Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How One Employee Got a Promotion by Taking Ownership of Onboarding
Transcript
- Lucas: Today I want to talk about something that sounds boring on paper but is actually one of the most reliable promotion levers I've seen: taking ownership of a broken process that nobody else wants to fix. Luna: Okay, I'm already interested. Because 'boring on paper' is exactly the kind of thing people overlook while they're chasing shiny projects. Lucas: Exactly. So there's a specific case I came across recently. A woman named Priya, mid-level operations role at a 500-person software company. She noticed that new hires were taking about three months to become productive — and nobody was formally tracking it. Luna: Right, because onboarding is often treated as HR's problem or just something managers handle informally. Lucas: Exactly. But she didn't just complain about it. She spent two weeks interviewing recent hires, their managers, and HR to understand exactly where the bottlenecks were. Then she built a 30-day onboarding program with a clear checklist, weekly check-ins, and a feedback loop. And she framed it as a business case: if we reduce ramp time by even 30 percent, that's worth X dollars in productivity. Luna: So she quantified the problem in terms leadership cares about. That's a smart move. Lucas: It's the difference between 'I think onboarding could be better' and 'We are losing an estimated 1.2 million dollars per quarter in unproductive time from new hires.' When she presented that number to her boss, he sat up. Luna: That's a great example. And it reminds me — we keep this show ad-free because we want to give you concrete, usable examples like this without interruption. If you've gotten value from episodes like this one, you can support the work at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep us going. Lucas: Yeah, absolutely. And we really appreciate that. So Priya's proposal got approved, she ran a pilot with the next cohort of ten hires, and within six months, the average ramp time dropped from 12 weeks to about 6. Her boss started getting compliments from other department heads. Luna: That visibility snowball effect is key. She didn't have to do a self-promotion song and dance — the results spoke. Lucas: Right. And here's where it gets even better. A few months later, someone from a competitor reached out to her on a Slack group for operations professionals. They had heard about her onboarding program through a mutual connection, and they offered her a job as a team lead with a 20 percent salary bump. Luna: She got an external offer without even applying. That's the kind of leverage that forces your current company to act. Lucas: Exactly. And her current company did act — they promoted her to lead a new internal process improvement team. She didn't have to ask. They proactively offered her the role because they knew she'd leave otherwise. Luna: So what's the playbook here for someone listening? How do you spot these invisible ownership opportunities? Lucas: First, look for things that are broken or neglected that everyone complains about but nobody has been assigned to fix. Usually it's operational stuff — onboarding, internal knowledge management, cross-team communication, how data is shared. Luna: These are the 'not my job' zones. Lucas: Exactly. And second, don't go in with a vague suggestion. Go in with data. Priya spent those two weeks gathering real numbers. She talked to people. She built a rough estimate of the cost of the problem. When you walk into a boss's office with a spreadsheet, you're not a complainer — you're a problem-solver. Luna: What about framing? I imagine how you present it matters a lot. Lucas: Hugely. The language should be about business impact, not personal pet project. Say things like 'I've identified an opportunity to improve X by Y percent, and here's what it would take.' Don't say 'I think we should do this because it's a good idea.' Leaders hear that all day. Luna: So 'opportunity' and 'business case' are your keywords. Lucas: Right. And third, once you get approval, over-communicate the results. Priya sent a one-page summary to her boss and his boss after the first cohort finished, showing the data. She made sure the right people saw the win. Luna: That's something a lot of people skip. They do the work but assume the results will speak for themselves. Lucas: They don't always. You have to be your own publicist — but in a humble, data-driven way. She didn't send a self-congratulatory email. She sent a 'Here's what we learned and here's the impact' note. Luna: And that got forwarded up the chain. Lucas: Exactly. So the lesson is: find the broken thing that costs the company money, fix it with a measurable approach, and make sure the right people know. That's a promotion recipe that works regardless of your current level. Luna: I want to push back a little, though. What if you're in a role where you don't have access to that kind of data? Or what if your company culture doesn't reward initiative? Lucas: Fair points. On data: you almost always have more access than you think. Priya didn't have a formal dashboard — she just asked 20 people a few questions. You can always do a small survey or talk to a handful of colleagues. It's not perfect, but it's enough to build a case. Luna: And if the culture doesn't reward it? Lucas: Then you have two choices. One, you do it anyway and build a track record that you can take elsewhere. Or two, you recognize that company might not be the right place for you long-term. Priya's competitor offer was a direct result of the visibility she built. So even if her current company hadn't promoted her, she had a path out. Luna: That's a powerful safety net. Do the work, build the reputation, and let the market validate you. Lucas: Yeah. And I think one more nuance: the project doesn't have to be huge. Priya's onboarding program wasn't a company-wide transformation. It was a pilot with ten people. Start small, prove the concept, then scale. Luna: That lowers the risk for you and for your boss. It's easier to say yes to a pilot. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're listening and you want to try this, think about one broken process in your immediate area. Something that annoys you or your team. Spend a week gathering informal data. Then write a half-page proposal. That's all it takes to start. Luna: I like that. One concrete action. And we'll put some resources in the show notes if you want to see a template for that kind of proposal. Lucas: We will. So the takeaway: you don't need a fancy title or a big budget to earn visibility. You need to see the problem, quantify the cost, and offer a fix. That's how you get noticed. Luna: And that's how you get promoted.