Ready for a Promotion? Pass These Two Tests

By Jack and Suzy Welch

When you have a capable person to promote in your company, there's no such a thing as “appropriate tenure.”

Sure, it’s ideal when internal candidates have logged two or three years to prove their mettle in good times and bad. But in today’s high-demand global marketplace, talented people are so hard to retain and Gen-Yers and millennials have so little tolerance for dues-paying assignments, why would any company put a high-performer through unnecessary paces just to satisfy a bureaucratic requirement? That uncompetitive practice is a throwback to the days when an employee’s time served could, and often did, trump his value added.

So, should your bosses come at you to defend the decision to promote an internal star early on rather than hiring from the outside, remind them of the talent wars, then mention something else they may already know. Promotion is more art than science. You can never be sure a candidate—regardless of tenure—will succeed. You can only know if he has passed two simple tests.

The first, obviously, concerns perform­ance. Does the candidate consistently post superior results? We’re not just talking numbers. Superior results also mean a person has expanded his job duties and brought insights to the team, be they about work processes, market challenges, or unseen opportunities. Basically, superior results mean a person has overdelivered—a leading indicator that he’s ready for more.

The second test concerns values. Does the candidate consistently demonstrate the behaviors the company wants to see from its leaders? Is she customer-focused? Does she share ideas? Different types of companies have different values. But when it comes to promotions, the question about values is the same. Does the candidate live and breathe them?

Now, even if a short tenure candidate passes both tests, you might want to examine one last factor. Did the candidate arrive with a “tailwind”—perhaps a backlog of orders or a high-functioning team left by his predecessor? You shouldn’t hold good luck against your candidate, though it merits consideration.

In the big picture, your instinct should always be to promote a strong internal candidate sooner rather than later. It’s good for the individual, who gets to build new skills without the nonsense of marking time. And it’s good for the organization. Promoting young insiders is a fast way to attract good people to your ranks; indeed, it will help make you a talent magnet. Best of all, it keeps your top performers inside. Granted, you may not get every promotion right, but you can be sure that nudging your high-fliers into the open arms of your rivals is an “appropriate tenure” policy you’ll live to regret.

Jack Welch is Executive Chairman of the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University.Through its online MBA program, the Jack Welch Management Institute provides students and organizations with the proven methodologies, immediately actionable practices, and respected credentials needed to win in business.

Suzy Welch is a best-selling author, popular television commentator, and noted business journalist. Her New York Times bestselling book, 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea, presents a powerful decision-making strategy for success at work and in parenting, love and friendship. Together with her husband Jack Welch, Suzy is also co-author of the #1 international bestseller Winning, and its companion volume, Winning: The Answers. Since 2005, they have written business columns for several publications, including Business Week magazine, Thomson Reuters digital platforms, Fortune magazine, and the New York Times syndicate.

Photo: Nattavut / Shutterstock

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