Five Ways To Deal With a Missed Promotion

The appraisal results are out in the open, and that promotion you thought you more or else had in the bag seems to have passed you by. Don’t fret. Being passed over for a promotion doesn’t have to be the end of the road. Sreeradha D Basu has some tips on how to bounce back.

1 Believe in Yourself A missed promotion doesn’t, in all cases, have to be a reflection of your capability as an employee, so don’t be too hard on yourself. A number of external factors, other than individual performance, can have influenced this decision. “You need to look at the overall perspective. It could be a function of a slow economy, the company may not be doing well, or the sector you are in may be going through a lean period, which is why the company prefers taking a cautious approach,” says Sunil Goel, director of executive search firm GlobalHunt. 

2 Meet the Manager If you were indeed eligible for a promotion, you need to have a candid conversation with your manager about why you missed out. "You need to understand whether the challenge in your current job is more or less than your capability. If it’s more, then you are certainly not ready for a promotion," says Judhajit Das, chief HR, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. He adds: "Use your manager’s feedback to help reassess your goals. Identify the reasons why you didn’t get promoted and work on those areas over the course of the next year." 

3 Enhance your Skill Set Make a conscious effort to develop your skills in areas where they are lacking — information technology skills, training programmes or others, and take the relevant courses. “I got passed o ver for a promotion once simply because another colleague had experience in working on a certain kind of project. I made sure that I had left no areas untouched from my end the next time appraisals came around,” says IT professional S Nayak. 

4 Avoid Rash Decisions GlobalHunt’s Goel advises against taking a hasty call to change jobs if a promotion doesn’t come through. “It will take a year to make a proper mark in the new organisation. Instead, it makes much more sense to demonstrate your abilities better and try for a promotion in the next cycle in the current company. Switching a job should be the last resort,” says Goel. 

5 Stay Positive Instead of brooding over the negative, concentrate your energies on improving your abilities so you don’t miss out on the next opportunity. Give it your best shot so that you are in a far stronger position the next time around.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 06-04-2012)

Five Ways To Prepare For The Next Appraisals

COMPANIES HAVE sent out their first round of mails requesting employees to keep their performance management sheets updated. The last-minute scurrying around for data can be avoided if a few basic principles are observed a few months before appraisal time, suggests Devina Sengupta.

Keep your Facts Ready Now is the time when a quick search in your mail Inbox would help gather all the mails the bosses wrote in a rare mood of indulgence. Those that are complimentary should be saved in a separate folder for easy access along with few mental notes on how your contribution helped the team during tough times. Updating the Performance Management System canhelp in case evidence is required, says Sameer Farooqi, manager in a Pune based manufacturing company.

Look Ahead Aditi S, a senior executive in a Bangalore-based media firm, has appraisals every two quarters. “While most worry about their past performance in an appraisal, you should be ready with what you want to do,” says Aditi. The review, which lasts for 15-20 minutes , has supervisors talk to her about her career progression and skills that can be improved.

Know the Hierarchy Many employees do not know either their organisation’s structure or their key performance indicators (KPI). If the employer is systematic in its appraisal process and the KPIs are under control, the employee still has the chance to work hard in the last three months and make up for any slack. This is specially so in case of teams where deals can be struck at the last minute as well, like business development.

Keep Questions Ready “While keeping facts and numbers ready, one may also like to look at the roadmap assured by the employer in the previous appraisal,” says partner at Hyderabad-based executive search firm, Maxima Global International. Instead of a charged-up employee and boss firing volleys of questions at each other, a planned set of queries will help the employee come across as an organised employee who has chalked out a flow chart of how he or she wants his or her career to shape up.

Be Consistent In panic, those who believe that a sudden burst of teamwork will bring them to the spotlight, often end up looking shallow. The review of peers and supervisors will reflect how one has been performing in the past few months. A change of attitude would not mean a change of heart for those who are rating.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 27-12-2011)

Five Ways To Build Your Case During Appraisals

 

(Courtesy Economic Times, Mumbai Edition, 22-03-2011)

It’s that time of the year when employee performance appraisals take centrestage, and executives look forward to the longoverdue rewards for the hours they have put in through the year. At a time when several studies and surveys have shown that the average salary hikes this year will touch 13%, morale is high and you can’t really blame employees, across the board, for dreaming of that big pay hike or generous bonus. But appraisals are chancy things; what if your boss doesn’t think you deserve a reward? It isn’t always easy to convince him or her otherwise. But Writankar Mukherjee outlines a few ways in which you could try to make a case for getting that pay hike or promotion.

Project your achievements
During the appraisals process, make sure you speak — out loud — about all the work you have put in for the company and the milestones you have achieved. Even better if you can quantify it; managers love numbers. Bosses and seniors and unlikely to remember everything you did, but you must. And it pays to refresh their memory. “At the appraisals stage, if you can convince your boss about your performance and the results, as per your key results areas, consider the battle almost won,” says Subhas Sarkar, a mid-level human resources executive at a private bank.

Go beyond KRAs
HR circles say executives who are top performers tend to do much more work than what has been laid down in their KRAs. They feel appraisals are the time to highlight such achievements. “It always pays to work in inter-related fields. Consolidate all your achievements, even those in related fields, and match them up against the KRAs and key performance indicators laid down for you, to build your case,” says headhunting firm Global Hunt India director Sunil Goel.

Set goals a year ahead
Don’t just look at one or two appraisal meetings to build your case. Ideally, executives should work on this a year in advance. “Executives should check what the next level of roles and responsibilities in the organisation entail and equip themselves accordingly. In fact, they can sit with their bosses once every quarter to review it. This also ensures the executive’s agenda and career goals are fresh in the boss’s mind,” says Hinduja Global Solutions executive vice president (global HR) Anthony Joseph.

Contribute to critical areas
Headhunting firm MaFoi Randstad’s director and president E Balaji advises employees to contribute and add value to the areas of concern in the company. “If an employee can help the employer cut costs, maximise revenues and attract talent, he or she becomes a valuable asset for the company in the current scenario,” says Balaji.

Understand your boss
Just as all people are not same, all bosses are not the same either. Understand your boss’s working and negotiating style. Some prefer aggressive arguments; some may be more open to feedback or discussions, while some may just be plain dictatorial. When you build and pitch your case, do so keeping this in mind. In case your line manager has no direct power to grant you a promotion or a pay hike, you could talk directly to the person concerned. Most importantly, avoid being directly confrontational with your boss and rather politely — and calmly — explain your case to show that you deserve the reward.