Almost every leader of an organization knows that an internal promotion is less expensive than hiring specialists from external sources. Moreover, internal employees who get to be promoted prove to be, most of the times, better performers, motivated and dedicated persons regarding daily work. Besides this, internal promotions motivate not only those who are elected to occupy a position with more responsibilities within the company but the rest of the staff will also strive to qualify, in their turn, for a promotion.
However, we can not say that the promotion of any internal employee is always a better solution than hiring an external candidate. Employees who are eligible for promotion must have the attitude, knowledge and skills suitable for the new position. Usually, the direct superior of the promoted person offers the first recommendation, even though, in most organizations, there should be a list of high potentials, including an informal one. When it doesn’t exist, leaders must choose and identify employees who deserve to be promoted, guided by a number of features which we will mention in the following lines.
Those Who Assume Responsibilities and Those Who Come With Solutions
In every company, some employees are willing to deal with new projects or they seek to be entrusted with new responsibilities. Unlike colleagues who perform what they are asked to and nothing more, in order to have all the tasks completed at the end of the day, they will have above expectations results when they are evaluated. Of course, this does not mean that people likely to be promoted are those who skip lunch or stay overtime to work more. Employees who deserve to be promoted based on their ability to assume responsibilities are those who perceive work and its results as a common good of the entire team, those who understand the difference between "mine" and "ours".
People with leadership skills can also be identified due to the fact that they have a solution-oriented attitude. At the opposite pole, we have the employees who are always unsatisfied, who always complain about problems, instead of trying to solve them. Obviously, it is normal, and employees should be encouraged to communicate their problems, but the one who will not only expose the problem but will also begin a discussion about how to solve them it is the one that has the potential to occupy leader position. Therefore, employees who don’t have only questions, but also answers, and those who are willing to find solutions should be considered for a promotion.
Those Who Have the Respect of Their Colleagues and Always Help Others
Some people are more charismatic and become popular in their groups, so they can also easily sympathize at work. However, these are not people we would recommend for a promotion because popularity is based on other things than the qualities that make an employee earn the respect of his colleagues. It’s about those employees with team spirit, who can smoothly collaborate with their co-workers, earning their respect. These are the persons that the rest of the employees will be willing to listen to with confidence and also, they are those who, when being promoted and they get to have their team, they will motivate others.
Every leader has reached this position because, throughout his career, he had around him managers and supervisors who supported him and helped him to develop. This happens because successful leaders are people who help others to learn and grow. So when you want to identify the right people to get a promotion, you should choose from those employees who are willing to help their colleagues. In the event of promotion, this desire to help others will turn into time used for the team members’ development, time used to identify their weaknesses and to provide training sessions to improve performance.
In conclusion, before taking the decision to start an external recruitment process, it would be better to take a look within the organization, to see if there are high potential employees, who deserve to be promoted.
BIA HR TEAM