How To Tell An Employee They Are Not Ready for a Promotion
I know plenty of people who think they’re ready to be promoted. The only problem? Their bosses disagree. I know this, not because their bosses told them so, but because their bosses haven’t promoted them yet.
Actions speak louder than words, right?
Some leaders avoid the topic altogether, while others make promises that remain unfulfilled month after month as their employees stay in their stagnant seats with an ever-growing chip on their shoulders.
The employee can’t figure out why he isn’t being promoted, while his manager can’t figure out why in the world the employee thinks he’s ready for what’s next in the first place. Perhaps you can relate.
You might not like what I’m about to say, but I’m going to challenge you to self-reflect.
In most cases, this kind of disconnect between an employee and their leader is a leadership shortcoming.
And, I get it — most of us tend to shy away from conversations where we might make someone feel bad or inadequate. Instead, we’d rather avoid the conversation entirely or give the person feedback that’s just vague enough to be able to say we did it without hurting anyone’s feelings.
The problem with feedback that’s vague is that it’s also confusing and worthless to the person receiving it. Further, your employees have exactly a 0% chance of improving if you never tell them why what they’re doing isn’t working for them.
If they don’t understand what’s holding them back from that next promotion, that’s a communication failure on your part.
Not being promoted when you think you’re deserving is frustrating. But what makes the experience even more frustrating is working for a boss who can’t or won’t articulate why you’re not ready or what you need to start (or stop) doing.
With performance appraisals right around the corner, let’s do our teams a collective favor and get specific about why they’re not ready for a promotion, and what they can do to get there.
Pinpoint the gaps
First off, the reason this situation is a failure on your part is that you have something that your employees don’t as a leader. You have perspective.
While your employees aren’t aware of what they don’t know at this stage in their careers, you do. You know what it takes to be successful at the next level and what they’re missing.
Once you’ve established what abilities they need to demonstrate they’ll excel at the next level, it’s time to help them get there.
Think of yourself as their coach. Your job is to meet them where they are, sit alongside them to see things from their perspective, and then help them figure out how to adjust what they’re doing to achieve better outcomes.
Experiential learning (learning by doing) has been proven to be far more effective compared to traditional training methods (learning by reading, listening, or watching).
Building a development plan rooted in experiential learning starts by comparing the team member’s current job against his future job, highlighting the existing gaps, and identifying the experiences at work that would be most beneficial in closing those gaps.
Or, perhaps this isn’t about closing a gap but instead about giving him the chance to demonstrate his existing competency. Because sometimes we assume someone can’t do something only because we haven’t seen them do it. And why haven’t we seen them do it? Because we’ve never let them try.
Develop a roadmap
The next step is to select which experiences will be most beneficial through the lens of urgency and importance. You would use the Eisenhower matrixfor prioritization. The experiences that are both important and urgent for someone in the next job to do well are where you’ll want to focus your employee’s time.
A few examples that might kickstart your experiential learning brainstorm:
A Recruiter who wants to be a Recruitment Manager needs to demonstrate his ability to pushback on Hiring Managers. You might have him shadow you the next time you have a crucial conversation and then let him own the next one.
A Financial Analyst who wants to be a Finance Manager needs to demonstrate proficiency in building a budget. You might have her shadow you in your next budget-planning meeting and then own a small portion of the budget in the next cycle.
A Programmer who wants to become a Lead needs to demonstrate interpersonal skills and the ability to guide a team without direct management responsibility. So, you might have her manage the department’s intern over the summer.
The fact of the matter is that you won’t know what your team members can do until you give them the chance to try.
Course-correct along the way
Remember the definition of ‘experiential learning?’ It’s learning by doing, which makes it a fundamentally dynamic process. Some things will go swimmingly, and others will not. That’s all to be expected.
Give your team real-time coaching along the way to help them learn as they go. None of us started as experts, and your team is no different.
Spend more time asking questions and less time telling.
How do you think that meeting went?
What went especially well?
What didn’t go so well that you want to talk through and work on for next time?
What could you have done differently?
Hold yourself accountable
There is nothing more de-motivating than being told by your boss what you need to do to be promoted, doing those things, and then still not being promoted. Don’t be this boss.
We get it — there are politics and red tape to work through, but put in the time and do the work if your team member has done the same. Go to bat for them. Advocate for your team members to get them the recognition that they deserve even when it’s inconvenient for you. That’s your job as a leader.
If you don’t put in the time and do the work, don’t be surprised when they eventually accept an offer to go work for the competition. Because if you don’t show them this basic level of respect, then they will. It’s only a matter of time.
