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Can you really help your employees get promoted?

Written by: Evan Money

Article Overview: Why is it most employees don’t want to get promoted? I could never figure that out. Sure they want and even need more money but they always have an excuse on why they are not able to grow. You may even over extend at times and give them free seminar tickets or golden opportunities, only to hear them come up with great excuses why they can’t make it. I recently asked leadership legend John Maxwell what things he was thinking on currently and he said something amazing.

Can you really help your employees get promoted?

Why is it most employees don’t want to get promoted? I could never figure that out. Sure they want and even need more money but they always have an excuse on why they are not able to grow. You may even over extend at times and give them free seminar tickets or golden opportunities, only to hear them come up with great excuses why they can’t make it. I recently asked leadership legend John Maxwell what things he was thinking on currently and he said something amazing. He said, “ The bottom line is , you can’t take people where they don’t want to go.” Now if you know John, he is a simple down to earth guy and you may find this quote a little rudimentary. However, how many of us are guilty of it?

I’ll admit it, when I was running divisions of corporations in my early 30’s I thought I could turn anyone around. Who cares is they were fired from their last 30 jobs, they didn’t have me to train them. Another trap I see business owners fall into is thinking a training system will simply turn everyone into a super star. How is it that two people with the same low salary and same challenges in life go to a seminar and one says: ” This is amazing, I’m going to turn my life around , and he does.” While the other says: “ This a bunch of hype, what a waste of time” and off he goes to be a permanent resident in the land of mediocrity.” So rather than fighting human nature let’s embrace it and put people where they can thrive. If you have an honest employee with a Post Office mentality, don’t send her to a motivational seminar. Send her to a Post Office seminar, I’m kidding but you get my point, send the people to the seminar that want to go.

Another example of mistakes in getting promoted is turning top sales guys into managers. Just because they are good at selling doesn’t mean they will be a good manager and many are not. Peter Drucker has proved it over and over through his behind the scenes success at G.E. It’s all about matching the persons strengths to the Job. Just because a guy has an accounting degree doesn’t mean he should be an accountant. He may have an amazing personality and love to perform, get this guy doing sales presentations ASAP! Plus he can shine even more when an accounting question comes up. In fact you may want to consider creating positions around your employees strengths. The old business models are crumbling around us, it’s a new world in business and the time to adapt is now.

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Related Forum Posts
Women care about employees - I think women entrepreneurs care more about their employees than men so it makes sense that they would consider how the new owner would impact the employees.
Keeping Employees Happy - Here are three interesting ways from career coach Marty Nemko on how to keep employees happy: 1. Instead of hiring consultants to train employees, cater lunch once a month and rotate employees teaching co-workers what they know best. 2. Do the employees hate tough customers? Shunt them all to one volunteer employee who gets special recognition or combat pay. Matt Weinstein, CEO of PlayFair, tells of a bank manager who awards a magnum of wine to the teller who, that week, served the most difficult customer. As a result, instead of trying to avoid difficult customers, most tellers actually look forward to them. 3. Give employees a frequent chance to earn small rewards combined with public recognition: sports tickets, free meals, or on-the-spot cash. But Lynn Halpin, CEO of Detroit Edison, warns that this better be part of a comprehensive plan. "If you work for Attila the Hun, someone handing you $50 is like rubbing salt in a wound."
And Commitment From Above... - In my experience in larger organizations, there is often a conflict between the training the sharp-end employees receive and that of the more senior managers. That sometimes means the employees feel 'done to', and don't have the belief that their bosses will be on board too. That means they feel pretty disgruntled about the organization too and higher leaving/absence rates can be the more obvious symptoms, with deeper resistance, even sabotage being quite possible too. For example, sending a bunch of employees on a gung-ho selling skills programme (with a fancy lunch included), is incongruous with not getting their pay check right or management not building good relationships with their people. The key here is understanding what training will help employees deliver the needs of the business as well as ensurinjg it is of value and in context for the individuals too. If it's not a win-win (in the bigger picture of their workplace experience too), it's just not going to fly. Sending someone on a training courtse is not a 'fix-it' for all that ails an organization.
A regular employee or a contracted employee? - Thank you Louis, Also in Japan, an employee is an employee. In my opinion, contracted employees don’t receive enough training. And they are often engaged in routine chores. Which factors should we choose about hiring regular or contracted employees? I choose contracted employees if I hire someone engaged in routine chores. On the other hand, I choose regular employees if I hire someone engaged in important duties. One of the most important factors especially for an entrepreneur is wages, too. What do you think?
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2ijq3b5e]As a small business owner, should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals? My friend's father is a relatively successful entrepreneur and it's his belief that you should primarily hire employees with no ambition because you can get away with paying them less and they're less likely to leave (thus saving you money from a high turnover rate). "Grunts" are the way to go, even though ambitious workers are typically smarter. What do you think?[/quote:2ijq3b5e] I say YES to hirin employees with no Goals!!! they make great "front-line" employees as long as you have carefully documented your process for them to follow. They typically are open to perform routine administrative tasks and they work for a much lower wage. I know what I've said is pretty gloomy but it's reality from my experience. Occasionally one of the "employees with no goals" will stand up and say, "I love working here". You pluck these individuals and promote them to tasks which require more decisions.


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