Copilot

How to Build Your Promotion Case with Copilot

How to Build Your Promotion Case with Copilot

Use one Copilot prompt to collect your wins from the quarter, with sources and dates, and sort them into a performance review format.

Use one Copilot prompt to collect your wins from the quarter, with sources and dates, and sort them into a performance review format.

Why it matters

If your company pays for Copilot, it knows more about your achievements than you realize to build your promotion case.

You do the work all quarter, putting your head down, focusing on the deliverables at hand. Then review week comes, and you cannot remember what you did because you were so performance-focused.

But when you try to rebuild the quarter from memory, you forget your best work.

I have been in that situation too many times, so I built a prompt that fixes it.

It collects your wins from the past quarter, focusing on three things to "win:" what you did, what result it produced, and where the proof is.

And dates matter. A manager can check a dated item with a source. Though, a manager cannot check a general claim like "I helped the team a lot."

Step 1: Collect your wins with sources and dates

Run the following prompt in Copilot to collects your wins from the past quarter.

Copilot can only use the data you have access to. If any conversations or emails aren't connected to your Microsoft environment instance, Copilot cannot call upon it.

Open the source for each win before you use it. Remove any item you cannot confirm.

Copy prompt

Review my emails, Teams chats, meetings and files from the last quarter. List every win I contributed to: Work I delivered, Kudos I received, problems I solved and people I helped. For each win, give a one-line summary and business result with link to the source. Source the wins into 4 categories: Impact, Strategy, Execution and People. If you cannot validate any sources or achievements, state it. Write in Simplified Technical English.

Copy prompt

Review my emails, Teams chats, meetings and files from the last quarter. List every win I contributed to: Work I delivered, Kudos I received, problems I solved and people I helped. For each win, give a one-line summary and business result with link to the source. Source the wins into 4 categories: Impact, Strategy, Execution and People. If you cannot validate any sources or achievements, state it. Write in Simplified Technical English.

Copy prompt

Review my emails, Teams chats, meetings and files from the last quarter. List every win I contributed to: Work I delivered, Kudos I received, problems I solved and people I helped. For each win, give a one-line summary and business result with link to the source. Source the wins into 4 categories: Impact, Strategy, Execution and People. If you cannot validate any sources or achievements, state it. Write in Simplified Technical English.

Step 2: Sort your wins into four review categories

The prompt then structures your wins as a performance review system.

I studied Reddit threads, articles, and have interviewed my actual friends at FAANG companies to compile the following four categories:

  • Project Impact: Delivered work and direct business results.

  • Direction: Driving strategy and scope, and influencing roadmaps. This axis is critical for senior levels.

  • Execution Excellence: Technical rigor.

  • People Impact: Mentoring, interviewing, team support, and cultural contribution.

Step 3: Bring the case to your review

Since each item has a source and date, you can walk through your review with actual, concrete evidence of your contribution.

This is especially relevant for those in less technical roles, whose contributions aren't laddered up to SMART KPIs (i.e. sales goals, code commits, etc.)

Questions

Can I use my company's Copilot for this?

Your company pays for it, so you have access. But your company can have rules on what you do with the data. Read your company's AI and data policy before you run the prompt. I cannot say what your policy allows. [VERIFY: confirm you want this answer.]

How do I know Copilot's results are correct?

You do not know until you check. Each win comes with a source and a date. Open the source. Confirm the date and the result. Remove any win you cannot confirm. Only bring verified items to your manager.