Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep251: Signs your boss wants to promote you (with case study)

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

✅ WWW.MEIPHING.COM ⮕ CORPORATE SURVIVOR™ ⮕ Get access to *ALL* my career insights, experiences & strategies. Level-up your career + Grow your salary by mastering the 9-5 working world ⮕ Get my advice, guidance & feedback in group & 1:1 mentoring + 24/7 access to all career course modules (career clarity, workplace skills, job promotions, career growth, job search AND SO MUCH MORE). 📌 ABOUT: Mei Phing Lim is the founder of Corporate Survivor™ with over a decade of experience in the consulting, Fintech and banking industries. Formerly the senior director of Standard Chartered’s global financial institutions team, she quit her high flying job in 2019 to become a caregiver to her mum (r.i.p). With 600 clients coached since 2020, Mei Phing is on mission to help 9-5 professionals level-up their careers by mastering how to navigate the working world, impress the boss and get paid in her career mentorship program, Corporate Survivor™. ✅ WEBSITE + ALL LINKS ⮕ http://www.meiphing.com ✅ CORPORATE SURVIVOR™ ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co

Welcome to the Corporate Survivor podcast where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary and the many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.meiping.com. This is Mei Ping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like, and subscribe. Your boss has been trying to help you get that job promotion and career level up that you want, but it is actually you that are missing the signs, that are missing the hints

that your boss has been dropping. So welcome back to Corporate Server Podcast with me, May Ping, as Corporate Leader Turn Career Coach with more than a decade of experience in navigating the corporate world. So if you want to master everything in the working world, impress your boss, and finally get paid your worth, then you are at the right place. So today's gonna be a very special episode

because I noticed that a lot of people who are very hardworking, very ambitious, very focused at their job may miss the hints that is gonna stop them from leveling up in their career. And one of the most the hints that is going to stop them from leveling up in their career and one of the most important things that you need to learn is understanding how your boss thinks and when I say your boss is your supervisor, your reporting manager, your line manager, the person responsible for your performance review and the person responsible that can help you put up

your name for promotion. So I'm not just going to show it to you. I'm actually going to prove it to you that you can learn how to understand what your boss actually means so that you can focus on taking the right actions to get results at work. Now, today's story is going to be one from a member of my career program, The Corporate Survivors. So I have a career program. It's mainly focused on group and one-on-one mentoring

with access to all my career courses, modules, and lessons. But specifically what we do in members' Q&A calls is for my members to submit their current situation. And then I actually help them to interpret, understand the root cause issues, and give guidance, advice, and feedback. So today's story actually was a member of my program that submitted a situation. And after having a one-on-one conversation with her boss,

she concluded that her promotion chances are unlikely. And she gave a couple of reasons for that. And this is actually what I want to share with you today. And we're actually going to dissect it together. I want you to challenge yourself to see how much you can identify that her boss is actually helping her or not. And these are actually very, very simple signs that you might miss out if you have never been a hiring manager, a head of department, someone's actually in charge of

budgets before. But no worries, because I have actually been in that position. And that's what I'm going to show to you today, the interpretation. and that's actually how I help students in my program as well. So I am going to bring up my screen and I want to share with you how you are also potentially interpreting what your boss is saying but incorrectly. And therefore you may end up feeling disappointed that you're not getting the new projects, you're not getting the new opportunities. Maybe the job promotion didn't happen this year, this and that, but I just want to show you that you're not interpreting it right. So this is just a very very quick snippet of the monthly members Q&A call which usually goes on for an hour or so, but it's just a small part so I just want to read out to you actually what my member said. So she said, I took your advice and I've since brought up

the topic of a promotion with my director. She agreed if some of the key points I raised specifically that my job scope has expanded and I'm operating at a higher skills level than when I was first hired. From our conversation, I gather that a promotion is very unlikely for me this year. But I'm still really glad I initiated the discussion.

OK, so so far so good, right? This member has worked in this company for quite a few years, but she has never explicitly had a one-on-one conversation with her director to talk about all the good work that she has done and all the extra work that she has done since joining this company. So she took my advice from last month's mentoring call and actually took the action.

So everything is really, really good so far. And the fact that her boss, the director, agreed that, hey, you're doing a good job. You're doing more. And everything is good. So that's good so far. Now, I'm going to explain to you why this student's interpretation that a promotion is very unlikely is wrong.

And there's a very, very clear explanation for everything. So now let's just go through the points that she has highlighted. So first point she said, the director said, she approaches promotions strategically and tends to put different people forward each year. Promotions are competitive across the department. Visibility with stakeholders is key, since approval is needed from leadership levels above her. She encouraged me to raise my visibility

among stakeholders, for example sharing updates of my projects in meetings where senior leaders are present. Now these are three points that at the first glance, at first you know first time you hear it, you may feel like the director or her boss is telling her no. But I'm telling you that that interpretation is wrong. The reason is because if you're expecting to like a 100% clear yes from any boss on a promotion, I'm telling you that you're not going to get it because there is a whole promotion process, a HR-driven process, management-driven process that you may not see at the staff level. Even at the junior manager level,

you might not even see it. So therefore, it is very unlikely that your boss is just going to give you an immediate yes. So what you want to do is to learn how to read in between the lines. Learn how to actually interpret what your boss is saying. And in this student's case, what her director is telling her and see the positive instead of seeing the whole thing as negative.

So let's just go through it one by one. So this student said, the director said she approaches promotion strategically. Yes. Is that factual? Like, of course, just how you would approach your work strategically. Yes, is that factual? Like, of course, just how you would approach your work strategically, right? Promotions is part of management's piece of work and promotions are approached strategically. Is that factual? Yes, it is factual. Is it anything negative against you? No, right? So, so far I'll say it's neutral. It's factual, it's neutral. Then she continues.

So the director says she tends to put different people forward each year. Now, this is true as well, because at the end of the day, not everybody is going to be a five star in the team. It is just going to be impossible. So there's going to be high performance, and then there's just going to be people who meet expectations and people who don't do well. So if you want to be high performance, and then there's just going to be people who meet expectations and people who don't do well.

So if you want to be promoted, you need to first be put up by the bosses as a high performer for a good performance rating. So your boss, your manager, your director, is not going to put everyone's name up for promotion because that just means that your boss does not have good judgment, right? Doesn't have good evaluation. So therefore, your boss is going to be really strategic

to really consider the specific people that performed this year and demonstrated good performance and to put up that those two people sing for good rating and to push for a promotion. So what you want to do is to make sure that you get put, you get selected as this list of people that will be put forward. So don't see as something negative as you know, it's impossible for me. No, no, no. Your boss didn't say that you're not getting promoted, your boss is just saying that he or she tends to put different people up each year,

right? Selected people up this year. Now, it's actually still a good thing. It doesn't mean that it's not you. It just means that you need to be more cautious that there is this selection process and you want to get on this list, right? So next point, she said, her director told her that promotions are competitive across the department.

Now, is that factual? I say it is factual. Promotions are competitive, just like how everything has a bell curve. There's going to be top performers, high performers, and the people who just meet expectations, and the people who are below expectations. It's just standard bell curve. It's definitely going to be competitive because obviously the company and the department cannot promote every single person. But again, her boss didn't say that the student is not going to be the one who will be promoted. It's just setting expectations and managing expectations that hey, promotions are competitive.

Is that factual? Yeah, it is factual. Right. Then next thing, her boss told her, visibility with stakeholders is key and since approval is needed from leadership levels above her. Now it may sound like something really negative, you say, oh it's impossible because there's all these reasons but I'm actually telling you that no. This is a really really big hint that her boss is dropping for her but she didn't see it, right. Visibility with stakeholders is key, for sure, because learning how to work with different people and having good working relationships with people

is what proves to management and leadership that you're ready for the next level. Why would they promote someone who doesn't want to work with anyone else? What is the purpose? So the purpose of making sure that you have very strong people skills and stakeholders know you. They all like to work with you.

You have good working relationships. All this is really productive because guess what? When you get promoted, then the expectation is going to be you're going to start managing these stakeholders. So obviously, your boss would want to promote someone who can already handle stakeholders. And stakeholders know them. And continuing from the sentence because she said her boss said since approval is needed from leadership levels above her 100% because you need to understand the promotions

process it's not that your boss can make the 100% the decision ultimately it gets pushed up to the more senior levels and promotions get approved as a whole, right? Because there's budget involved, there's headcount, there's quotas and so forth. So therefore, the more visibility that you have, the more that stakeholders know you, the more senior stakeholders know you when your name gets put up, right? You must remember that your name gets put up in competition with other people who perform really well as well. So you want to be that person that the senior stakeholders see and they say, oh, Mei Ping,

I know her. I've worked very well with her. She always come to the scores really good. She's very responsible. My team also works really well with her. Like these are the kind of comments that you want. This is actually something that helps you to jump up, the career ladder even faster. Because amongst the pool of other names that

gets presented, your name would be literally the shining light. Because many senior stakeholders, the people who actually have a say around the table, they're like, yeah, I recognize Mei Ping. Yeah, I've been working with Mei Ping. Yes, I've been communicating with Mei Ping. She is great. That is the kind of feedback that you want, right?

Because at the end of the day, the more senior people who can support you and say that you do a good job, then the higher the chances that the job promotion, the career level up gets approved. So that's something that you really want to take note. So the other part also that this student missed out is that her boss actually said, actually encourage her to raise her visibility

among stakeholders, for example, sharing updates on her projects in meetings where senior leaders are present. Now, this is a huge hint that this student didn't initially see, because her boss is not just telling her that, hey, you need more visibility with stakeholders. The boss is actually telling her, hey, you need to start talking about all the good work.

Sharing updates on my projects in meetings, reinterpreted in what your boss is actually saying, it just means that, hey, you need to talk about your good work so other people besides me know that you're doing a good job and you're ready for the next level. That is what her boss is trying to say. Especially her boss said, in meetings where senior leaders

are present, because this ties into the earlier part, the more senior people who recognize you, who knows that you're doing a good job, where your professional reputation actually reaches them, the higher chances that they would support you for the next level. Because as someone who actually been in senior leadership from my past experiences, I can tell you

that we wouldn't promote someone that cannot work with anyone else. We wouldn't promote someone that we don't know as well, because then it's actually taking a big chance and again, it could create friction in the working relationship when that person gets promoted. So most of the time, we would want to promote someone that we are familiar with, we have worked with,

we have interacted with, we have communicated with, someone who actually can take feedback, someone who is really proactive. And these are all things that you can show by organizing your work and making sure that your boss knows the good work that you have done, the set of key stakeholders who are really critical for your job and the promotion to the next level. They know who you are, they know you're doing a good job And they will willingly endorse you for the next career level. And that is actually super, super important.

Now, we're actually not going to go through every single thing, because our mentoring Q&A calls are really long. And if you are watching as a Corporate Survivor member, you can go to the Mentoring Membership Library to go through the entire Q&A. But I just wanted to show you the interpretation interpretation because you can look at that situation and say, oh, I had a conversation with my boss and my boss didn't say that I'm going to

be promoted and therefore I'm not going to be promoted. Like that's not a good conclusion. And how fast you came to a negative conclusion. And if you accept that conclusion, right, actually it's an incorrect conclusion, but let's say you accept that conclusion, right? Actually, it's an incorrect conclusion. But let's say you accept that conclusion. Guess what you're going to do? You're going to be really upset. You're going to feel very demotivated at work. You're going to feel that your days at work is going to be pointless.

And eventually, that attitude is going to show. Like, your boss is going to notice it. Your colleagues are going to notice it. The stakeholders who initially might be thinking, oh, actually, I thought she's doing a good job. But turns out her attitude has not been really good, and she seems like she has lost her motivation, and stuff like that.

So that actually moves you further away from the job promotion that you want. But actually, if you learn how to understand and interpret what your boss is actually saying, then you will then take the right steps. Because literally, your boss has actually laid out every single thing that you're supposed to be focused on. But ultimately, of course, you still

want to make sure they have strong workplace skills, strong working relationships, and all the foundations are things that you can definitely just go through the corporate survivor program itself. The three-step framework, get clear, get confident, get visible. I've already actually outlined all of those already, because essentially, that's what me as a senior director,

as head of department, I would want to see. So therefore, the lessons are outlined in a way that you will definitely impress your boss because basically you are impressing me. That's what I would expect from my team members, right? My junior staff. And I say junior staff is up to director level because I used to have direct reports

up to director level as standard charter. So follow the steps. But the point I want to make here is that don't get demotivated. Maybe sometimes what you need is a different perspective. What you need is maybe some additional insights and just getting some confirmation on whether your interpretation is correct. Because if not, what's going to happen is that you're just going to give up.

And you may feel like, oh, this is pointless here. Let me move to another job, another job, and another job. But at every job, you're going to stumble at the exact same spot. Because guess what? Every single person in management and leadership, that's how they drop hints, and that's how they communicate. So if you don't understand that, if it really

doesn't work out at this job, and you give up without really understanding what the heck is going on, you go to another job, you're going to stop and get stumbled at this exact same point, because you're going to deal with another boss, even if it's in a new company. But it's still related to the corporate headcount, the promotions process, and so forth.

That is not changing, because every single corporate is the same. It doesn't matter the size of your company, but you are working in a cooperation, right? You are working in an organization. And that's always a process for promotions, pay rises, and new opportunities, and career level up. So I hope that this session and this episode

is going to be really interesting for you, because I really want to challenge you to deepen your understanding on the most important person in your career, and that is your boss. And if you really want to level you to deepen your understanding on the most important person in your career, and that is your boss. And if you really want to level up your career and grow your salary for long-term success, I'm talking about year-on-year level up,

year-on-year salary growth, and year-on-year new opportunities you really need to master the corporate world. And that includes understanding your boss, and that includes learning how to react, learning how to interpret, learning how to read in between the lines, and learning how to prepare yourself so that you are ready for any new opportunities. So with that, I wish you all the best and see you soon.