
Why Women Volunteer for Tasks That Don’t Lead to Promotions - mmt
https://hbr.org/2018/07/why-women-volunteer-for-tasks-that-dont-lead-to-promotions
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extralego
The opposite is overwhelmingly consistent in political organizations. Men are
drastically more likely to invest their time in outreach activities that feel
almost hopeless and don’t support personal advancement, while women generally
only show up when there are opportunities for advancement within the
organization or very particular issues (usually issues which support women).
Men are eager to change that because these are organizations that genuinely
want and need visible diversity in order to grow.

~~~
waisbrot
Are you talking about the Libertarian party?

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stormking
So basically they volunteer on tasks that bear no risks of failure whatsoever
and therefore rarely provide a chance of personal growth.

In my book, not getting promoted for volunteering on these tasks is more than
fair. No risk, no fun.

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uberswe
So the problem seems to be that evaluations and performance reviews are flawed
and don't take these tasks into account. Thus making them un-promotable?

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stormking
People do not get promoted for being the Busy Bee, they get promoted when they
show that they're capable of fulfilling more demanding tasks than their
current role implies.

You're not in school, anymore, stop trying to please the teacher.

~~~
uberswe
Well they are doing tasks that no one else wanted to do when the boss asks.
That shows that they care more about the company no?

Just because bob takes a chance and makes a lucky 10 mil investment that goes
up 100% overnight doesn't mean that he is the right guy to promote even if the
numbers in the evaluations say so. That's all I'm trying to say.

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stormking
Again, you don't get promoted for "caring for the company", you get promoted
when you show that you can perform more demanding tasks than your current role
requires. Be it because you were underestimated when you applied or because
you learned a bunch of stuff since then.

Promotion is not a reward for playing nice, it's about getting the maximum
possible value out of an employee.

~~~
xupybd
I don't think anyone is arguing that playing nice should provide a reward.
It's more that some critical tasks are undervalued.

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stormking
Again: A promotion is not a reward, it's an optimization. Regularly performing
"critical tasks" that fit your current role only shows that you're exactly
where you belong.

~~~
ergothus
On a systemic level, however, if no one does these non -promotion worthy
tasks, everyone suffers (not an optimization). So, perhaps not changing the
rules for promotion, but the system seems to need a change unless we want
either everyone refusing these tasks or to require a social group to get them
dumped on them.

