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So I just had a great performance review, and my manager indicated he wanted to promote me (verbal commitment) .

However before anything was official, he suddenly resigned and my new boss has other plans. I've let him know about the circumstances, but he's indicated we will need to re-evaluate.

It feels like an entire year of positive results was for naught. Starting from scratch. My goal is to convince my new boss that I'm worthy now of the promotion I earned.

Should I ask for some of their time and pitch myself, or is it better to be patient and establish myself more strongly with this new leader?

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  • It is not a commitment for a promotion until it is in writing.
    – HLGEM
    Jun 9, 2014 at 14:36
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    "What should I do?" isn't a good basis for a question here; this site is more targeted and less forum-y. I suggest editing to clarify your goal and ask how to achieve that. Is it the promotion? Working with this new boss? Trying to get something from the old one? Also, your title made me think that the question was about how to get a new manager after a review (by implication, a poor one with whom you disagree); you might want to clarify that while you're editing the rest. I'm going to put this on hold pending those changes.
    – Monica Cellio
    Jun 9, 2014 at 15:07
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    A new boss won't promote you based on you saying the old boss wanted to promote you. Wanting to promote is not nearly the same thing as having approval to promote and budget to promote. If the paperwork was in process, the new boss would know about it and be more inclined. The new boss is unfamilar with your performance and needs to see if he agrees with the old boss especially if the old one was asked to resign or if the old boss was not highly respected. So impress the new boss which should be easy with your current good performance. These things happen, roll with the punches.
    – HLGEM
    Jun 9, 2014 at 16:17
  • Thanks for the clarification Monica. I've updated the title/question accordingly. I hope that meets site standards now.
    – user3400070
    Jun 10, 2014 at 16:44
  • related: Performance review with a manager who doesn't know me?
    – gnat
    Dec 30, 2014 at 10:00

4 Answers 4

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So, first, let's keep it in perspective. If you had a great year last year, then it impacted more than just your potential for promotion - you've probably got a good rep around the office, people know your work and like it, and your new manager hopefully got a good impression of you - so it's not for nothing and it's not starting from scratch. Also - you learned good stuff, and got good stuff done - which puts you ahead of those who didn't, regardless of how the promotion goes.

It's unlikely you can find a way to force the new boss to promote you right now. The best thing you can do is to be as excellent in working for him as you were for your original boss. Help the guy get into his new role, and be someone he can trust and rely on, and it's likely that the promotion will come sooner rather than later.

As he's settling in, it's worth it to try to get a sense of his overall picture and goals for your team - he is likely to have a different take than the last manager, and anything you can do to get to know his style and his initiatives will only help you.

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    That last paragraph is particulalry important. The new guy may havea different metric as to what is good performance. Talk to him about what he thinks you needs to do to get promoted.
    – HLGEM
    Jun 9, 2014 at 16:18
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    Thank you for your response. I like your point about helping him get into the new role. It's easy to react selfishly to the circumstances and not think about what he may be going through, and how I could be helping.
    – user3400070
    Jun 10, 2014 at 23:09
  • ... and a key criteria I find as a boss who joins organizations is "trust" goes hand in hand with both promotions and promotional opportunity giving (who gets the cool, hard, fun, can't fail project? The people I trust). Who do I trust first? Those who help me learn why the team works the way it does and how to avoid landmines.
    – bethlakshmi
    Jun 11, 2014 at 18:08
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I'v been in this exact situation. I was told I was getting a raise and a promotion by my old manager. She then moved on to a different position within the same company.

My new manager then informed me four weeks later that "because of business reasons" the raise/promotion would not go forward "at this time".

Fast forward six months. I had protested up to the CIO level. Copies of emails were attached from the original manager stating the raise & promotion. I never got the promotion. I was laid off. However (and this was the strangest thing about the entire situation) I was given a 8.5% raise (2x what was promised) which was in effect for the 12½ months of my severance. I found another job (which paid even more) and got two paychecks for 9 months.

Tread carefully here. Getting on the wrong foot with your new boss could have consequences. In my case it worked out but this is not normal.

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Hopefully your old manager made the recommendations and provided your good reviews and promises about your promotion to the proper channels. A good manager would have left this information to HR, and other figures of authority - unfortunaly they might have left this with your new manager during the transfer. What I think is going on is that it could be the case that this promotion puts you closer on the level with your new manager. It sounds like your new manger is someone who leads from the back and is not a good manager. While outright insubordination or mutiny is not advisable, I would find a way to get rid of him - I'd work to rule, forget the extra help, give your new manger enough rope to hang themselves and if necessary look for a new job (or just cause enough trouble to have HR provide you severance and not get fired)

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    "get rid of him" is quite a strong phrase, and IMHO not so professional... how you propose to carry on such task?
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Aug 14, 2018 at 15:48
  • Terrible answer. As Dark says this is very unprofessional.
    – JazzmanJim
    Aug 14, 2018 at 16:29
  • +1 because while it may be "drone unprofessional" it is how you do make a career as high performer. As Dan Pena (look him for a perspective on how to be successfull) would say - grow some balls.
    – TomTom
    Aug 14, 2018 at 18:26
  • Author is absolutely correct: Your new manager (and HR) should have this information from your previous manager's handover. You need to find out if this new manager will help you in your aspirations or not (and you need to do this quickly). If they will, great, work with them, be a superstar - if not, you will need to work for someone who WILL help you - either find a new job, or this manager needs to be replaced - expose their weaknesses to upper management to see, don't bail them out, if there is similar feeling in the team, them let upper management see that they can't control the room.
    – Anonymous
    Aug 15, 2018 at 13:41
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If your new boss wants to re-evaluate you can tell them that you feel disappointed that due to the circumstances your efforts for the previous year have not been recognized.

It might not make any difference in the end, but you can at least register your complaint and use it as a reason why you feel you are underpaid when requesting a raise.

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