You’re hitting your metrics consistently and your team is happy, but you’re not getting promoted.

What gives?

The fact is you’re doing exactly what you’ve been asked to do, and you’re doing it well, and unfortunately, that’s the reason you’re not getting promoted.

Doing exactly what you’ve been asked to do is simply fulfilling your job duties. It’s great to consistently hit your numbers, but – and here’s the important part – it doesn’t justify a promotion.

The gap between middle and senior management is a ‘chasm’, because more people get stuck here than at any other point in their career. Early in your career, it’s all about executing on your goals and exceeding your targets. Do that well, and there’s a good chance you’ll get promoted to the Manager level. Then you become a Manager, and execute the same playbook. Suddenly, it’s not enough for that next promotion.

So, how do you know if this is what’s happening to you?

Here are some great questions to ask yourself if you’re feeling stuck. Remember to be brutally honest with yourself when answering them:

1. Am I going above and beyond, or just executing really well at the job I’ve been given?
2. How often do I take initiative with a new idea or problem vs. asking my boss for the solution?
3. When was the last time I brought a great new insight to the table that helped shape our strategy?

If you’re answering ‘not very often’ to all 3 of these, you now know why you haven’t received that promotion.

To get to the next level, you need to show your boss and leadership that you can do more. That you’re capable of executing a new playbook. You need to go from tactical execution to strategic thinking.

That is the chasm.

The good news is, if you want to cross the chasm and move into senior leadership, this is absolutely learnable. It takes investing in yourself and becoming more self-aware.

So, where can you start?

There are 4 changes you can make that each have a significant impact on how you show up at work:

1. Taking more initiative and presenting your ideas with confidence
2. Learning how to bring valuable business insights to the table
3. Effectively communicating your ideas to leadership
4. Broadening your thinking to consider the bigger picture

These may sound like big changes, but the truth is once you wrap your head around them, they really aren’t all that difficult. They just take practice and commitment.

There are 2 practices that will have a disproportionate impact on developing the skills I mentioned above.

The first is carving out deep work time to really think about the problems of the business and how you can help solve them. Too many new managers spend their time running meeting to meeting and executing on busy work. This is not going to get you promoted.

Instead, carve out a 2hr block once a week. During this time you may go deep on some recent metrics, or consider what needs to change in order to meet strategic initiatives.

You can also use this time to properly prepare for meetings with your manager where you’ll be pitching your ideas or sharing insights. Taking the time to prepare will increase the probability you’re successful.

The second is getting into the habit of asking yourself powerful questions. Here are some to get you started:

• What’s the goal?
• What’s the big picture?
• What has been successful in the past, or for others?
• What’s the one thing we can do that will really move the needle?

During your deep work time block, these questions can prompt you to start thinking about the right things.

Remember, leadership doesn’t have to be an elusive club that only the unicorn can join. Investing in your own development and focusing on bringing more value to the business will help you cross that chasm and finally land that next promotion!