259: When You Are Too Valuable to Be Promoted

Feeling like you're stuck in your career despite being a high performer? Discover the secrets to breaking free from the "value trap" and achieving the promotions you deserve. This episode of the Mid-Career GPS Podcast offers five actionable strategies to help you recognize and navigate this common professional challenge. Learn how to proactively communicate your career goals, set clear timelines, and delegate responsibilities effectively to prepare for your next role. It's time to take control of your career trajectory and ensure your growth isn't hindered by your current success.

We'll also guide you on how to build your mid-career GPS with practical tips for showing up powerfully in both personal and professional settings. From making meaningful connections on LinkedIn to leveraging social media, you'll find valuable insights to advance your career. Don't miss our discussion on the benefits of participating in workshops and public speaking events to elevate your professional journey. For more resources, visit johnnarrell.com, and remember—how we show up matters!

Chapters

• 0:00 Navigating the Value Trap in Careers
• 16:06 Building Your Mid-Career GPS

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Have you ever been told you are too valuable in your role to be promoted? Have you ever felt as if you were essentially professionally pinned on the organizational chart because they simply didn't want to promote you? But hey, you're valued and they really like you. See, this can be a difficult and uncomfortable conversation with yourself, your supervisor and your organization when you realize you are so good at what you do they don't want to promote you. What do you do? In this episode, I'll share five strategies to help you recognize when you are in a value trap and what to do to get out of it so you can be promoted and find that job you love as you build your mid-career GPS. Let's get started. Hello, my friends, this is the Mid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm your host, john Merrill. I help mid-career professionals like you find a job they love, or love the job they have, using my proven four-step formula. Let me begin by saying that if you are in a value trap, it's not the end of the world. Your organization likes and values you, and they may even be incentivizing you in some ways, including bigger bonuses, spot awards, comp time or other perks but a value trap means that you are professionally appreciated, so much so that your organization doesn't want to promote you or move you from your current role because they fear and this is important they fear whoever moves into that role won't be able to do as great of a job as you are. Well, here are five strategies to help you navigate the value trap, and the first is you have to recognize and address and acknowledge you're in it. Understanding the value trap means you know you bring exceptional value to your organization because of your skill set and expertise and because of that you may have a boss or a supervisor who's hesitant to promote you because they recognize it's hard to find a replacement for you who's going to perform at the same level. So if you believe you're in a value trap, you may want to start delegating some of your responsibilities to your team and start documenting some processes, so you're putting the groundwork in place for a succession plan. And if you're hesitant to delegate some of those responsibilities and you catch yourself saying, yeah, but I really like doing this part, or it's just better or easier when I do it, you may be contributing to your own value trap.

Speaker 1: 3:10

You are 100% responsible for your career and that means being keenly aware of your brand and reputation and how your organization sees you. If they love you so much that they don't want to move you, your professional growth and advancement within that organization is stunted. Now it's different on some level. If they say, hey, we'd love to promote you, there's just no spot for you available on the organizational chart above you. I want to offer that's an opportunity to get really curious and figure out okay, is it because I'm so valuable in this role or literally, you're not willing to open up a position for me? You have to decide at that point if you want to stay in the value trap or you want to get out of it. Either option is fine, depending on your circumstances. But the first thing is you got to know when you're in it.

Speaker 1: 4:11

The second strategy is how to communicate your career goals proactively, and you're going to do this by having proactive career conversations with your manager or supervisor, as well as networking internally about your career aspirations and, most importantly, what's your timeline. It's one thing for you to say, hey, I've been doing this job for a while and I know I'm demonstrating the necessary skills and competencies, especially at the level above me. I'd really like to be promoted. Okay, great, you want to be promoted. Are you putting a timeline on that? I'd really like to be promoted at the next promotion cycle or by the end of next year.

Speaker 1: 5:02

If you're not putting your wishes out there, you're not communicating directly with those people who have the ability to promote you and are in the room having those conversations to know exactly what your goals and aspirations are. In those conversations, additionally, what you want to do is establish a clear set of criteria or a roadmap needed to achieve the next level. That means having conversations with your supervisor about what skills you may need to be working on or what projects or opportunities can you get that will increase your visibility. This is the point in the conversation where you need to go deeper, and in going deeper, it's about getting the clarity about what you need to do and what the organization's expectations are. If you aren't communicating why getting promoted is important to you, how can your supervisor be a strong advocate for your advancement? And if they're not going to advocate for you, you need to know why. Conversations to move the relationship forward, so you have the career clarity about where you stand in that organization, so you get all the information you need to decide what your next steps will be. Hey, there is your LinkedIn profile, working for you 24-7?.

Speaker 1: 6:38

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Speaker 1: 7:39

Forward slash courses Now let's dive back into the episode. Forward slash courses Now let's dive back into the episode. My third strategy to help you get out of the value trap is to expand your influence beyond your current role. Where can you take on cross-functional projects? Where can you participate or lead projects that get you involved with different departments to showcase your talent, your leadership and your versatility? The goal here is ultimately to increase your visibility so more people get to know how incredibly awesome and talented you are in your role. Additionally, put time on your calendar to network internally within your organization. Who are the people you wanna get to know, who are the stakeholders, the higher-ups, the people who are well-regarded in your organization, that if you can make a connection with them, they will get to know you and ultimately you begin to gain advocates for your promotion.

Speaker 1: 8:41

My fourth strategy for you is to continually professionally develop yourself, start developing new skills and expertise and to do that, you're going to upskill or obtain a new certification or education that is relevant and a value add, if you will, to that desired promotion a value add, if you will, to that desired promotion. Now, one of the ways you can do this is to ask your company to send you to a conference, obtain an additional certification or a workshop. If your company has a professional development benefit, use it. If it doesn't, you can still ask, but when you ask, explain to your supervisor the benefits that everyone will gain. You can still ask, but when you ask, explain to your supervisor the benefits that everyone will gain by you attending this conference or getting this certification.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Oftentimes there are some discretionary funds that you can access in order to get that additional benefit. Look, when companies provide you or allow you to obtain an additional certification or additional graduate credits, sometimes they come with a contingency clause about how you have to stay a year or maybe a little bit more. That's okay. The out of that usually is you just have to pay them back. But what can you gain by asking hey, this is a skill I want to learn. Let's invest in my professional development here.

Speaker 1: 10:11

Additionally, the same thing applies to mentorship and coaching. You may want to seek out mentors or executive coaches who can provide guidance, feedback and support in your career development. There are people whom I work with or I have worked with where their company pays for their coaching. It is a value add or an added benefit for them to say, yeah, we're thrilled you want to develop yourself and we'll actually pay for your coaching. Does your company provide that? Would they offer some assistance in you hiring a coach? Or maybe your company already has coaches available, especially if you're at an executive level, and that's a benefit for you and your position. But ultimately in the end and I love this question to ask your immediate supervisor when you say, hey, this is something I want for my professional development. You want to ask them, if they say no, is it a budget issue or a benefit issue? And the difference here is simple the budget they don't have the money for it, they're not allowed to do it, they don't have the resources or funds to do it. Of the resources or funds to do it, or the benefit is, they're not sure what benefit they're going to gain by you doing this. And if that's the case, the onus then lies on you to be clearer and cleaner about your story and why you see that as a benefit for you to engage in. All right.

Speaker 1: 11:43

Lastly, if you're stuck in this value trap, it is time, my friends, to evaluate the organizational culture and your fit. Let's be clear If you're in this value trap that a company doesn't wanna promote you, that their best move is to hold you down on the organizational chart and say look, here's where you are. You're not going anywhere, but we really love what you do. Take a step back, assess the situation, observe and analyze how many promotions are typically handled every cycle within the organization and see if you can identify if there's a bottleneck trend or maybe even a bias that might be holding you back or you need to navigate. Oftentimes in these situations, what I see is that the job seeker or the person inside the value trap doesn't have the clarity as to why they are being held back. Sometimes it can simply be a matter of we just don't have a position for you up there, and if that's the case, your next move may be to consider external opportunities. If the organizational culture is too rigid or they're not willing to elevate you into a particular role, you may need to have that conversation with yourself and your loved ones and your support system about what looking for a growth opportunity outside your current company may look like.

Speaker 1: 13:15

Sometimes a strategic move to a different organization can be your best path to advancement. Imagine going to interview for that job and simply explaining that, hey, I love where I work, I love the work I get to do, but I have had way too many conversations about my career advancement there and I'm repeatedly told I'm blocked in the organizational chart, no one's leaving, they're not willing to open up a spot for me, and so, because I'm 100% responsible for my career, I'm exploring some opportunities and possibilities and if this is a great fit between us, I'd love to come. And here's how I'm going to help you. Can you imagine saying that in an interview and where that conversation may go? And where that conversation may go Again.

Speaker 1: 14:08

This is about you having the career clarity and the confidence to talk about exactly what it is you want at this particular stage in your career, in building your mid-career GPS. This is all about promoting who you are and what you do as a valuable and talented employee. If you don't believe that your values and talents and expertise are appreciated enough where you are, it might be time to think elsewhere. Or it's very simply a time to have a clear conversation with your boss or supervisor about what your timeline and expectations are for being promoted. There's no threats here. We're not showing all of our cards to jeopardize our current position in any way but have that honest conversation with yourself. You may just get more clarity about what your next move's going to be.

Speaker 1: 15:02

So, in wrapping up, here were the five strategies I shared today to help you get out of that value trap. Strategy number one was simply about recognizing and acknowledging and addressing you're in a value trap. Number two was about communicating your career goals proactively. The third was expanding your influence beyond your current role. Number four was about developing new skills and expertise. And number five was evaluating the current organizational culture and your fit inside of it.

Speaker 1: 15:34

I hope this is helpful, but if there's one thing I want to leave you with, it's this If you're in a value trap, you're still in a good spot. You are well-liked. They don't want to lose you. It's just a matter of how do your career goals and ambitions fit and align while you're in that value trap. So remember, my friends, you will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time, and how you show up matters Make it a great rest of your day. Matters. Make it a great rest of your day.

Speaker 1: 16:06

Thank you for listening to the Mid-Career GPS Podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and, if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple Podcasts. Visit johnnarrellcom for more information about how I can help you build your mid-career GPS or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event. Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at John Darrell Coaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember how we show up matters.