I do good work but keep getting passed over. Why?

Efri · 1 min read

Save

Because good work isn't what's being measured.

Promotions don't go to the person doing the best work. They go to the person who's already visibly doing the next job. Those are different things, and nobody tells you that.

So if your response to being passed over is to do more good work, you're going to keep getting passed over. You're answering a question nobody asked.

What actually decides it:

Does the person who makes the decision know what you do? Not your manager. The room above them. If your work is only visible to one person, your career depends entirely on that person's mood and memory.

Are you doing the job you want, or the job you have? People get promoted into what they're already doing informally. If you want to lead, you need to have already been leading something.

Is there anything to promote you into? Sometimes the answer is genuinely no, and everyone's too uncomfortable to say it.

Ask directly. "What would need to be true for me to move up, and by when." If they can't answer that specifically, that's your answer.