The Promotion Flywheel Framework

How to make your next promotion inevitable – and repeatable.

Jun 16, 2025

I’ve been lucky to get promoted quickly. But over time, I realised it wasn’t just luck. There’s a system – a repeatable, powerful flywheel. Across countries, categories, and companies – I’ve seen it help people move up faster, with greater impact, and far less noise.

It’s not a hack. It’s a habit.

It’s not a shortcut. It’s a cycle.

This is The Promotion Flywheel Framework.

The Core Idea

Getting promoted isn’t about waiting your turn – it’s about building momentum the system can’t ignore.

Its about creating two vacancies - your next role (your Boss’s job) and your own current role.

And then creating two candidates - yourself for your Boss’s role and your team member for your role.

Most people think of promotions as events. The smart ones realise they’re just steps in a well-designed loop.

The flywheel has five stages – each feeding the next, each building trust, leverage, and visibility. Once it starts spinning, it compounds.

The Five Steps

1. Get Promoted/Start your new job

This is the entry point – your first break, your step up, your invitation to the next level. The flywheel starts here, on the day you start a new job – and then builds power.

2. Master the Job – and Find the One Big Thing

For the first 6–9 months, go deep.

Understand the real job – not the one on paper, but the one the business actually needs solved. Build your own framework for how the role really works. What’s important? What’s trivial? Where are the risks and opportunities?
Learn the rhythm – how money flows, how influence works, when decisions are made. Understand the operating cadence – customers, meetings, communications, approvals.
Roll up your sleeves – do the work yourself. Dive into the detail. Personally experience each element of how the function runs.
If there are challenges - dive deep and fix them. Work as hard as you can while not losing your perspective and ‘getting lost’
Build trust – listen to your team, clear roadblocks, deliver early wins.

Then begin your first-principles thinking.

Ask yourself:

“What is the one thing that seems impossible today – but if solved, could transform our company’s, team’s, or division’s results over the next three years?”

That’s your One Big Thing.

Bold.
Transformational.
Just beyond reach.

It’s likely outside your circle of control – but inside your circle of influence.

Read more about framing your big priorities in my Time Mastery Framework here

Frame it. Own it. Carry it forward.

3. Develop Your Team to Replace You

Now that your function is running smoothly – your team is steady, results are clear – it’s time to create space.

Identify team members who can step up into your role.
Be open with them. Say: “I want to prepare you to operate at the next level. I’ll give you opportunities to stretch, with safety nets in place.”
Delegate real ownership – not just tasks.
Set clear KPIs – and then step back.
Coach. Support. Create room for them to lead.

You’re not making yourself redundant. You’re making yourself promotable.

They feel the trust. They step up. They grow. And you’ve now created your successor.

4. Work on the Big Thing – Daily

Now bring your One Big Thing to your boss.

“I’ve been thinking about this challenge. It’s important – for the company, and for us. I’d like to work on it while continuing to run my current role.”

You’re not asking for permission. You’re offering to accelerate shared success.

Now make the Big Thing your primary personal goal.

Work on it every single day. Block out time. Two hours – protected in your calendar.

Meetings aren’t work. Emails aren’t work.

Work is this:

Work = mass × distance
The mass is your Big Thing.
The distance is meaningful progress.

Your target: 1% movement per day.

Small. Consistent. Compounding.

And the maths?

(1.01)^365 = 37.8
That’s 38x progress in a year.

5. Help Your Boss and Team Member Get Promoted

Now your Big Thing isn’t just yours.

It has traction. Visibility. Buy-in. Wins. It has many parents – as it should.

Your boss is credited. So are you. It becomes a shared success story. But your boss knows the truth – you were the engine.

And you’ve quietly solved two problems:

Who replaces your boss?
Who replaces you?

Which means… the next promotion is obvious.

The flywheel resets.

You step up. Again.

The Flywheel Recap

Get Promoted
Master the Job – and Find the One Big Thing
Develop Your Team to Replace You
Work on the Big Thing Daily
Watch Your Boss and Team Member Get Promoted

Then return to step one – only now you’re operating at a higher level, with more leverage, and a stronger team around you.

Final Thought

Promotions are not rewards – they’re recognitions of readiness.

And readiness is something you build – daily, deliberately, and visibly.

#FastFrameworks #PromotionFlywheel #CareerGrowth #LeadershipDevelopment #StrategicThinking

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