The Tribune

By Ian Ferguson

Everyone in life looks for promotion, advancement and acceleration in whatever activities they are engaged. Promotion exercises in the corporate world can sometimes become the cause of great contention and unrest, where persons lose interest in performing at their maximum and retreat to the mediocre and sub-standard.

Our society has seemingly become one where our thoughts on who should be promoted, why they should be promoted and how they should be promoted are foreign to what is acceptable. We have all seen ‘who you know’ promotions, ‘social’ promotions and ‘next in line’ promotions. We cry foul on companies that still dabble in and bow to this method of promoting employees. We could spend many days discussing, and providing evidence on, how destructive each of these methods has been in both the public and private sector.

Our discussion today attempts to make sense of all this, and to offer to the corporate world a better way to bestow lofty titles on those they employ.

Who should you

promote and why?

The simple response to this question is: The Deserving Employee. Forget age, tenure, gender, nationality, political persuasion and most other things we look at when making these decisions. The individual who has applied themselves to the work assigned, and can measurably perform at the level to which they are being promoted, should be the individual considered.

The key term here, though, is ‘measure’. Far too often, we promote on emotions, our ‘gut’ or with the use of unscientific and unreliable performance appraisals that do not accurately assess the performance of the officer in question. No promotion should take place until a true and thorough assessment of the employee’s ability to perform at the next level has been undertaken. Most companies simply cannot afford to ‘try out’ an unsuitable candidate in any leadership role. The right fit is not something you stumble on; it must be a deliberate attempt to psychometrically and experientially determine.

How should

you carry out the

promotion exercise?

Promotions must be both formal and random. Formal in the sense that the person must be aware that they are being given these additional responsibilities, titles, staff, salary, etc. There must be no ambiguity around how empowered they are in any regard.

A new job descriptions and all supporting documentation, which allows them to succeed in their new role, should be turned over immediately. No employee is perfect, and will perhaps require some additional training for their new role. Full disclosure and orientation for the new role is vital to boosting this person’s mind shift and confidence level. This includes communicating to the entire workforce the decision made by the executives to promote the individual concerned.

Additionally, promotions should not necessarily be confined to specific periods. A company should be able to identify talent in its organisation, or a need to fill a vacancy at any time, and swiftly move into action to fill it.

Organisations must look within and begin the process of preparing individuals for future and expanded roles. This business of succession planning and employee career paths not only proves beneficial to improving staff morale, but also aids the bottom-line results by ensuring a smoother ride during times of transition.

• NB: Ian R. Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.