Change management – Promotion

Change management – Promotion

A promotion can refer to the advancement of an employee's position, creating awareness around certain product deals, or creating buzz around little-known stocks. Promotions are applied frequently in the marketing sector. Here, I wish to discuss promotion as an elevation in the employee’s career.

It is a basic ambition for everyone to advance in their career and reach the top position in management. I did wish when I joined the State Bank of India way back in 1979, to reach a good position in management. I was given an opportunity for growth in terms of knowledge, skills, and growth.

Promotion is not guaranteed based on the skills and performance at the present cadre but on the ability to adapt to the new position and perform, like share price in the stock market which is not based on the present performance of the company but on their future growth.

Let us see a story.

Sathya is working in an electronic store in the sales team. He exhibits very good skills as a salesperson and customers look for him for service. His contribution to the sales and profit of the store is commendable. The management, impressed by his performance, decided to promote him to the Manager position where he needs to manage 6 salespersons.

Everyone, in the organization, appreciated his elevation and felt that he deserved it.

As time passes, he is also very enthusiastic and attends to all the important customers and his existing customers in person and takes care of their needs.  In his heart of heart, he had a feeling, that if he allowed his subordinates to attend to them, might cause some dissatisfaction and there were chances of losing the customer base he built over the years, which is true to some extent.

The result after his promotion, in terms of sales and profit of the organization, has not grown much but nominal.  

Having read this story, what do we infer?

Is there any issue with his hard work or his performance

Is customer satisfaction or service affected?

The answer is no.  Instead, he is doing more work and busy all the time.

What is the real problem?

Although Sathya was promoted, he has not adapted to the change from salesperson to Manager.  A manager expects to develop his subordinates, empower them, improve their skill in sales, and contribute more to the business and profit of the organization, which he failed miserably.

The conclusion from the story is the management failed to understand his ability as a manager and has not taken any steps to train or impart the skills of the manager. Since he is unable to change and step into the shoes of the manager, his growth is halted as Manager. Peter's Principle operates well which reads as “people are promoted to their level of incompetence”

What we need to do adapt to the change.

1. Prepare the Organization for Change

Before delving into the role, we need to prepare ourselves for the change. Understand the expectations improve the skills required and be open to change. The First and foremost is to move from the existing role.

On the management side, they should focus on helping employees recognize and understand the need for change. They raise awareness of the various challenges or problems.

2. Craft a Vision and Plan for Change

Strategic goals: 

Key performance indicators: 

Stakeholders and team: Who will oversee the task of implementing change?

The expectation is explained in detail and monitored on regular basis

3. Implement the Changes

After the plan has been created, all that remains is to follow the steps outlined within it to implement the required change.

During the implementation process, it is focused on empowering the employee to take the necessary steps to achieve the goals of the initiative and celebrate any short-term wins. The employee should also do his best to anticipate roadblocks and prevent, remove, or mitigate them once identified.

4. Embed Changes

Once the change initiative has been completed, the employee needs to implement these changes in his new role and monitor the results.

5. Review Progress Feedback

The Management role does not stop with the promotion, but it starts. The progress of the manager is to be reviewed at every stage and give feedback. On the part of the manager, takes the feedback and works on it to improve his performance.

Let me conclude by reiterating, that the promotion is not based on the present performance but on his/ her ability to change, and assurance of his performance in the new role. Let us break the Peter's Principle.