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The Dangers of Promoting from Within – Avoid “Right Place at the Right Time” Promotions

By Michelle Malay Carter on May 21, 2008 

It’s a noble thing when organizations strive to promote from within, but this can really become a mess during times of explosive growth.

HR’s Image Problem May Be Rooted in Promoting From Within
In my last post, I eluded to the fact that this happens in HR quite frequently, and this may be why HR has an image problem.

HR Evolved from Personnel
Over at Maximize Possibility, Chris Young features?quote from a report released by the Human Capital Institute and Vurv that says:? “The HR profession, which evolved from “personnel” in the 80’s and 90’s, seems unable to make a definitive move up the corporate ladder ? in prestige or influence.”? My questions:?Is this because we’ve tried to “evolve” our personnel clerks into strategic HR staff?

When Organization’s Explode Up From Under Hard-Working, Loyal Employees
When organizations try?to use their HR employee hired to cut paychecks back when the company had 50 employees to now design an integrated Talent Management system when your company is?20 times the size, you’ve got trouble.? I’ve seen organizations do this.? “Right place at the right time” promotions wreak havoc.

I’ve seen organizations explode up from under people who end up in a job way out of their capability level through no fault of their own but from an organization’s noble intention to want to promote from within.

Purchasing Example
Another example is when the person who volunteered to buy the office supplies 5 years ago because they had a friend at the local office supply store ends up as vice president of purchasing – accountable for purchasing systems design and continuous improvement.? Danger!? Danger!? Will Robinson.

Staffing Under the Tenured Employee Rather Than Staffing Over
As the company grew, they hired staff to fill roles under this original person, when in reality, it would have been in the best interest of everyone to hire over this person.? Someone level 4+ capable, i.e. strategic capability, to design, implement and improve the purchasing system.

Legitimate Internal Promotions Exist
I’m not saying people don’t grow in capability and that there aren’t legitimate internal promotions, but you simply cannot rocket people up multiple levels – even with?heroic training efforts.

When Current Executive Leadership Doesn’t Understand Strategic HR
Because strategic HR is a relatively new concept, it is executive level ignorance surrounding what contribution a?strategic HR?role could make that leads executive management not to properly scope and staff a strategic HR role when their organization has grown to require one.

They either don’t create the role in the first place, or the give it to someone who is not capable of designing and owning an integrated?system.

Honoring Tenure
Honoring tenure is a great thing, but granting “right place at the right time” promotions is dangerous business.? ?Chances are the employee who was satisfied and excellent at cutting paychecks is not the person to fill a strategic HR, systems design role.? Both roles are important to the organization, we wouldn’t want to stop issuing paychecks, but the roles are vastly different, and call for vastly different capability.

I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.

Have you ever seen an organization explode out from under someone?? Have you ever worked under one?

Filed Under Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Work Levels

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