A Surprising Reason Your Promotion is Delayed

“You will meet many foes, some open, and some disguised; and you may find friends upon your way when you least look for it.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

Your future was brightly lit. The career path you chose paved the way for limitless success. Demonstrating instinctive leadership ability during your five-year tenure had set you apart.

Your work ethic and ambition led to the pursuit of your post-graduate degree. The stellar performance reviews, mentoring newbies, securing huge accounts, and saving the company’s budget made you an asset to the company.

Receiving accolades from higher-ups for your achievements was encouraging, but you still wanted more.

The motivation to climb higher wasn’t due to selfish greed but your desire to make a difference, and for that, you were looked up to by your colleagues.

Substandard Performance or Backstabbing Foe?

Although your colleagues admired and validated you as the sacrificial role model you had proven yourself to be, they secretly envied you.

With each pat on the back, you sensed a hint of resentment from them. You hoped your example would’ve motivated them to work harder to achieve the same level of success as you did.

Your uneasiness about their reaction was unsettling, so you suppressed your feelings. You were in denial and brushed off their negative vibes. Their super-friendly and helpful demeanor threw you off and made you feel you were just being paranoid.

But as the years went by, you noticed that the promotion you requested five years prior had been placed on the back burner. The boss either changed the subject or blamed it on the budget restrictions. You knew that wasn’t true since you were the one who saved the company’s budget.

“What’s going on?” you thought.

Assuming your performance was superior and wasn’t below company standards, you were sure a promotion was imminent. After discussing your concerns with the boss, you were assured that your job performance wasn’t the issue.

Since your long-awaited promotion wasn’t performance-based, what happened to the big promotion you were promised years ago? What was standing in your way?

Or — who was standing in your way?

Were your colleagues honest and loyal, or were you possibly working alongside an unknown foe?

The Bitter Woes of Undetected Foes

So, what is a foe? Dictionary.com defines a foe as “a person who feels enmity, hatred, or malice toward another; enemy: a bitter foe.”

What about you? Do you have any foes?

I’m sure you do. We all have them, but do we truly know who they are?

Here are a few things to ponder when it comes to foes:

• Have you considered they are either hidden or in plain sight?
• Can they go undetected? If so, then how do they hide so well?
• Will they ever emerge from a deceptive cloud of “smoke in mirrors?”
• What drives their adversarial stance and self-appointed mission to create grief and destruction in your life?

The Camouflage of Colleague Sabotage

So who was this individual who decided to oppose you?

How well did you know her?

Were you convinced she had your back, or were you working with an indiscernible foe?

You mentored, revealed success secrets, and lightened the workload of many people. To your surprise, a particular colleague began giving you dirty, but you blamed it on your imagination.

“Indeed, she couldn’t be a suspect; besides, you thought she bought my lunch today.”

This person’s super-friendly demeanor and helpfulness were camouflaged with hidden motives. A cloud of deception made it hard to expose her real intentions.

Suspicions began to rise, causing you to wonder if she’d smiled in your face while holding a knife to your back.

A distorted view of reality caused you to be oblivious to red flags and her tactics. Your trusting nature created an illusion that caused you to mistake intuition for cynicism.

Let’s take a closer look at three strategies (each assigned a “role”) your colleague-friend used to hinder your success at work:

• Fraudulent Imposter: During the morning meeting, the saboteur displayed a fake smile during your recognition ceremony. As the room filled with applause, she rendered a sarcastic clap, a phony smile, and mumbled in a monotone voice, “Con-grat-u-la-tions, I’m so happy for you.”It would help if you uncovered the hidden foe when her plastered smile shifted to a frown. Your suspicions arose when she gave the silent treatment and dirty looks during lunch.

• Boss-Kisser-Upper-Greeting the boss with a cup of coffee each morning and organizing the boss’ file cabinets of her own volition proved her impure motive. She also performed unrequested duties like working on off days, refusing vacations, coming early and staying late, or anything else that painted her as a “star” employee.

Her sudden case of the niceties and catering to the boss took it to the extreme. One day, as you entered the break area, you observed her and your boss eating lunch together in an intense conversation.

They abruptly stopped talking as you approached their table while giving you the once-over. Then, your light-up-when-you-walk-in-the-room boss displayed a smile that quickly transformed into a frown of indifference.

• The Humiliator- The colleague-foe slowly evolved into a hypercritical individual who scrutinized shortcomings in your job performance. She volunteered to find your mistakes and regularly report them to the boss. In doing so, she exposed your deficiencies and highlighted her proficiencies. This action pushed her closer to stealing your well-deserved, overdue promotion.

• 4. The Final Takedown
  Your colleague pulled the coup de grâce on you the morning of your PowerPoint presentation. She anxiously searched for trivial discrepancies and repeatedly interrupted your hour-long presentation with confusing, interrogating questions. 

She pointed out your typos and speaking mistakes as well. To top that off, she disabled her phone’s silent mode and notification features to ensure your presentation was full of distractions.

This was all designed to make you look bad. It negatively influenced and convinced your boss that you didn’t deserve the promotion.

Then suddenly, the unthinkable happened.

Your backstabbing foe frantically ran out of the boss’ office, shouting, “I got it!”

You replied, “Got what?” The rival’s response to your question was so surreal.

She then replied, “I got the promotion!” You then thought, “She didn’t get the promotion; she got my promotion.”

So, because of your boss’s naivety and the office backstabber’s cleverness, your promotion was easily handed over to your rival. This devastating news was such a hard lesson of betrayal that you needed time to process it.

5. Lesson Learned!
Your decision to move on from this painful and humiliating experience prompted you to submit a two-week notice, cut losses, and choose a new career path.

The impulse to change careers wasn’t an irrational move.

You thought it through, learned a lesson, and reasoned it was the best move.

You started the following new chapter in your life, but with the knowledge that opportunities will sometimes attract foes plotting to take what’s rightfully yours.

Takeaway

Career stagnation isn’t always your fault. It could be that a jealous colleague is eyeing your prize and setting you up for the kill. Unfortunately, a competitive, jealous colleague may be eyeing your prize and standing between you and your promotion.

Watch your back!!