Promotions
Evidence for a promotion: what actually counts
Promotion evidence is anything dated, specific and attributable that shows you operating at the next level. Effort, hours and enthusiasm are not evidence. Ownership, outcomes, decisions and repetition are.
Written by the Look at you go team ยท Published 18 August 2026
The eleven categories
- Measurable impact: something moved, and you can say by how much.
- Responsibility growth: work that used to sit above you now sits with you.
- Project ownership: you were accountable, not involved.
- Leadership: direction, decisions and standards, with or without a title.
- Mentoring: someone else is better at their job because of you.
- Decision-making: calls you made without escalating, and how they landed.
- Stakeholder influence: senior people changed their view or their plan.
- Commercial impact: money earned, saved, protected or not wasted.
- Process improvement: the way the work happens is now different.
- Recognised expertise: you are the person the work gets routed to.
- Feedback: written, attributable and specific, not corridor praise.
The evidence hierarchy
Weakest
Effort. "I have worked incredibly hard this year."
Weak
Activity. "I ran the weekly supplier meetings."
Better
Ownership. "I own the supplier relationship end to end."
Strong
Outcome. "I own it, and renegotiated the renewal flat against a 14% uplift."
Strongest
Repeated outcome at the next level. "That is the third contract I have owned this year, all previously handled by my manager."
Rewriting real examples
Weak versus strong
Weak
Supported the annual audit.
Strong
Ran the annual audit response for the first time, coordinating four teams and closing all eleven findings without escalation.
Weak
Helped onboard new starters.
Strong
Rebuilt onboarding for the team and took two new starters to independent delivery in six weeks instead of the usual twelve.
Weak
Involved in the pricing review.
Strong
Produced the pricing analysis that changed the recommendation, which the leadership team adopted in June.
Evidence that quietly does not count
- Being liked. Useful, not evidence.
- Being busy. Capacity is not level.
- Length of service. It answers a different question.
- Work your manager still checks before it leaves the building.
- One outstanding quarter with nothing either side of it.
Related questions
- What if my work is not measurable?
- Plenty of good work is not. Use scope, frequency and decision authority instead: how many, how often, how senior, and who signed it off. A clear before and after is evidence even without a percentage.
- Does positive feedback count as evidence?
- It counts as supporting evidence when it is written, specific and from someone whose judgement carries weight. It rarely carries a case on its own.
See how your evidence stacks up
Try the promotion readiness checkRelated guides
- How to build a promotion case
- Working above your pay grade
- Evidence for a pay rise
- Promotion readiness check
Back to promotions or all career guides.