Okay, so you’ve done everything you can to get noticed, rewarded and promoted but it just isn’t happening. You’ve achieved measurable results. You’ve taken on additional tasks. You’ve generated ideas and implemented changes. You promote both your personal and your team’s successes.

You’ve earned that next level, time and time again, and someone else always gets picked for the role you want and deserve.

You are either doing something wrong or, it’s time to leave. If you feel you truly have nothing more to give yet you are still being help back from that role you really want, it’s time to cut your losses and go.

You have a lot vested in this company and it’s not a decision you should take lightly.

Here are a few “food for thought” items worth considering:

The grass is not greener on the other side of the fence

Wherever you go, there will be problems and issues. That’s just the nature of the beast. I once left a job and my boss at the time said to me: “Don’t think you are running away from anything”. At the time, I was actually running away from him. I’d had enough of him as an incompetent and insensitive boss.

In the end though, he was right. Every organization has people who have Peter Principled and, like it or not, eventually one of then will be your boss.

The same holds true when you are challenged with processes, technology, people, or clients. Don’t leave because you are tired of the problems. You’ll likely just be running into the same issues wherever you go.

Think long and hard before leaving to “get away”. In my mind, knowing what I know today, the only reason to leave is because you are under utilized, under challenged or under valued. If you have done everything you can (and, think long and hard about that too) and you aren’t moving ahead, then there is only one answer; leave.

The importance of Culture

I’ve had the opportunity to work for several organizations, big and small. Part of my learning is that assimilating to the culture is often one of the hardest challenges. “Fitting in” is exceptionally important and unfortunately, the subtleties aren’t always easy to grasp.

Most organizations have posted Vision and Mission statements. Unfortunately, these are often just wish lists. Statements like “the customer comes first” or “family values”, or whatever, are often goals and not necessarily representative of the real culture.

If you’ve taken that leap to a new organization, my recommendation would be to find out quickly who the perceived top performers are and then book some time with them and try and have an honest conversation about culture. I guarantee that you will learn a lot. Your job likely isn’t to change that culture but to acclimatize yourself to it and to succeed within it.

As an aside, I once took on a new role within a company and my core accountability was indeed to change the company culture… Not an easy task given the profound human instinct to resist change.

Learn from your mistakes

You’d think that learning from one’s mistakes would be natural but, in fact, it is counter intuitive. If you do move on to a new organization and you firmly believe you did everything you possibly could to receive the promotion(s) or recognition in your last job, then I urge you to take a very strong introspective look into what you can and should do differently. Don’t be a victim. Create your new destiny by eliminating things you have done, or not done, in the past that got in the way of your goals.

Learn who to trust

I said earlier that one of the first things you should do is to seek out the perceived top performers and seek their advice on culture. There are a couple of important notions here.

First: The perceived top performers are not necessarily the top performers. Just like you may have been overlooked in your previous role, there will be others in this new company that have been overlooked as well. The perception of top performance is the important thing here. While you are talking to them, it would also be fair to go as deep as you can into how they earned this top performer status. Listen carefully into whether or not the results are objective or anecdotal. If they are objective, then that will be a clear path for you. If they are anecdotal, you have your work cut out for you.

I have this topic under the section heading of “trust” for a reason… Until you get to know people well, learn to take advice with a grain of salt. It’s in your best interest.

The second point about seeking out top performers is that it’s quite possible they have their own best interest at heart. If they see your position as a threat to their ability to succeed, they may not be as forthcoming as you need. Tread carefully and proceed on their advice with caution.

Depend on others

This may seem like an incredible oxymoron to the last section however, depending on others is always essential to success. Once you have built a circle of trusted advisors – listen to them. Build allies. There is no need to be subversive about it. Once you trust the right people, let them know what your goals are and ask them to help you succeed. It works.

Lookout for hidden assassin

I remember once when I was a very junior manager and I was invited to a strategic meeting in a room full of senior executives. This was my moment. I enjoyed the discussion and contributed where items fell within my wheelhouse.

Then, out of nowhere, one of the managers started to pointedly challenge any of my thoughts. I found out later that he had a junior person he was looking to promote and in all likelihood I was competition to that plan.

As I look back, I’m not 100% sure what I could have done differently except maybe to ensure I had allies in the room that could have rationally supported my thoughts. That way he would have just looked like the bully he was. Instead, I was left to defend my thoughts or suggestions one after another until I just stopped offering them.

Pick your moments

Don’t always try to win and don’t always go for the jugular. We all hear stories of the “New Person” coming into a new job and wanting to make their mark. In truth, that is essential but in practice, that is quite difficult. My suggestion would be to first go for obvious low-hanging-fruit kinds of wins where the outcome is positive and the negative fallout is minimal. Don’t try and make big changes right away – earn your stripes once again by playing nice and moving the little things forward.

I once took on a job where my boss’s boss essentially hired me as a change maker. This place needed help and my background and experience positioned me well to “turn the ship”. My direct boss on the other hand had other ideas. Her words were: “stay out of trouble.” Caught between a rock and a hard place, I decided to stay low for 6 months. It was painful. There was so much I could have been doing to improve everything from results to morale but my hands were tied. I had a side conversation with my boss’s boss and outlined the issue after about 3 months. They confirmed I was doing the right thing. After 6 months (I literally had it marked off on the calendar), after I earned some recognition for “little wins”, I started to make recommendations and changes that were more impactful. They were still met with resistance but, given my record, they more often than not moved forward.

My advice: Take your time with the “big stuff” and re-earn your reputation on the “little stuff” before pushing the more controversial issues forward.

Make others shine

This one is easy. Find out who the unrecognized top performers are and make them shine. It’s not a competition: you against them. Recognize and promote the successes of others. There is no better way to build a powerful center of influence.

Build a plan (not in isolation)

You likely got asked in your interview what your plans would be for the first 90 or 100 days. It’s a good interview question but you’ll likely find it bears nothing close to reality when it comes to what really needs to get done and what is possible.

Within the first 30 days. You should have built your centers of influence and trusted advisors. Ask them to help you create a real, actionable and achievable 3, 6 and 12 month plan.

Get agreement on the plan from all levels

Once built, publish the plan broadly. Then measure and objectify your and your team’s success towards it.

Over-Communicate: up, down and sideways. You have a clean slate. Do not be “quietly effective”.

Stay in touch with your former team

This one is far from essential but, you never know when you may need outside advice or, there may be an opportunity to bring one of your former top-performers on in your new role.

Not only that… Staying in touch is the right thing to do.