The Problem With Promoting High Performers
The Problem With Promoting High Performers
It’s exciting to help your direct reports reach the next level of their career, but don’t fail to plan for the side effects of promotions.
It’s exciting to help your direct reports reach the next level of their career, but don’t fail to plan for the side effects of promotions
The internal struggle is real. Someone on your team is exceeding expectations consistently and is ready for that next role in their career ladder, but promoting them could have a major impact on your team.
Change of responsibilities, and less time spent on what they were good at previously can be scary, but you must find a way to make it work. If your team discovers you’re scared to promote individuals because of the hypotheticals or your poor planning abilities, they’ll begin to leave and you’ll deal with these issues anyway.
Below I’ve outlined some problems that are generated when promoting high performers, along with actionable ways to prevent those problems from surfacing.
Problem: They leave a void
If you are unprepared, promoting a high performer can leave a serious void on your team. Especially in cases where an individual gets an internal promotion and ends up reducing their time spent on delivery, you may inadvertently cause a severe dip in productivity.
Depending on the level you are promoting someone into, you could see a spider web of side effects due to their absence. Not only is output down, but the ability of other team members to produce is also down.
What to do?
Ensure there is a transition period out of the previous role. You and your team can set the timeline for transition, but this will help collect all the different pieces of the role and give you a better understanding of how to prevent a void. Plan this out and don’t let it linger for too long. Having a finite stopping point for old responsibilities is good for the entire team and the individual being promoted.
Determine who is next to fill the role. The next in line doesn’t need to be determined immediately, but you should have an idea of one or two individuals you expect to rise to the occasion and begin to fill in. By understanding who will fill the role you are presenting opportunities for others to grow.
Realize the new role can create new multiplier abilities. If you are promoting an individual to a level where they get to spend more time mentoring, their multiplier effects increase. Be sure to give them the space to explore this and be intentional in creating opportunities to mentor if it doesn’t happen organically.
Problem: They may fail in their new role
I’ve discussed the concept previously that growth is not linear. A promotion is a form of growth and you should not expect someone in a new role to seamlessly slide in without hitting a few bumps in the road.
There will be struggles and setbacks as they learn how to meet expectations in a new role, and they may not nail all aspects of the role right away. You may begin to question if you’ve made a huge mistake or promoted too soon. Remember too that new roles and responsibilities are likely to trigger Imposter Syndrome in individuals, so you will be fighting against that as well.
What to do?
Double down on role clarity and expectations. If you don’t already, make sure there are descriptions for each role within your company that someone can be promoted into. In many companies this is taken care of by career leveling documentation, showing the differences between each role as an individual progresses. The clarity within the role description should outline clear success criteria for the new role.
Consider a 30–60–90. When starting at a new company, many onboarding programs will give you a 30/60/90-day plan, so why should that be different for new roles? Outline what you expect from the individual in their first 90 days of the new role and how their new responsibilities will differ from their old role.
Don’t make aspirational promotions. “But they’re doing so well in their current role!” Definitely plausible, but have they shown that they can perform the duties of the next level consistently over a three to nine month period? Promoting someone before they’re ready or because you believe they can succeed in a new role even though they haven’t shown dependable aptitude yet can be dangerous.
Problem: They may hate their new role
Did you ask the person you’re promoting if they were interested in being promoted? I realize the question seems asinine, but there are some cases where individuals do not want the next position.
I’ve seen this a lot in organizations where you can either go on the Staff Engineer track or the Engineering Manager track.
On the Staff side, your role becomes less hands-on development and delivery, and more higher-level thinking about architecture and the future of your codebase. There’s more mentorship, more theoretical problem solving, and more engineering strategy. Not everyone wants that.
On the Engineering Manager side, it’s an entirely different job. Generally no more hands-on keyboard time or feature development. The new focus is on individual and team outcomes. I cannot stress this enough, do not force people into this role.
What to do?
Talk to your direct reports about their career goals. Never assume that someone wants that next role on the career ladder. It’s possible that they have enough things going on in their life that they are content with keeping things stable. Kim Scott calls these individuals “rock stars”; individuals who are solid in the role they are in and are satisfied with no additional upward movement.
Increase check-in frequency. Continue to check in about how the new role is going and consider bumping your conversations to a weekly cadence. It’s easier to make corrections or adjustments early into the new role and most folks will want to make sure they’re meeting expectations. Dial this back as you both feel comfortable.
Final Thoughts
Promoting individuals should be a great feeling on all sides that helps propel a business forward. It takes time, effort, and is one of the most rewarding parts of management.
Without the right planning, promotions can turn disastrous, so spend some time thinking through what the promotion means to the team and the company as a whole.
Be careful not to fall into old habits with the newly promoted individual and pull them into old role responsibilities. Give them a chance to grow and trust that you have set up the right structures for success.
What other considerations should be made when promoting individuals?