🙅‍♀️ No more unpromotable tasks

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How to Say No to Non-Promotable Work

The dilemma: “I've been at my company for two years, and I'm always the one who ends up organizing the office birthdays, taking notes in meetings, and picking up the slack on stuff nobody else wants to do. My manager says I'm 'such a team player,' but when promotion talk comes up, I keep getting passed over for people who do less of this behind-the-scenes stuff. Am I doing something wrong? Help!”

The answer: Nicole Johnston, the founder and CEO of innatePOWER LLC, an executive and leadership coach, and the bestselling author of Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t.

No. You're doing the wrong things right. That's the problem.

Researchers call what you're describing non-promotable work. Meeting notes. Birthday cakes. 

The “stuff” nobody wants to do that keeps an office running but never shows up on a performance review as a win. 

Women get handed this work constantly. One study found women are 48% more likely than men to volunteer for these tasks. Not because they want to. Because there's a shared, unspoken expectation that they will. 

You can feel like you are stuck either way. Say yes, and you get called a team player instead of a leader. Say no, and you get rated lower for not being a team player. 

Researchers behind The No Club found women at one consulting firm spent 200 more hours a year on this non-promotable work than men. That's an extra month of labor! For nothing. In fact, not only does non-promotable work not help you level up in your career, it penalizes you in terms of time management and missing out on meaningful work opportunities.

Your manager calling you a team player is not a compliment. Promotions go to people whose work shows up on a P&L, the scorecard, or in a strategy meeting. Promotions don’t go to the person who took the best notes. Party planning doesn't get you a raise. Neither does covering someone else's project.

📊 Track your work. For two weeks, write down every task you do that isn't in your actual job description. You need proof before you can push back.

❌ Say no on purpose. Skip the apology. Try this: "I can't take that on. I'm focused on the client renewal deck." Then stop talking. Someone else will pick it up. They always do.

✋ Ask for the project you want by name. Go to your manager and name it directly: the account, the launch, the budget you want ownership of. Nobody hands out the good assignments to people who don’t seem to want them. You have to ask for the opportunities.

⏱️ Stop treating being busy as the same thing as being valuable. Your calendar might think they're the same. Your paycheck knows they're not.

You're not failing at your job. You're succeeding at the wrong work. Move your effort toward the work that actually gets counted and start paying attention to how fast the promotion conversations change.

Want more advice? Revisit this Girlboss Radio episode with the founders of The No Club, who break down exactly how to stop doing thankless work for free. 🎧 Listen now.

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