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Team Restructure
I'm a Marketing Manager who took a step back (in title and pay) to get expand my experience in my desired industry. I currently report to the Director of Marketing and was told I'm now going to report to the Senior Marketing Manager, who was recently promoted from Manager. I was taken aback as I feel like this somewhat stunts my growth and this person has less experience than me. I'm all for reporting to a peer if I can learn from them.
Thoughts on this? Do I suck it up, or is this a signal to begin looking?
MichelleS
Proven Technology Leader
559
07/05/19 at 6:03PM UTC
Definitely need more information - but is this a male that got promoted? Was the job posted?
Anonymous
07/06/19 at 10:04PM UTC
It was my current female colleague, who was a Manager and is getting promoted to Senior Manager. The job was not posted but I believe she is qualified to be promoted. Plus, it was around that time to get promoted as my company looks at it taking 2-3 years before you can get promoted.
Anonymous
07/05/19 at 1:49PM UTC
We're missing lots of important details here. Your "step back," did you switch companies? If so, from where to where? How do the companies compare (# employees, market focus, relative department size, etc.)?
Is the Marketing department expanding? If so, are you being re-aligned, not demoted?
Why do you consider your new manager a peer, not a boss? Less experience how? If this is a new industry for you, your relative experience may be less.
This may be a great opportunity for you to gain experience in your new industry, but we can't quite tell yet.
Anonymous
07/06/19 at 10:10PM UTC
Thank you so much! I didn't want to write a novel but it's apparent I definitely needed to add more information.
-I switched companies but they were in the same industry. It was from a smaller org to a larger org, but I was at a big box retail company for almost 10 years prior to both these roles.
-Marketing department is not expanding at this time. One person just left and they are not back-filling that role, but instead consolidating this role into the existing team members. Unsure of what is going to happen with this person's work.
-Yes, to being realigned but I have qualms about now reporting to a Senior Manager who doesn't have as much industry experience as the Director. Just worried about not learning as much.
-My new manager was just recently promoted and we were both Marketing Managers. I came in to this current role with more experience than her but she has been at the company longer.
Annetta MosesConsumer Insights and Strategy Leader
1.31k
07/05/19 at 3:12AM UTC
Based on you question, I am assuming that you started a new job at a company in your desired industry. Perhaps the company values industry experience which you may not have. First, have a conversation with the director and seek to understand your performance compared to the qualifications they want for a senior manager. Based on this conversation take 24 hours to evaluate yourself against the senior manager criteria. If you have all of the qualifications including industry experience present a written list of the criteria and your skills to the site for and ask if you were consider and if not, why not. If so, what skill gaps prevented them offering you the position. If you had the qualifications and didn't get an offer, consider looking for another company. However, if your lack of industry experience is one of the reasons you were not offered the senior manager, talk to the director about a plan to accelerate your industry learning. Note that accelerating you learning will require you to do extra work. If you need to accomplish the experience most people obtain in 3 years, you likely need more than 1 year working Mon to Fri 8 hours a day.
Anonymous
07/06/19 at 10:01PM UTC
Thanks so much! In short, the other person has been at the company longer and it takes about 2-3 years to get promoted. It's unfortunate but the way things have been trending here despite if you are doing the work or not. The only time people have been promoted is if someone's boss leaves and it makes sense to promote someone into the role.
Thus, four years at the company vs. my almost two years doesn't stack up despite me having more experience in my previous roles outside this organization.
I think I came to this role reporting to a Director and now am worried there are shifts with Managers now falling under Senior Managers. I don't think this is wrong necessarily but feels like it may stunt my growth a bit. Am I over analyzing this though?
Six Figure Salary CoachLet me help you add 5 figures to your pay, today
947
07/05/19 at 2:51AM UTC
Are you at all curious why you weren't offered that role?? Or was that your previous position?
Correct me if I'm wrong but was your step back to get more exposure to different Industries? How does somebody who was previously a manager have less exposure to various Industries and you do? Sorry if that sounds like an odd question, I'm just trying to understand the hierarchy here
Anonymous
07/06/19 at 9:58PM UTC
Thanks for the comment! Sorry I should have clarified a bit more.
I came from another company (same industry but on a much smaller scale) where I was the Director of Marketing and oversaw three departments. I came in to my new company as a Marketing Manager due to brand name and global reach. A Senior Manager title was not on the table as I was the first person to get this role in the company. It also takes 2-3 years to get promoted even though you may have qualified or doing the job, which is unfortunately.
The previous manager has experience but I have been in the marketing industry longer. She has been at the current company longer though and I believe she deserves to be promoted. Am I odd thinking that just as she's getting promoted doesn't mean my role should fall under her? I think going from reporting to a Director to now a Senior Manager diminishes my role a bit. However, maybe I'm totally overthinking this and it isn't going to hurt my career.
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