Why do some people get promoted so easily?

Ever wonder why some people seem to glide effortlessly up the career ladder while others are stuck on the same rung for years?

It can feel frustrating watching colleagues leap into new roles, while you’re still grinding away at your current one 🙃 But why does it happen?

First off, you might want to start with my previous blog post about How do people get promoted.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons people get promoted so easily – and how you can improve your chances too.

Spoiler alert: it’s not always fair, but it’s definitely something you can work with! 😉

1. Nepotism: The Elephant in the Room 🐘

Let's get one thing out of the way first – nepotism is a real thing, and it exists in every industry, no matter how much companies try to avoid it.

Whether it's the boss’s son, nephew, or someone who's well-connected in the company, nepotism can be a big reason why some people climb the ladder faster than others.

I know, in a perfect world, we wouldn't have this issue, but we don't live in a perfect world. And to ignore it, to deny that it exists, you do that at your own peril. We need to set our expectations to be realistic and don't delude ourselves into thinking that that sort of stuff doesn't happen.

But I would strongly recommend to anyone who's reading this: don’t let that demotivate you. Don't think it's not worth the effort because they're just going to give the role to that guy because he's the boss's son or the nephew of the CEO.

Yes, nepotism is a factor, but it doesn’t have to be an obstacle that holds you back. Use that as motivation, not as a reason to give up. See it, acknowledge it, but keep moving forward with purpose. There's no better feeling than outperforming nepotism through your actions, hard work, creativity, and by being the go-to person in the office.

Just imagine what you can achieve if you can overcome the nepotism beast that might exist in your workplace.

2. Other Biases Play a Role Too

People tend to favour those who are like them – people who share similar values, interests, or work styles.

If I'm a hiring manager with an open position, who am I going to hire? I'm going to hire people I get along with, who make my life easier, who sound like me, people in my tribe that I feel a strong connection with.

So if a hiring manager has to choose between two equally skilled candidates, they’re probably going to go with the one they feel a connection with. This is completely natural; we all do it.

As the hiring manager, I'm also looking out for my best interests. When I hire someone for a promotion, I'm not doing it solely for their benefit. I have a vested interest and motivation as the leader of the team. I might want to create a cohesive team because I believe in high-performing teams, and that's how I'm going to impress my boss. My whole team will over-deliver as a group, and that's going to make my boss happy, and then maybe I'll get promoted. There's this big chain of motivation and incentives all the way from the top to the bottom.

That bias exists when it comes to people getting hired and getting promoted. And it is not necessarily a bad thing if you know how to work with it. By understanding this dynamic, you can be more intentional in building relationships with decision-makers and aligning yourself with their goals.

3. Alignment with the Company’s Values

Sometimes, the people who get promoted quickly just happen to be in a company or team where they naturally fit in.

They are most likely in an organization that's well-aligned with their personal views, values, and the things they care about.

There's a strong alignment there, and that's why things just seem to easily work out for the best. They ‘fit’, they are in sync, everything tends to fall into place, and that makes them promotable.

Plus, the resonance between their personality, skills, whether they're extroverted or not, and the organisation’s mission, culture, and values help them navigate through challenges more smoothly – consciously or not.

They might not have known that when they joined the company; they might have just felt like, "This place feels good. I don't know what it is, it feels right for me. These are my people. We're doing things that I care about."

This fit can feel like luck, but often it's about self-awareness and knowing when you’re in the right place – or when you need to do some more soul-searching and move on to find it.

That's why taking the time for self-reflection and inner discovery is so essential. It's like anchoring the roots of a strong and resilient tree. You can't truly align with a company's or team's mission unless you first understand your own values, passions, and career purpose.

You've got a much better chance of growing and getting promoted if your roots are firmly planted in the "right soil" 🌱 When you feel a genuine sense of purpose and belonging, you might be in the right place.

When you're in that sweet spot and the timing is right, growth and opportunities naturally follow.

4. Natural Emotional Intelligence

Another key reason people get promoted easily is emotional intelligence. They're doing all those important things to get promoted that I wrote about in the last article, but they're doing them intuitively.

They have some kind of inner intuition that tells them these are the right things to do without explicitly being taught those things.

Some people have a natural ability to read situations, understand how other people work, anticipate what they need, what motivates them, and all those soft-skill interactions. This isn’t something you learn in a textbook; it’s an intuitive understanding of people and dynamics.

When someone is emotionally intelligent, they navigate workplace politics with ease, are more likely to build alliances, and can communicate their ideas in an effective way.

While technical skills are important, being able to work well with others and understand the needs of your team and leaders is critical.

And there's a spectrum: some people are more prone to acting that way intuitively, and some are less. I can think of a thousand examples of people that I've worked with on both ends of the scale.

Typically, you'll find people in engineering roles on the lower end; they're very focused on delivering good quality work, robust designs, and technical excellence. And I was like that originally as well.

Those roles and people are very important, but they're also much less likely to get promoted for multiple reasons. They don't fit the mould of taking on more responsibility through people management, budgetary management, and all those things that happen when you step up in seniority.

Soft skills are essential, and those who have them tend to move up faster. If you think your EQ could use some work, don’t worry – it’s something you can definitely grow. Pay attention to how people respond to you, listen more than you speak, and look for ways to support your team.

5. The Paradox of Being the Best 🏆

Now, this might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes being too good at your current job can actually slow down your promotion chances 🤨

I've seen it happen all too often – people who are good at their job, getting promoted on the assumption that if you're good at your job, you should be good at being the manager.

Oftentimes that's not true. And if people get promoted into those sorts of roles without support and there's just an assumption that they'll be good at it because they were good at their last job, their performance can suffer.

Most companies don't have formal mentorship relationships or leadership development programs, or if they do, they're half-baked. So there's a lot of risk both for the person getting promoted and the person giving the promotion.

Secondly, if you’re the best at what you do, and they promote you, they create a problem for themselves because now they have to replace you. And if you’ve been doing the work of three people, then they'd have to hire two or three people to replace you. And that doesn't make sense for the business 😬

It can be frustrating because we're told to do our best and be the best version of ourselves.

So what can you do? Focus on being a good high performer, but you don't want to be a lynchpin. You don't want to be the bolt that gets undone and destroys the whole business. You want to be the person that builds others up.

A lot of people who are the highest performers in the team are very focused on their own work. They deliver excellent work at a really high level, and that's great. But they don't build other people up because they're too busy being the best.

That's fine unless you want to get promoted. In that case, if you don't spend time supporting, nurturing other people, and helping them with their problems, you might be the best engineer, but you're not helping the junior engineers.

If you want to get promoted, a good way to think about it might be: "Okay, if I'm the best at what I do, maybe I need to help all these junior people come through so that there's someone to step into my spot so that I can step into the next spot."

So the key here is not just to be good at your job, but to train others to be good at it too. Help your colleagues grow, mentor junior staff, and make sure there’s someone who can step into your shoes.

That way, when you’re ready for a promotion, you’re not leaving a huge gap behind you. This shows that you’re not just great at your job, but also have leadership qualities – something any manager will value.

6. Opportunities and Timing 📅

Finally, the simple fact is that some people get promoted easily because they’re in a company with more opportunities.

If you’re in a large organisation, a big industry where staff turnover is high, or where new roles open up frequently, there are naturally going to be more chances for promotion.

And if you work in a team where your wider group team is made of 200 people, people are going to be leaving semi-frequently - they'll either be moving companies or getting promoted as well.

On the other hand, if you’re in a small, tight-knit team where everyone’s been there for years, you might be waiting a long time for something to open up. In a niche industry where people never quit, you might have to wait eight years to get promoted. Or when you work in a team of five or six, and the manager is 55 years old and doesn't want to go anywhere and loves his job, and that's the next step for you, that makes it hard, relatively speaking, compared to someone who works in a team of 200 and has a big hierarchy structure. When it's a bigger tree, opportunities open up more frequently.

So, if you have a friend who gets promoted quickly, and you wonder why it's so easy for them, it might be because the opportunities come up more frequently in their job and in their industry.

It’s not necessarily about being more talented or deserving – sometimes it’s about being in the right place at the right time.

That’s why it's essential to think about the size of your company and the typical career paths within it. If you’re ambitious and looking for growth, but your company doesn’t offer many opportunities, it might be time to consider whether a move is in your future.

Key Takeaways 💡

Getting promoted is a multifaceted process, and at its core is all driven by your inner desire and purpose to grow, get better, and have more impact.

Of course, doing great work is essential, but it also involves navigating the unspoken rules of the workplace. This includes handling things like office politics, addressing potential biases, aligning with your company's values, and ensuring you’re not too good at your current role without helping others rise too.

Timing and opportunities also play a role – sometimes, it's about being in the right spot at the right time.

The key takeaway? Don’t get discouraged. Yes, some people seem to get promoted with ease, but understanding the behind-the-scenes stuff can help you take control of your own career path in a way that is aligned with your inner compass.

Stay focused, keep building those relationships, and when that opportunity knocks, be ready to step up and shine!

So, what resonated most with you from this post? I'm all ears – let's chat in the comments! 💬