Here’s something that might surprise you: A recent survey of more than 400,000 employees found that the most effective way to increase productivity is to make sure promotions are handled fairly.
Here’s something that won’t surprise you: Employees don’t like being passed up for a promotion they believe they deserve. It doesn’t just create resentment, it can create outright anger. That’s why the same survey discovered that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they’re not only twice as likely to work harder, but also to plan on a long-term future with their company.
Promoting the right person is especially crucial when it comes to management positions, but it can be difficult to discern who that is if your candidates haven’t managed a team before. Here are some tips to ensure you’re assessing leadership skills thoroughly and preparing your new managers for success.
Identify Talent and Develop It
In Dale Carnegie’s best-selling book, How To Win Friends and Influence People, Mr. Carnegie talks about managers at engineering firms. He points out that in these firms, it’s not always the most talented engineer who is put into leadership roles, but rather the engineer with the best people skills.
When you make a hire for an entry-level position, chances are you’re not interviewing C-level candidates. That said, you are (hopefully) interviewing motivated, big-thinking employees who one day may be asked to tackle big challenges at your organization. You owe it not only to your entry-level employees, but also to your organization to identify talent and develop leadership.
Like Dale Carnegie points out, developing technical skills as well as soft skills is a great way to give employees the tools they need to advance their careers. Providing self-directed microlearning opportunities is a practical way to create a leadership development course where talented and driven employees are given the necessary tools to succeed. In this way, employees are ready to take on promotions, and trust that you're promoting the best employees.
Promote Doers
When employees can participate in elective learning, employee engagement soars. Elective learners are self-starters who seek information about doing better in their jobs. These types of employees drive results and productivity, and the responsible thing for organizations to do is to help these employees by giving them opportunities to lead. Promoting doers shows employees that you value productivity.
Promoting only long-tenured employees shows people that they’ll have to wait 10 years to get anywhere in your organization, while promoting friends or family who are low-performers shows employees that productivity doesn’t matter. Promoting employees who live your values shows employees that you're serious about those values and that they really do matter.
Develop New Managers
Developing your employees' soft skills is a great way to allow the best thinkers to rise to the top.
That said, managing people is a skill on its own. Like other skills, management can be learned, but it takes a focused strategy to get your new management hires to full productivity. Teaching management skills with a focused development path empowers managers to earn respect and lead well. That way, when team members see how quickly their new manager can perform their duties, it reinforces their belief that you're handling promotions responsibly.
When the data shows that employees want to be challenged, they want to learn, and they want to advance, training offers the tools they need to stay engaged and maintain their belief that they have a future in your organization.