Make pitch for promotion based on firm's needs

Have you ever been blocked from advancing to a better job you wanted at your employer because you were seen as too indispensable in your current job to be promoted out of it?

Being "too good to promote" is a cruel backhanded reward for a job well done. But it happens.

Not to sound cynical, but let's face it, rewarding star performers with different work is not in the organization's mission. An organization runs by its leadership's calculated self-interest, preferably under a veneer of good manners.

When someone is doing a good job, management's path of least resistance is to stick with the status quo. That's not evil, it's jut a fact of life.

Don't get mad. Seething silently will only give you high blood pressure and a bad attitude. Take action.

The first thing to realize is that people get promoted by asking to be promoted. Does your organization know of your ambitions?

Don't expect to receive a promotion just because you're a star performer and you deserve it. No matter how glowing your performance reviews are, if you don't ask for anything else, managers will assume you are content doing your current job.

Speak up

So, speak up. But your message needs to be about benefiting the organization, not about you and your personal goals. See the bigger picture from management's perspective.

To a manager, hearing "I want a promotion" or "I want different responsibilities" from a subordinate is a headache. Hearing "I can solve a problem our organization faces" is an attention-getter.

Explain how, with a different role, you can benefit the organization.

And don't forget the part about backfilling your current job. This may involve:

• Training a colleague to be your successor, perhaps under you as manager.
• It may involve transferring work to an outside vendor you'll manage.
• It may involve recruiting your replacement from another part of the organization, or from outside.

Even if your proposal is not accepted, this kind of thinking - organization-centered, rather than self-centered - is what managers need in running the organization, and what they look for in their fast-track team members.

Look outside company

The second thing to realize is that exploring other job opportunities outside the organization can increase your odds of a positive outcome. This may be uncomfortable advice to hear.

If you've read this far, and this column describes your situation, you are probably a loyal employee who doesn't want to work somewhere else.

But there are three ways that looking around can help your situation.

• First, it's empowering just to realize that you're not stuck. There are other job options out there that can give you confidence in your conversations about your job with your current employer.
• Second, you just might surprise yourself by finding something better.
• Third, employers want to retain good employees. You want to be subtle and not flaunt it, but if word leaks out that you're looking around, it might actually get mangers' attention and spur them to listen to your concerns. (On the other hand, you may learn that they don't want to retain you! But job-hunting is only grounds for dismissal in the most poisonous, tyrannical work cultures. If your employer would fire you for looking at other jobs, I'd advise you to get out as fast as you can.) So, look around.

With your external job conversations, the same rules apply: make it about their needs, not about your frustrations.

Hiring managers don't want to hear "my employer doesn't appreciate me and stuck me in a dead-end job;" they want to hear, "I'm looking for an employer who could benefit more from what I can do."

That's my advice in a nutshell:

• Do speak up internally.
• Do explore your options externally.
• Don't sit there quietly doing a good job and getting an ulcer. Life is too short.

Peter Gray is the head of executive recruiting at QTI Professional Staffing in Madison.