The consequences of doing the job before you get the job title

Many of us will have heard this phrase at some point in our careers when we’ve been asked to take on additional responsibilities:

“We just need to see you operating at that level for a while before we can make it official.”

But there are significant consequences for both you and your organisation of fulfilling an acting up role before you get the actual recognition and job title.

It’s something I’ve termed the 'prove-it trap' and there are things you can do to help prevent it happening to you, but you will need to be intentional about it.

In this week's episode of The Leadership Lounge, I take a straightforward look at what you can do if you find yourself in this situation.

Calm, intentional career advice that works.

Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi everyone, and welcome to this episode from the Leadership Lounge. My name is Michelle, and I'm a leadership consultant and coach. And like all of my episodes, this one is on a topic that comes up frequently with clients in coaching. It's about the consequences for both you and your organisation of fulfilling an acting up role before you get the actual recognition and job title. It's something I've termed the prove it trap. And there are things you can do to help prevent it from happening to you, but you are going to need to be intentional about it. So let's get started. Many of us will have heard this phrase at some point in our careers when we've been asked to take on additional responsibilities. Things like we just need to see you operate in that level for a while before we can make it official. As a coach, I hear this being said to people more frequently than you'd probably expect in organisations up and down the country and across all levels within those organisations. And whilst this may initially sound reasonable, often that a while turns into six months, then a year, then the goalposts move, and suddenly you're doing a senior job carrying senior responsibility and making senior decisions, all whilst on a more junior salary with a more junior title and absolutely zero formal recognition. So, what is the previous trap? Well, it's when an organization expects you to fully perform at the next level before they'll promote you into it. It's not really a stretch project or a development opportunity with a clear time timeline. It's often the whole job which you're expected to do indefinitely until someone decides you've earned it. It usually gets dressed up in reasonable language, such as we want to set you up for success, or we need to be sure you're ready, or the worst one, in my opinion. It's just how we do things here. But when you strip this back, what you actually have is an employer getting the benefit of senior level output whilst paying junior level rates and doing that with your full participation because you've been made to believe it's the only route forward. But it isn't. So how does it start? And if I'm honest, it usually starts with a creep because it very rarely happens all at once, and that is one of the biggest problems. It often starts with covering for someone whilst they're on leave or picking up a bit of extra work during a restructure, or maybe even being told you're acting up temporarily. You say yes because you want to show willing, be seen as capable, and you don't want to be the person who said no. But then the temporary timeline extends until in practice it has become permanent, but without that formal recognition that should have come with it. More responsibility gets layered on, you're in the meetings, on the emails, and making the calls, and there's no doubt that you are doing the job. So you start to ask yourself and your manager, when does the promotion come? And that's often where it starts to get a little bit vague. There's almost always a reason why it's not the right time. Things cited such as budget freezes or a restructure on the horizon. You may hear comments like, let's revisit it after the next review cycle. And before you know it, a year has passed and you're exhausted, underpaid, and to be honest, quite quietly furious. But you feel trapped because now you've proved yourself and invested so much in this, into this next step, it feels like leaving is giving up. Now there's a wider cost to the business which most organisations don't seem to realise, and that's that this practice doesn't just cost you as an individual, it costs them too, because it sends a clear message to your teams that often triggers the kind of behaviours that end up harming an organization. So, what are those behaviours? Well, the first one is that you tend to lose your best people. The people willing to step up and prove themselves are usually your high performers. And when they realise the promotion isn't coming or that it was always going to be a fight, then they tend to look outshore for organisations that will value the skills, knowledge, and experience they bring. And then they take all that institutional knowledge, project experience, the client relationships, and the senior level capability with them. It also breeds a culture of resentment. When the team see that one person is expected to do it, suddenly everyone starts to feel that this is the new norm. It becomes how things work here. And a team that feels exploited simply just doesn't perform. They're much more likely to disengage. It also damages psychological safety. If people know that stepping up means being stretched indefinitely without reward, you tend to see that people stop stepping up because the message they're receiving is that their ambition becomes a liability for them. And so that initiative you may have relied on very heavily in the past quietly gets retired. It could also skew your pay equity data. If actually in organisations it's those in the less represented groups that are more likely to be asked to prove themselves before promotion, you've got a serious systemic equity problem. And that's already loaded into your talent pipeline, and that has legal implications as well as all the cultural and interpersonal ones that that raises. So, how do you stop it happening to you? Well, if you're already in this situation or you can feel yourself heading towards it, you're probably feeling very frustrated and maybe even already looking around for your next opportunity. So let's have a look at what you can do to move things forward. The first thing is name it and name it early. The moment someone asks you to step up or take on a bit more, that's your moment to get clarity. Don't let it stay fuzzy. Ask the direct question: is this a formal acting up arrangement? What is the timeline? What does success look like? And what happens at the end of it? And getting it in writing or at least on an email really matters. And if that's not forthcoming to you, then document a summary of the conversation and send it back to them. Put a timeline on it yourself. If the organisation won't, then you will need to do so. I'm happy to take this on and I'll review where we are in three months and we can have a formal conversation about the role then. Then put it in your diary and schedule the discussion. Don't let it drop. Track everything. Keep a record of the additional responsibilities you've taken on, the decisions you've made and the outcomes you've delivered. You can't rely on anyone else to notice or remember. You need to compile your portfolio of evidence for that conversation. And please don't wait to be asked. Many people quietly sit back and hope the organisation will recognise their contribution and reward it accordingly. But hope is not a strategy. You're going to need to be proactive, visible, and explicit about what you want. So when it comes to having the conversation with your manager, this is the bit most people dread. And what I would say is a few minutes of awkwardness is better than a year of being underpaid for the impact you're delivering. So let's make it as straightforward as possible because you're not asking for a favour. You're asking for a professional conversation about the reality of your role. So open with facts, not feelings. So I want to talk to you about where I am in terms of my role and my progression. Over the last X months, I've been doing and then list the responsibilities you've been doing. And I would like to understand what the pathway looks like from here. Next thing I'd say is be specific about what you're asking for. Don't leave it open-ended. I'd like us to agree a timeline for formally reviewing my title and salary to reflect the work and impact I'm delivering. What do we need to put in place to make that happen? Please don't accept vague. If the response is let's see how things go, you're going to need to push back by saying something along the lines of, I'm keen to make sure we're aligned on what seeing how things go means in practice. Can we agree a specific date to come back to this? And always, always follow up in writing afterwards. Send a follow-up email, summarising the conversation and any agreements. This protects you by giving you a clear reference point to come back to and it signals that you're taking it seriously. I would also time bound this by adding something like: if there is anything I've missed or misunderstood, please let me know by and then put a date in. If the answer is a flat no or the goalposts move again, that's definitely disappointing. But it's also important information about this organisation and will help you determine whether it's the right place for you. When this prove it trap is part of the culture, some organizations have normalized this so thoroughly that it's just the way things work here. And if that's where you are, it's likely you're dealing with something bigger than one conversation with your manager. Where this is the case, you still have choices. You can to decide to work the system strategically. If you're going to have to prove yourself, please do it with a defined endpoint. Set your own conditions so you're not just performing, you're also positioning yourself to negotiate. So make sure you're setting that deadline, that timeline for yourself. I would also find an internal ally. Maybe it's your own line manager that's the blocker. So look for someone outside of your team or above your manager who can champion the formal recognition. Sponsorship really matters here. So look for someone who can advocate for you in the rooms you're not in. Reframe the timeline in your own head. So if you decide to stay and play the long game, be intentional about it and make a conscious choice to do that, but with a firm deadline. Give yourself six months or a year, and if nothing is changed by then, you have your answer. And then consider whether it's time to leave. Sometimes the most powerful career move is the one that takes you somewhere that will pay you what you're worth from day one. I'm sorry to say that there's no virtue and often very little value in staying in an organization that consistently undervalues you. So the reality check that I want to remind you of is you should never have to earn something that you're already doing. Experience at the next level is a reasonable thing to do to develop, but an indefinite unpaid audition is not. You can drop me a comment in the box below. And if this landed for you or you know somebody who could really do with reading it, please do share by clicking the share button. That's all for this time. Great to uh speak to you, and I will catch you next time. Thanks everyone. Bye.