What every high performer needs to know about getting promoted

Last week, I was coaching a client at a big tech company.

She was frustrated, confused, and a little bitter about getting passed over for a promotion.

“Why didn’t I get promoted? I’m doing great work. My manager says I’m performing at the next level. What am I missing?”

Here’s what I told her. (It’s something I learned from Lourdes Orive — a smart and talented leader in Google Cloud.)

Performance is only one-third of the promotion equation.

The other two-thirds? Mostly out of your control.

And no one tells you this until you’ve been passed over for a promotion you thought you deserved.

👉 The Problem

Most people think promotions work like this:

Do great work = Get promoted.

But that’s not how it actually works.

You can be doing the best work of your career — customers love you, stakeholders rave about you, you’re already performing at the next level — and still not get promoted.

Why? There are two other factors that matter just as much as your performance, and you don’t control either of them.

👉 The Big Small Thing

Understand the 3 legs of the promotion stool:

Performance, Budget, and Business Need.

You only control one.

1️⃣ Performance (33% – YOU CONTROL THIS)

Are you doing good work? Are your customers happy? Are your stakeholders happy? Are you increasing revenue or improving efficiency? Are you proactive? Are you fast? Are you consistent? Do you speak up in meetings and show your value?

Performance is the obvious one. And yes, it matters. But it’s only one-third of the equation.

📌 Performance: Keep crushing it. Document your wins, quantify your impact, and make sure your manager knows what you’re delivering.

2️⃣ Budget (33% – YOU DON’T CONTROL THIS)

Every company has a limited budget for promotions.

If your company’s revenue is growing 27% year-over-year, there’s more money to promote people. If it’s only growing 2%? There’s not enough money to pay for all those salary increases, no matter how well you’re performing.

At big companies, this also translates to how many people each team is allowed to promote. Your manager might have budget to promote two people this year. If you’re third in line, you’re waiting until next year.

📌 What you CAN do:

Indirectly influence it by bringing in revenue or dramatically improving results. Make yourself impossible to ignore.

3️⃣ Business Need (33% – YOU DON’T CONTROL THIS)

Does the company actually need someone at the next level right now?

Maybe your team is restructuring. Maybe they’re hiring externally for senior roles instead of promoting internally. Maybe each manager has too few direct reports and adding another one puts you or others at risk of layoffs. Maybe there’s just no business justification for another senior person on your team.

At big companies, HR asks: “Why do we need another Level 6? What business problem does it solve?”

If your manager can’t answer convincingly, you’re not getting promoted — regardless of performance.

📌 What you CAN do:

Help your manager build the case. Document work that’s not getting done. Document how senior your stakeholders are and how happy they are. Show how your scope is significant, complex, and global. Show how promoting you solves a real business problem.

Want to get promoted? Check out this guide to getting promoted!

👉 How This Helps You Get What You Want

You can do everything right and still not get promoted this cycle.

That’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’re failing.

You just need to understand what’s in your control and what’s not, much like the rest of life:

Sometimes that alone is freeing.