Promotions, expanded roles and “failing up”
Much has been made about the idea of people “failing up” in journals like the Harvard Business Review recently. Incompetent people being moved up rather than out of a business. This is absolutely true within large organizations. So many layers of organization exist that it is possible for this to happen without doing serious damage to the overall business. Not so in small organizations. Everyone needs to be on board and moving forward.
Many promotion decisions within large organizations are made based on the confidence rather than the competence of the person being promoted. How long have they been around, is it “their turn,” are they likely to leave if not promoted, do they have a good relationship with others in the organization? While these may not be the worst reason to promote someone, they may not be the best either. When choosing a new leader within a small organization there are other things to consider. Will they grow into the role, do they have aptitude for that role, do they have a succession plan to bring someone up into their previous role?
There are two principles that need to be considered in a small, lean organization, or any organization for that matter. The first is Price’s Law: the square root of the number of employees is the number that do 50% of the work. If you have 100 employees, 10 of them are doing half the work. By moving someone who is very productive out of the role they are in and into a leadership role, will they create another person or team of people who are as productive as they used to be? Do they have the passion for leadership and management that they have for their current role? As I have explored in previous newsletters, there are some people who love what they do and will be happy doing it for their entire career. Those are not people who should be moved into management but should be honored and nurtured in their current role so that they can continue to be more productive and effective.
This leads to the second principle critical to making promotion decisions: Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. This is a rule that applies not only to your team but to your customers. 20% of a group creates 80% of the… output, problems, phone calls, wins, losses. This means that it is most important to focus on the 20% of people within your organization who are productive and help them lean into their strengths. Unfortunately it also means that 80% of your team is not pulling their weight. That could be because they are not well matched with their position or maybe they are willing to let others carry the majority of the work.
Back to “failing up,” are there people within your team who are good at what they do but not great? If so, what are they passionate about and where might they be better matched within your organization? Not everyone is detail oriented or capable of the repetitive and mundane tasks that are necessary within most businesses. If someone is capable in a role but has strengths that are not used in that role, is it better to keep them there or find a better position, maybe into management or leadership? This is not failing up but better utilizing the strengths of every person within the organization.
Lots of questions in today’s newsletter but what is really boils down to is this; you have a dedicated employee who is good in their role but who has strategic vision that aligns with the owner/manager/leader and has the respect of the team, do you move them into a management role that better suits their strengths, or do you pull your top producer who is happy in their role?
