Promotion

Promotion represents an important milestone on the academic career path. At its most basic, it involves crafting a case that describes applicants’ performance against pre-defined metrics.

But this is rarely enough: Success also relies on a cohesive story that communicates applicants’ vision, the impact of their achievements, the collaborations they have formed, the strategic alignment of their work, and any career disruptions.

Mind Your Way offers a range of services for individuals and groups to help them craft successful promotion stories, both on the page and for the interview.

Neon stairs

A focus on gender equity

For women and gender-diverse individuals, academic promotion can be complicated by persistent cultural and structural factors.

These might include a gendered concept of merit and research productivity, penalised career breaks and non-linear trajectories, under-recognition of “invisible” contributions, a lack of female or gender-diverse role models, and unconscious bias in mentors, sponsors, and selection panels.

These and other factors have contributed to women and gender-diverse individuals being under-represented in leadership across many academic disciplines. While system-wide measures at the organisational and policy level are required to address systemic bias or fix an entrenched culture with deep historical roots, academic promotion support services can assist women and gender-diverse individuals to mitigate the impact of this system on their career ambitions and help them critically assess the barriers that prevent transitions into more senior roles

What our clients say

  • "The editing of the application was exceptional. The meticulous attention to detail in each section ensured that the content was clear, concise, and compelling. The storytelling was expertly crafted, weaving a coherent and engaging narrative throughout the application. Every piece of information was presented logically and impactfully, making a strong and persuasive case. The language was polished and professional, with seamless transitions that guided the reader smoothly from one section to the next. Overall, the careful editing significantly enhanced the application's quality and effectiveness."

    Level E (Professor) applicant

  • "Writing a promotion application is challenging: the narrative is critical, as is the ability to strongly sell all that you have achieved. Working with Mind Your Way really helped me to change the focus of my story and bring a much stronger voice to all that I have achieved. Importantly, the team work with you to push you outside of your comfort zone and see things from a different perspective while delicately balancing this with what you are comfortable with. I have no doubt that my application is much stronger following their guidance and support."

    Level D (Associate Professor) applicant

Services

1. Promotion Edit

Promotion edit flow diagram Mind Your Way

The foundation of most academic promotions is a written application.

Too often, we see clients treat the application as a listing exercise, hoping that reviewers will be able to piece together a compelling story that supports a case for promotion. On other occasions, we witness clients chronically undersell their achievements and challenges, believing they are not “ready” for promotion (or are told as such through misguided advice).

Our promotion edit assists clients to unpack their achievements and craft a confident case for promotion based on a compelling narrative of research and/or education impacts (relative to opportunity), innovative thinking and practice, and dissemination and translation activities across university and practical settings. All this is underpinned by a carefully crafted vision highlighting the ambition and strategic alignment of the client’s work.

  • The search for a good story begins with one of our editors conducting an initial assessment of the strengths and primary needs of the draft. For example, some applicants might be good writers but fall short on providing sufficient depth in justifying their case for promotion, while other applicants’ use of highly technical language can obstruct comprehension and narrative flow. The editor will prepare some initial feedback and questions that will form the basis of a discussion with the applicant to identify story components that are either present, missing, or underdeveloped. This assessment helps the editor ascertain the best strategy and investment of time to enhance the draft, which they will present to the applicant and/or sponsor for approval.

  • The editor will focus on the priority needs of the draft identified during the Story Analysis, carefully working across the agreed sections, re-writing and re-structuring the text to strengthen the narrative of the applicant’s impact and achievements. For well-developed drafts, the editor will spend the available time on completing a single detailed edit across all the nominated sections. If drafts have some clear strengths and weaknesses, the editor may focus on sections with the greatest need and spend less time on sections where their input would only offer marginal improvements. If the editor has time leftover following the initial edit, they may choose to offer a final copy edit on a case-by-case basis. For under-developed drafts or drafts with complex needs, the available editing time usually needs to be invested in a more targeted manner by focusing on priority sections that require further development. This may mean that not all sections can be edited in detail, or that the editor will need to combine editorial input with high-level recommendations and advice. All edits are tracked, and the editor will place explanatory comments and questions in the margins for the applicant to consider. A clean and track-changed version of the draft will then be emailed to the applicant.

  • The editor will schedule a time with the applicant to discuss the changes based on The Edit. The discussion usually takes place within 24-48 hours of the editor delivering the revised draft, and so the applicant will not be required to have reviewed the edits and comments beforehand. Instead, the editor will explain what has changed and why, helping the applicant to understand the reasoning behind the editing approach, and providing an opportunity for the applicant to ask final clarifying questions. Without this discussion, applicants may at times decide to return to a version of their draft that resembles their original writing rather than embracing a version that could be more persuasive, particularly when The Edit looks unfamiliar or different from what applicants are used to.

2. Promotion Review

Promotion review flow diagram Mind Your Way

Our promotion review service provides high-level feedback and recommendations on a complete or near-complete draft application, guiding clients to make the recommended changes themselves.

We undertake NO editing or rewriting as part of this service. Instead, the Promotion Review provides clients with an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of their draft application, and with recommendations for how to make their draft more compelling.

  • The search for a good story begins with one of our editors conducting an initial assessment of the strengths and primary needs of the application. After reviewing the draft, the editor will prepare detailed written feedback that describes the identified needs of the application and what story components are either present, missing, or underdeveloped. The review will then be sent to the applicant for their consideration.

  • The editor will schedule a time with the applicant to discuss the feedback based on the Story Analysis. The discussion will take place within 24-48 hours of the editor delivering the review, and so the applicant will not be required to have engaged in the feedback beforehand. Instead, the editor will explain the feedback and provide guidance on how the applicant could implement it by amending their draft. The Run-Through also allows the applicant to ask any final clarifying questions.

3. Interview Coaching

For promotion applicants who need to attend an interview, translating their written case into a confident verbal account is important. This includes preparing for questions that might delve into the merits of their application.

When we coach academics on verbal presentation skills, we take a close look at how they tell their story – is it engaging, compelling, and memorable? What about body language and voice projection: Can people hear them from the back of the room? Are applicants speaking so fast that no one can follow? To prepare applicants for challenging questions, we help them build proactive response strategies that will get them out of any corner with dignity and charm.

At the end of the day, a bit of “show business” can go a long way to helping academics achieve a positive promotion outcome. So let’s embrace it!

Microphone

4. Promotion Workshops

Our two-part promotion workshop series draws on years of experience in crafting promotion applications with academics at all career levels, and in coaching applicants for their promotion interviews.

The workshops aim to build participants’ skills as persuasive writers, to improve the quality of their applications, and to help them present a compelling account of their achievements and impact.

Importantly, the workshops are tailored to the university’s or faculty’s specific promotion process, template, and guidelines to ensure the needs of sponsors and participants are met.

By the end of the workshops, participants will have refined content that they can use within their application. Better even: Many of the tools we teach are relevant for grants, awards, and prizes too!

  • We provide participants with highly practical tools for thinking through the impact of their achievements, clearly defining their vision, confidently narrating career disruptions, and other factors relevant to their university’s and/or faculty’s promotion process. Such tools aim to build the strongest possible connection between an applicant’s text and members of the promotion panel. Participants will then use these tools to craft or rewrite sections of their own promotion application and send samples of their revised text to the workshop facilitator or organiser prior to the next workshop.

  • Typically taking place at least a month after the first workshop, we develop written resources, group work exercises, and tailored slides using some of the samples provided by participants. We discuss how the tools have been applied, what challenges participants encountered during the process, and what opportunities for improvement remain.