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I was just listening in on a conference call of sales best practises, and I listened to all the speakers and was very impressed. Yet I thought to myself, "where are all these people speaking ranked in relation to their peers?" When I looked at the numbers I was stupefied! Most of them were not only below quota but not even close to achieving their goal. I had to question the management's decision to have them speak on the conference call since they really had no credibility with their numbers.
It reminded me of the days when I was a rep or manager and I would be listening to someone speak, but then I would find out later they had no numbers to support their sales or management strategies. In my opinion, they lost all credibility. You have to "walk the walk, not just talk the talk." Which made me think of all the times I saw someone get promoted who had no business being a manager. In the military there is a saying "f#$k up, move up." Well this can also pertain to business as well.
However, the worse thing you can do is promote an under achiever and here's why:
1. Employee Morale - If you're an idealistic newbie who just started with the company, and you see people being promoted who are terrible at their jobs, it is completely demoralizing. Here you are, a new employee to the company and busting your ass, but someone else who isn't doing as well gets promoted. The first thing you say to yourself is "what the heck is going on around here?" The second thing you think is "I need to dig in or I need to get out of this place." Promoting an underachiever demoralizes hard working and competent employees.
2. Turnover - As a general manager, senior manager, you might be wondering how promoting someone who is an under achiever will increase turnover. It's actually a pretty simple formula.
M + M = T
Management + Mediocrity = Turnover
I can remember years ago, when the company I was working with at the time, promoted a mediocre manager to a general manager, and he went through 12 mid level managers in one year! Not two managers...TWELVE! It continued until eventually he was fired. Pretty pathetic that he was promoted and again not based upon his past performance but on his relationship with the VP. A lot of good partners were lost in the process of a year, and the business took another 2 years to recover.
3. Branding - Initially, you may wonder how does branding figure into promoting the wrong person? However, the best way to build a brand is to hire the right people and promote them. Why do people want to work at Apple, Google, and Facebook? Not just because they're dominating the tech industry but because they are good places to work, with career paths clearly outlined. They have established cultures which help make and keep them successful. The quickest way for a company of that size to fail, is by promoting unqualified or poor performers. They would instantly lose credibility and their brand would suffer. Uber is a pretty good example of how promoting people who aren't ready or underachievers can hurt your brand. How much has that company benefited from promoting people who weren't ready to be managers? I'd say not at all, since they just lost about $20 billion in market cap.
4. Messaging - What type of message are you sending if you promote a person who is not on the top of every one's list of over achievers? You're basically saying it's okay to not perform because you can still become the "cream of the crap". People who are successful want to see their career path as something obvious. Yes it's ideal to think that way but when you're young and just starting out, it's easy to see things in black and white. And guess what? That's how things should be. Not caught up in this murky world of gray where an obvious "kiss ass", but non performer, gets promoted. We should all step up like Spike Lee and "Do The Right Thing". Which if you haven't guessed means promoted the performers.
5. Future Growth and Profits - Years ago when I worked at company C, they promoted a young man who hadn't yet proven himself as a performer to the position of branch manager. He'd had a decent tenure as a Service Manager, a passable tenure as an Office Manager, and a decent time as a Sales Rep. He was a good guy, and well liked by all, especially his general manager, but he wasn't ready to assume this leadership role. Everyone in the region knew it, except for his boss and the Vice President. So naturally, they ignored every one's advice and promoted him. The branch he was promoted to oversee had made growth and profit numbers for 2 straight years. (Rule 35) After he took over, they didn't make a profit for the next two years and he was demoted. Not only was it bad for him especially to be put in that position, but the company also suffered because they lost profit for the following two years. Sometimes it's best to wait and promote the "right" person rather than promote someone who isn't performing or really isn't ready to assume a weighty leadership role. The sad thing was that it ruined his career and others as well.
I have not always made the right decisions as a manager, or as a person. I'm not perfect, but I can tell you that I never promoted someone who didn't have the numbers or the performance to support my decision. First of all, I would have felt like an idiot and secondly it just wasn't fair to anyone else on my team. To take an under achiever and move them up the career ladder would have been sacrilege. That's not to say all of my decisions were correct, but at least I felt comfortable with them. I hope you can all feel the same way, and this post helps point you in a better direction...if not just ignore it as the insane ramblings of an idiot. Either way, I'm glad you read it!
SFTD
4. Messaging - What type of message are you sending if you promote a person who is not on the top of every one's list of over achievers? You're basically saying it's okay to not perform because you can still become the "cream of the crap". People who are successful want to see their career path as something obvious. Yes it's ideal to think that way but when you're young and just starting out, it's easy to see things in black and white. And guess what? That's how things should be. Not caught up in this murky world of gray where an obvious "kiss ass", but non performer, gets promoted. We should all step up like Spike Lee and "Do The Right Thing". Which if you haven't guessed means promoted the performers.
5. Future Growth and Profits - Years ago when I worked at company C, they promoted a young man who hadn't yet proven himself as a performer to the position of branch manager. He'd had a decent tenure as a Service Manager, a passable tenure as an Office Manager, and a decent time as a Sales Rep. He was a good guy, and well liked by all, especially his general manager, but he wasn't ready to assume this leadership role. Everyone in the region knew it, except for his boss and the Vice President. So naturally, they ignored every one's advice and promoted him. The branch he was promoted to oversee had made growth and profit numbers for 2 straight years. (Rule 35) After he took over, they didn't make a profit for the next two years and he was demoted. Not only was it bad for him especially to be put in that position, but the company also suffered because they lost profit for the following two years. Sometimes it's best to wait and promote the "right" person rather than promote someone who isn't performing or really isn't ready to assume a weighty leadership role. The sad thing was that it ruined his career and others as well.
I have not always made the right decisions as a manager, or as a person. I'm not perfect, but I can tell you that I never promoted someone who didn't have the numbers or the performance to support my decision. First of all, I would have felt like an idiot and secondly it just wasn't fair to anyone else on my team. To take an under achiever and move them up the career ladder would have been sacrilege. That's not to say all of my decisions were correct, but at least I felt comfortable with them. I hope you can all feel the same way, and this post helps point you in a better direction...if not just ignore it as the insane ramblings of an idiot. Either way, I'm glad you read it!
SFTD
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