4 Steps to Take When You’re Promoted at Work

After months of hard work, you’ve finally been rewarded with the promotion you were waiting for. Congratulations! You deserve to celebrate this career milestone. But it’s also time to consider the new playing field in front of you. Promotions can change up the office dynamic, and recently-promoted employees may find themselves dealing with new responsibilities, evolving workplace relationships and a whole new set of expectations. Preparation can be key to surviving and thriving in a new role, so pay attention to these four things.

Find out how much your raise is

Along with new responsibilities, promotions typically come with a pay raise. Depending on the size of the raise, you may want to take some time to adjust your budget and consider your financial goals. You may choose to start saving for a down payment for a house, start putting more toward retirement, or even get a permanent life insurance policy.

Understand the new role

When accepting a promotion, you’ll want to take the time to understand the new role. What are the expectations? What are the responsibilities? These are the questions recently promoted employees should be asking their managers early on. It is important to have a clear understanding of what is expected of you in the new role before you start. Once you identify any new responsibilities, take time to get used to the tasks and settle into your position. Remember, it helps to ask questions early on rather than be surprised later.

Set realistic goals

When you’re starting out in a new role, it’s important to understand what the expectations and goals are. You may want to touch base with your manager to find out early on how your performance will be evaluated. You may decide to set some official or unofficial goals together.

When setting goals, you might want to consider, what can you realistically accomplish in the first month? The first year? It is important to set achievable goals so that you can stay on track and meet the expectations of your new role. You may want to go beyond your work targets when thinking about your goals. It could also be a good idea to focus on addressing skill deficits or learning gaps. Does your new role require expertise in a task that you’re relatively new to? One of your goals could be to become more proficient at that task. If you’ve been promoted to a team management role, your goals might include completing some management trainings.

Communicate with your team

Finally, you should make sure to communicate with your team about your promotion. Things will be changing, so let them know what your new responsibilities are.

During a transitional period, it is important to maintain open communication with your team so that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives. This may be doubly important if you’re managing someone who was previously your peer. Building a good working relationship and an effective communication strategy can be an integral element of achieving success after a promotion.