Eight ways to get promoted

“Those who think their achievements can speak for themselves have a noble attitude but tend to be overlooked… If you want to be seen as ready for the next step, you have to make your ambition visible.”
So says Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, organisational psychologist and author (his latest book is Don’t Be Yourself: Why authenticity is overrated), succinctly summing up the importance of not assuming that if you get your head down and work hard, you’re bound to get promoted eventually. Most people know this in theory. But, in practice, securing that next step up can feel overwhelming.
So, where to start? We asked the experts for their top tips.
1. Look upwards and get specific
It might sound obvious, but doing research on the kind of job you might aim for is advice Wendy Shooter, a consultant and executive coach who works regularly with project professionals, often finds herself bestowing. Then it’s about working out what experience you already have or don’t have, and how you might gain more. This is particularly important in the world of project management, where life cycles can be so long, she points out: “In some projects your whole career to date – as much as 10 years – could have been taken up by just one stage of a project… so it’s finding ways to still experience that breadth early on.”
2. Keep the plan flexible
While aiming for a specific job in a particular sector can be helpful, it’s still important to be open to opportunities and ready for roadblocks.
“It's useful to have a goal you're aspiring towards, but inevitably there'll be detours,” says Dorie Clark, a consultant, Executive Education Professor at Columbia Business School and author of The Long Game. “Keeping your plans loose – and recognising that there are often multiple pathways to get to your desired destination – enables you to capitalise on opportunities and keep going when setbacks arise.”
3. Be someone people want to work with
The nature of much project work, with teams being formed and disbanded on a regular basis, is actually a real opportunity for those wanting to get ahead, says Shooter.
“Because people move around a lot, you can quickly get a reputation as someone who people want on a team. It’s not just monitoring a schedule, it’s about being able to influence through good collaborative relationships,” she says, adding the importance of project managers truly understanding the wider business context which they operate within: “ If you're going to unblock something, you need to be able to get underneath the issue and understand what's really going on.”
4. Get a mentor, coach or sponsor (or all three)
While a sponsor will be a powerful person in your organisation who can kick down doors for you, a mentor could be someone in your organisation if that’s where you’d like to be promoted, or someone external as “a good way to start to make links to another organisation,” says Shooter. A coach, meanwhile, should ideally be someone external to your organisation and industry – so they can advise in a different, more impartial and holistic capacity.
Chamorro-Premuzic adds the importance of returning the favour. “Coach others before you’re asked to lead them,” he advises. “Mentor junior colleagues. Offer support and feedback. Sponsor rising talent. These behaviours signal emotional intelligence and enterprise-level thinking – both are critical to promotion.”
5. Get AI-savvy
“Project professionals who know how to leverage AI tools – not just use them, but think with them – will rise faster than those who don’t,” adds Chamorro-Premuzic. “That means understanding when to prompt, when to override and when to ignore the machine. Senior leaders don’t just delegate to people – increasingly, they delegate to algorithms. Being AI-savvy isn’t optional anymore; it’s leadership currency.”
6. Make time for your own professional development
“It's so easy, especially for professionals who are hard-working and committed to their jobs, to put their own professional development on the backburner,” laments Clark. “It never feels urgent and there's always more work to do in the present moment. But choosing to carve out time to meet new people and develop new skills is a favour to your future self.”
Chamorro-Premuzic agrees. “Make time for your own learning and development – especially outside your comfort zone,” he urges. “Read beyond your domain. Develop vertical skills (like strategic thinking) and horizontal ones (like storytelling and stakeholder alignment).”
7. Boost your personal productivity
Key to making time in a busy schedule, whether it’s for a specific course or to network, will be enhancing your time-management skills – particularly important in such a deadline-driven world as project management.
“If you’re often working on ‘urgent’ tasks, find out why,” advises time management and productivity coach Clare Evans. “What causes the urgency – lack of time, poor prioritisation [or] other people’s deadlines?” She adds the key pointers: plan and review, and prioritise.
“If you want to make the biggest difference to your productivity, plan your time. Ensure you’re focusing on the right things. At the end of the day, review the progress you've made. Make the best use of your time by focusing on what's important. Spend most of your time focusing on the high-priority tasks to avoid them becoming urgent.”
8. Don’t be yourself (be the best possible version of yourself)
“At mid-level, people get rewarded for doing their jobs well. At senior level, they get promoted for looking like leaders,” Chamorro-Premuzic points out. “That means showing confidence, polish and strategic intent – whether or not it comes naturally. As I argue in my book, authenticity is overrated. What matters isn’t how true you are to yourself, but how useful you are to others. Don’t fake it – but do curate it. Show up as the version of yourself that gets things done and inspires trust.”
You may also be interested in:
- Join the mentoring scheme through the Community
- Develop your learning through the APM Learning platform
- AI is developing rapidly — here’s what project managers need to know now
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