Making the Tough Decision to Not Promote is Really Hard

I operate a small plastics business outside of Burbank and love every minute of it and have for the twenty years I’ve been doing it. What started out as just my wife and I molding household furnishings out of our basement has turned into an internationally shipped product line of patented sealants for self-storage facilities such as StorageMart, with just under three dozen employees operating everything from factory mechanics to sales.

The first extra hand we hired was Bob. Now Bob is a hard worker and true blue in his values and responsibilities. He started out as our assembly line operator when he was only 30 and hasn’t left the company since. In the fifteen years working for us, he’s risen to factory manager, a position he’s been in for the last five years or so.

The problem is Bob really wants to become a regional manager and while he’s been around the company long enough to be an expert on just about everything, my wife and I just don’t think he’s cut out for the job. He works wonders on the factory floor, and uses that in his arguments for why he deserves the promotion. While the pangs of lost productivity are certainly a factor in our resistance, Bob believes that’s the only reason we refuse to make the promotion. But it’s more than that. We just don’t think we’d get the most out of Bob as a regional manager as we do out of him running the floor.

What’s a self-made couple supposed to do? Bob is our friend as much as he’s our employee.

The Team Doc Says…

If you and your wife believe Bob to be unqualified for the promotion then there’s not much else to discuss. You are making a tough decision which is complicated by your friendship with Bob, but I believe you will do the right thing.

Your situation begs mention of the Peter Principle, which states that employees are often promoted to the point of ineptitude. Bob uses his success as the factory floor manager to argue why he deserves to be promoted, but being excellent at one skill set does not mean the employee is a good fit for the next position. In fact, that’s what causes the Peter Principle to take effect — supervisors promote workers until the worker is at a level that is no longer easy for him or her. The result is often a loss in productivity.

My advice is to approach Bob with a thorough explanation for your decision. Find the real reason that underlies Bob’s desire to become regional manager. There may be a way to accommodate your needs from a business perspective and Bob’s desire to move up. Make sure you communicate to Bob how highly valued he is in his current position and why promoting him is a perceived risk to the company. Friendship between employee and employer is a two-way street. If he’s a good friend and a good worker, he’ll more than understand.

A Promotion From Team Member to Team Leader Requires Different Behavior

When you took on your team leader role, what you can say to whom and when changed too. If you were recently promoted from a team member role to your team leader role, that means you brought along all of the baggage that existed in your old role. Some of that can be hard to overcome.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets along with everybody. It’s highly likely that when you were a team member, you worked with someone who you didn’t have the highest respect for — either because of their work ethic, personality, communication style or any other various reasons — so you avoided them like the plague. And now that person works for you.

In addition, perhaps you had a confidant in your old role who shared your feelings about this person. Someone who you could vent to about his latest mistake or mishandling of a project, someone you could blow off steam to so you didn’t come unglued in public. (Tacky, yes, but most people do talk about other people, especially the ones that irritate them.) And now this person works for you too.

So, what do you do now that the tables have turned and you’re the boss? You certainly can’t behave the way you did when you were a team member. Here are two things you must do right now to get your team on track.

1. Have a meeting with every single team member on your team.

Your team members may be worried about “old baggage” and have some concerns about how that will influence your team leadership. One of the best ways to eliminate that concern is to conduct one-on-one discussions with each team member. When you have this discussion, really listen to each team member. Talk about their goals, find out what daily activities they really enjoy and talk about the future of the team. It’s also important that you bring the team together to gain clarity on team roles and responsibilities, team mission and team goals.

2. Find a coach you can confide in.

Yes, you are going to need someone to talk things over with, to help you see the forest for the trees. This person should both challenge and support you as you grow in your new team leader role. You could search within your current organization or hire an external coach to help you. Just make sure you find someone that is not a member of your team.

Have you been promoted from a team member to a team leader? What challenges did you face?

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