How to Decode Academic Promotion Criteria (Before You Waste 5 Years)

If you’re in the first five years of an academic appointment, here’s what no one tells you:
Promotion doesn’t just happen because you’re busy, published, or burned out. It happens because you understood the system—and planned for it from the start.

Too many capable physicians delay promotion or get passed over because they didn’t build a coherent plan. Others spend years saying yes to everything, hoping it’ll eventually “add up” to a dossier that makes sense. It doesn’t.

Let’s fix that.

This blog walks through how to create your academic promotion plan using the Academic Accelerator Method from my Academic Career Kickstarter Course—and what I learned the hard way about telling a clear, focused story.

Step 1: Know Your Institution’s Criteria (Don’t Guess)

Promotion criteria vary widely by institution and track. You must know exactly what you're being evaluated on. And while your first few months in practice are a whirlwind of change, you should take the time to learn the criteria before your clinic is overbooked and the data is collected for the next paper and you have no spare time. With that in mind, I recommend that you:

• Get the document: These are typically available online. But I also recommend that you ask your chair, administrator, or mentor for the informal promotion criteria. For example, do they expect you to be in on a national committee or be first or last author on a number of publications or have a certain score on teaching evaluations in order to be promoted. These items often will not be listed in the institutions criteria and you need to know!
  
• Identify your track and rank: Are you on a clinician-educator, research-intensive, or hybrid track? Are you aiming for Assistant or Associate or Full Professor? This will help you focus on items that will get you promoted in your track and say no to things you dont have a passion for that will not get you to your goal.
  
• Break the criteria into domains: Most include expectations in scholarship, clinical work, teaching, service, and national recognition. Use these to keep track of your work.
  

📌 Pro tip: Pay attention to the action verbs—those small words matter more than you think (more below). 

Step 2: Understand That Promotion Is a Narrative, Not a Checklist

When I had my first annual meeting with my department chair, I walked in with a list of everything I’d done: talks, committees, papers, grants. What I didn’t realize was that none of it added up to a story - I had work related to sleep apnea, medical education, allergy, neck masses…. It looked like I was busy—but not intentional.

That conversation changed everything. I finally understood that promotion committees want to see coherence.

They want to know:

• Why this topic?
  
• Why these papers?
  
• Why that committee or grant?

And, if you are really good, you can tell the story of how one project led to the next - with a focus on asking questions based on the results of previous work and collaborations. 

At the time, I had started to center my work on sleep and then sleep apnea and then pediatric obstructive sleep apnea, which became more refined over time—specifically focusing on persistent sleep apnea in children. That clear throughline became the backbone of my promotion dossier and my career - and it become a great signature talk as you move along in your career!

✅ Your CV should read like a story, not a smorgasbord. Random activities don’t get people promoted. Coherent, focused work that demonstrates growth and impact does.

Step 3: Understand What the Verbs Actually Mean

Promotion criteria aren’t just word salad. Words like “contribute,” “lead,” and “demonstrate excellence” signal very different expectations. Your job is to match your evidence to the level they’re asking for.

🔹 “Contribute”

• What it means: You’re an engaged team member—reliable, involved, supportive.
  
• Evidence: Co-authored papers, committee memberships, participation in curriculum or QI projects, helping with grants.
  

🔹 “Lead”

• What it means: You’re in charge—you planned, executed, and drove the work.
  
• Evidence: Senior/first author papers, PI on grants, chairing committees, mentoring others, leading national workgroups.
  

🔹 “Demonstrate Excellence”

• What it means: You’ve gone beyond expectations and had measurable impact.
  
• Evidence: National awards, top teaching evaluations, invited lectureships, program outcomes, letters of external recognition.
  

📌 The key: if your criteria say “lead” or “demonstrate excellence,” and you only show up as a contributor, that’s a mismatch.

Step 4: Create a Realistic Timeline

Start with your target promotion date and reverse-engineer the steps. A five-year plan is typical, but every year counts.

Example Timeline:

• Years 1–2: Define your niche, gather mentors, start building your scholarly output.Create systems to collect data and submit grants. 
• Years 3–4: Lead projects, mentor others, grow national visibility. Serve on national committee, volunteer to help & connect with thought leaders in your niche.
  
• Year 5: Finalize dossier, request letters, and meet with your chair for formal review.
  

✅ Build in buffer time. Promotions get delayed more often due to lack of organization than lack of qualifications.

Step 5: Set Clear, Aligned Targets

Each year, pick targets that match your promotion criteria:

• Publications: 3–5 per year, with increasing senior authorship in your area. Do not jump right to being the senior author. For your biggest papers, be the first author in the first 5 years of your career.
  
• Presentations: Regional or national invited talks tied to your niche. Submit abstracts to national meetings and consider panels. 
• Teaching: Evaluations, curriculum innovation, peer observation reports
  
• Service: Departmental or Institutional roles that grow into national committee work, Volunteer in local, regional and national speciality organizations
  
• Grants: Internal funding first; external applications by Year 3–4 but have them all align and in a defined topic area to show continuity and build mentorship. Identify mentors.
  
• Reputation: Get known outside your institution—through authorship, speaking, or service
  

Step 6: Track Everything

You think you’ll remember every talk or thank-you note—but you won’t.

• Keep a live CV in Google Docs or your institution’s system and be sure that it is in your institutions format from the start. 
• Create a promotion folder with PDFs of evaluations, award letters, peer reviews, student feedback…
  
• Log key activities monthly: It saves time when your clock starts ticking and it is motivating to see what you have accomplished!
  

🧠 The Academic Career Kickstarter Course includes templates and tools to do this efficiently. Be sure to review your institutional template which often specifies the order they are looking for. 

Step 7: Use the Academic Accelerator Method

This is where your promotion plan goes from exhausting to efficient.

• Define your academic vision so your work aligns with your real goals
  
• Say no to low-impact tasks that don’t support promotion
  
• Prioritize high-value activities that build your narrative and reputation
  
• Track progress and recalibrate without losing momentum
  

TL;DR – Promotion Planning That Works

✅ Understand your institution’s actual expectations
✅ Translate the language of “contribute,” “lead,” and “excellence” into evidence
✅ Build a timeline that supports your growth—not just output
✅ Tell a story with your CV that shows intentional academic focus
✅ Track everything and stay organized
✅ Use a structured method like the Academic Accelerator to fast-track your progress

Want a Promotion Plan That Fits Your Life?

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start progressing, the Academic Career Kickstarter Course walks you step-by-step through building your personalized promotion strategy—aligned with your goals, schedule, and the criteria that actually matter.

📍 Learn more at www.medicalmentorcoaching.com 📨 Or forward this to a colleague who’s still collecting committee roles like Pokémon cards.