Promoting staff
If you’re a business owner or team leader that has a strong belief on nurturing the career goals of those around you to retain them, then promoting them is likely going to be something you will do. Having a plan in place for promoting staff so you can make sure timing is right skill-wise is going to be key. Managing expectations around promotions is crucial too, as quite often staff can feel like they are ready for that promotion but in reality, they are still lacking some skills to get them over the line.
We have put together some steps for you to consider when looking to promote a staff member.
Firstly what is a promotion?
It is the result of an existing employee moving up the ladder from their current position to take on further responsibility this can also increase salary and other incentives.
- Set a plan for what needs to be achieved to reach a promotion, setting a clear plan and mapping out milestones that need to be achieved to be promoted is key. You should also meet every month to review the progress being made to ensure everyone is on track.
When assessing whether or not an employee is ready to be promoted ask yourself the following;
- Have they demonstrated the skills and capabilities that exceed those of others in the business?
- Does the employee demonstrate leadership skills?
- Have they shown an improvement in confidence when interacting with their peers, management and clients?
- Do they respond well to feedback and instructions?
- What value has there contribution added to the business in the past 12 months?
- Set expectations through KPI’s so that it is clear about what the expectations are on the employee once they assume the responsibilities associated with their promotion. Get their feedback on these KPI’s as they may be overwhelming at first.
- Revise the job description of the promoted employee and go through it with them.
- Set some time aside 1, 3 and 6 months after the promotion to review how your employee is going with their new role and responsibilities. Give credit where it’s due and act as a sounding board for any hurdles they have come across.
Promotions will always give a boost to your employee and can result in increased productivity and loyalty. It can show the rest of the team that you value hard work and that the scope for career growth exists which will encourage them to work towards being promoted too.
