Signs You're Not Ready for Promotion (Even if you’re great at your job)
What Leaders Need to Learn Before the Next Level
Being successful in your current role doesn't automatically mean you're ready for promotion.
A strong deputy may struggle as a sergeant. A successful sergeant may promote to lieutenant and continue operating like a sergeant. The experience and leadership habits that helped you succeed still matter—but the expectations, decisions, and responsibilities change at every level.
In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, Mike and Cathy McIntosh explore the warning signs that may reveal a leader isn't ready for promotion yet.
Drawing from Mike's decades of law enforcement leadership and experience with promotional processes, assessment centers, hiring decisions, and executive leadership, they discuss what leaders need to understand before stepping into greater responsibility.
where strong leaders get stuck
One of the biggest mistakes aspiring leaders make is assuming that doing well in their current position automatically prepares them for the next one.
It doesn't.
With every promotion, you move further from doing the job and deeper into leading the people who do it.
You don't forget how the job is done. But your role in getting it done changes.
Leadership readiness means understanding the scope of the position you're pursuing, recognizing how your decision-making will need to change, and preparing to apply your experience at a different level of responsibility.
Key Themes and Takeaways from Episode 63
Success at Your Current Level Isn't Automatic Proof of Readiness
Past performance matters. Your reputation, judgment, relationships, and leadership habits all matter.
But promotion brings new expectations.
Leaders can get stuck when they continue thinking and operating at the level of the position they just left. The higher you promote, the less your success is measured by what you personally do and the more it's measured by how effectively you lead others.
Study the Position You're Pursuing
Preparing for a promotional process isn't just about reviewing policies, practicing interview questions, or putting your accomplishments on display.
Aspiring leaders need to understand the job they're asking to do.
Talk to leaders currently serving in the position. Ask what surprised them. Learn how their decisions changed. Understand the pressures, responsibilities, and organizational perspective required at that level.
Don't just prepare to show what you've done.
Prepare to explain what you're ready to do.
Feedback Reveals Leadership Readiness
How someone responds to feedback can reveal a lot about their readiness for greater responsibility.
Can they honestly examine their own gaps? Can they hear constructive feedback without immediately becoming defensive? Are they willing to adjust?
Leadership readiness requires enough self-awareness to recognize that there's still more to learn.
Stop Solving Every Problem Yourself
As leaders promote, they have to become comfortable letting go.
Constantly stepping in, taking over, or doing the work of the people you lead may feel productive—but it can keep you operating one level below your actual responsibility.
If you're constantly doing the work of the people you lead, who's doing the work only you can do?
Your Perspective Has to Expand
Higher levels of leadership require a broader organizational view.
Leaders can't think only about their shift, team, assignment, or unit. They have to understand how decisions affect other people, other divisions, and the organization as a whole.
Promotion expands your responsibility. Your perspective has to expand with it.
Leadership Challenge
Think about the next leadership role you're preparing for and have a conversation with someone who's already doing that job.
Don't ask them how to win the promotional process.
Ask:
“What did you have to learn to do differently when you stepped into this role?”
Then listen.
Leadership readiness starts before the promotion.
Listen to the Episode
About the Hosts
Michael McIntosh is a retired Sheriff, current Division Chief, leadership instructor, and CEO of Integrity Leadership Development. With nearly four decades of law enforcement experience, Mike specializes in leadership development, organizational culture, mentorship, and building high-performing teams. His passion is preparing leaders before promotion so organizations never have to lower their leadership standards.
Cathy McIntosh is a marketing and business strategist with more than 26 years of experience helping organizations build strong brands, develop effective communication strategies, and lead with purpose. As a law enforcement spouse and leadership partner, Cathy brings a unique perspective that connects leadership principles with the human side of service.
Together, Mike and Cathy host Elevate Your Call to Service, where they equip current and future leaders with practical leadership strategies, meaningful conversations, and real-world lessons that strengthen individuals, teams, and organizations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the signs a leader may not be ready for promotion?
Warning signs may include continuing to operate only at the level of a current position, struggling to accept feedback, constantly identifying problems without helping develop solutions, refusing to delegate, or failing to understand the broader responsibilities of the next role.
Does being successful in your current role mean you're ready for promotion?
Not automatically. Strong performance is important, but leadership readiness also requires understanding how expectations, decisions, relationships, and responsibilities will change at the next level.
How can I prepare for a law enforcement promotion?
Talk with leaders currently serving in the position you're pursuing. Learn what changed when they promoted, what surprised them, and what they wish they'd understood earlier. Start developing the judgment, perspective, and leadership habits required for the next role before the promotional process opens.
Why do some strong performers struggle after promotion?
Some leaders continue using the same approach that made them successful in their previous role. Their experience still matters, but they may need to apply that experience differently as their responsibility and leadership scope expand.
Related Posts
Episode 59: Why Mentoring Is Important in Leadership: Building Readiness Before Promotion
Episode 60: How Great Leaders Build Resilience and Confidence before Promotion
Episode 61: How to Create Consistent Leadership Standards Across Every Rank
Ready to Lead at a Higher Level?
If this episode challenged the way you think about leadership, that’s the first step.
The next step is applying it.
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