts, you must establish actionable next steps to convert these opportunities.  Dedicate time to understand what processes you need to put in place to drive your self-development.

You may need to introduce new meetings with different stakeholders into your monthly cadence.  Or if you require further education to enhance your knowledge you may need to seek out mentors or invest in training programmes. 

Whatever your next steps may be, don’t procrastinate in taking the necessary actions.  Get the flywheel in motion as quickly as possible.  Taking these small incremental steps will give you crucial momentum, which will only build and build until you achieve your goals.

What if you struggle to find gifts and opportunities?

Whilst I’ve mapped out a process to move forward positively and put yourself in the best position to take advantage of the next internal vacancy, what if you’ve been rejected multiple times and you can’t find any gifts in your current quandary?

Well, the possible gift in this situation could be the realisation that you have run out of road in your current business, and it might be time to explore other external opportunities where your talents are appreciated.   This final rejection could be the best thing that happens to you, as you find a new company where you can accelerate your personal and professional growth.

How building Mental Fitness can help to bounce back from missing out on your promotion.

Building your Mental Fitness is very useful to help you find the resilience to bounce back from the potentially devastating impact of being passed over for a promotion.  It can allow you to look at the situation with objectivity and take positive forward steps, instead of becoming bogged down in the negative judgment of self and others. 

However, the development of these mental muscles takes at least 6-weeks of intense work.  If you are interested in this game-changing program then take the Positive Intelligence Saboteur Assessment https://www.positiveintelligence.com/saboteurs/ and then book a free 30-minute coaching call with me at https://www.expcoaching.co.uk/ to find out more!