You’re doing everything right… so why aren’t you moving up?

Stop waiting for recognition. Promotions happen when the business needs a role filled, not when you've earned it. Here's how to create the need.

👋 Hey, it’s Stephane. I share lessons, and stories from my journey to help you lead with confidence as an Engineering Manager. To accelerate your growth see: 50 Notion Templates | The EM’s Field Guide | CodeCrafters | Get Hired as an EM | 1:1 Coaching

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I watched a senior engineer on my team nail every project for eighteen months straight. Technically brilliant, mentored other engineers, and was super efficient with his work, which moved revenue metrics. I really had no complaints about him. His performance review was stellar.

As we were talking about this with him, he asked me:

What is stopping me from getting a promotion to Staff?

And that was a question that, as his manager, I had raised with my leadership too. In my eyes, he was absolutely ready for it and deserved it.

The answer I kept getting back was that there is no “organisational need” for another Staff Engineer in our…