Promotion readiness
For: Anyone considering — or quietly hoping for — a promotion in the next 6-12 months
Promotion is rarely about doing your current job harder. A 10-question check on whether you're already operating at the next level — and whether the right people see it.
- 10 questions
- 3 dimensions
- ~3-4 min
- Self · Peer · Both
The most common promotion mistake is doing more of your current role and waiting to be noticed. Promotion almost never works that way; what gets people to the next level is operating at the next level visibly, with the right advocates, while having the courage to drop the strengths that worked at the previous one. This template surfaces all three: are you actually operating at the next level (not just preparing), are the people who decide promotions seeing it (not just your manager), and have you done the harder work of letting go of the behaviors that earned you your current role but would block the next one. 10 questions; calibrated for the receiving side because next-level perception is something other people experience.
How it works
Run it on yourself first. Then send to your manager, 1-2 senior peers, and (if you have any) people whose work you'd be more responsible for at the next level. The most useful gap is usually in category 3 — operators almost never see the behaviors that worked-then-but-not-now; observers see them clearly.
What's inside — 10 questions across 3 dimensions
Operating at the next level
are you already doing the work, not just preparing?
Visibility & advocacy
do the right people know what you've delivered?
Behavior shifts
what about who you are now would block the next role?
The questions, in full
Every question is included below. You answer them yourself first, then send the same set to the people who've seen you work.
Operating at the next level
- Q1Rating (1-5)
This person is already doing significant work at the next level — not just preparing to be ready.
- Q2Rating (1-5)
Most of this person's recent impact is on outcomes that the next role would own — not just on their current scope.
- Q3Rating (1-5)
If this person were given the next role tomorrow, the change in their day-to-day would feel like a natural extension — not a leap.
- Q4Open answer
What's one specific thing this person has delivered in the last six months that would be hard to deny as next-level work? What's one that might still be "current-level executed well"?
Visibility & advocacy
- Q5Rating (1-5)
The decision-makers for this person's promotion know what they've delivered recently — in specifics, not vibes.
- Q6Rating (1-5)
This person has at least one senior advocate who would speak for them unprompted — not just answer if asked.
- Q7Multiple choice
Looking at how this person's recent work is visible to the people who'd decide about the next role, the picture is...
- — Strong — they see specific outcomes this person has delivered
- — Mixed — they know they're doing well but light on specifics
- — Mostly through their manager — limited direct visibility
- — Limited — their work is good but not seen by the right people
- — I'm not sure who actually decides this
Behavior shifts
- Q8Rating (1-5)
This person has stopped doing things that would hold them back at the next level — even when those things were what made them successful before.
- Q9Rating (1-5)
This person has thought clearly about whether the next role is actually what they want — not just the next default step.
- Q10Open answer
What's one habit or strength of this person that's been load-bearing in their current role but might quietly become a problem at the next level?
The research behind these questions
Drawn from Herminia Ibarra's INSEAD research on identity transitions and outsight — acting your way into the next identity, not thinking your way (Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader); the Heath brothers' Decisive on widening options before commitment; Marshall Goldsmith's What Got You Here Won't Get You There on letting go of behaviors that earned the current role; Lara Hogan's Resilient Management on Brag Documents as a tool for systematic visibility; and McKinsey research on the difference between sponsorship and mentorship in promotion outcomes. Each question targets an observable behavior — not an 'I'm ready' rating.
References
- — Herminia Ibarra — Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader (INSEAD)
- — Chip & Dan Heath — Decisive
- — Marshall Goldsmith — What Got You Here Won't Get You There
- — Lara Hogan — Resilient Management
- — McKinsey & Company — sponsorship and promotion research
Ready to run this round on yourself?
Sign up, pick this template, answer it about yourself, and send the same questions to the people who've been in the room with you. The gap between your view and theirs is where the actual learning lives.