Some Comments on Promotions
Introduction
How often do you look at somebody in the organisation and wonder how they got there, ie they don't seem to have the expertise, experience, knowledge, etc to handle the position.
"...everyone rises to their own level of incompetence..."
Laurence Peter et al as quoted by Michelle Gibbings, 2023
People can be promoted into roles for which they are unsuited.
"...various studies report that 35% to 40% of senior hires fail within the first 18 months..."
Michelle Gibbings, 2023)
Unfortunately when hiring, you look at a person's performance in their current role rather than the skills they need in the future role. Other factors can play a role like personal circumstances, level of support, internal politics, etc.
Some reasons for this:
i) staff seen as a threat (in competitive organisations people can be reluctant to promote staff who might be seen as a threat to them and their career; thus, select staff who are unsuitable for the position)
ii) to climb the hierarchy there can be limited pathways (for sales staff to climb the hierarchy, they have to get into management. Unfortunately, the better the sales representative is in their job, the more likely they will be promoted into management.
This has negative impacts with the new manager (ex-salesperson) becoming frustrated with all the administrative work around being a manager plus sales suffering as he/she is no longer selling which is their passion. One way around this is to have 2 promotional channels, ie one for sales and the other for management.
Some research shows
"...managers who have higher sales performance records before their promotion saw a 7.5 % decline in sales performance in their new subordinates. In contrast, the managers whose prior sales performance was relatively poor, saw a significant improvement in their subordinates' performance..."
Michelle Gibbings, 2023)
iii) just because a person is good at one thing does not mean they are good at something else (if one is good at output and delivering results, it doesn't mean they will be automatically a good leader; a good technical person may have limited people handling skills, etc).
iv) developing the right relationship with your new boss (some ways to do this include
"...- take 100% responsibility for making the relationship work
- clarifying mutual expectations early and often
- negotiate timelines for the work you are doing
- aim for early wins in areas critical to your boss
- pursue good feedback from those whose opinions your boss respects..."
Michael Watkins as quoted by Michelle Gibbings, 2023)
v) no one else is available (need to fill the position with someone)
vi) being overly influenced by other people's opinions (like recommended by someone more senior, etc)
Questions to ask if seeking promotion
1. Why are you seeking a promotion?
(Is it status, position, power, learning, challenge, financial reward or something else?)
NB be clear on your why in the alignment between this role and your purpose
2. Do you have the capacity and capability to handle the role's expectations?
("...while you only need some of the skills from the outset, you want the ability, capability and willingness to learn..."
Michelle Gibbings, 2023)
3. What support (including resources like time, capital, staff, training, etc) do you need to be successful in the new role?
NB If hiring/promoting, you need to check that you are hiring/promoting the best-suited person, ie
"...be clear on what you are looking for in the role and the level of support you are ready to provide..."
Michelle Gibbings, 2023
Some factors that need to be considered if someone in a new position is struggling
- ingrained behavioural patterns that are unsuitable
- external pressures are overwhelming like issues in personal life that are causing stress and distraction; too much uncertainty, etc
- unusually high volume of work to tight deadlines
- inadequately resourced which is creating pressure
- appear overworked, exhausted and stressed out, etc