Managing Unrealistic Employee Expectations for Rapid Promotion

Some employees are "home run hitters"—hell-bent on getting to the top as quickly as possible. They want to knock the ball out of the park even before they’ve mastered base hits. To preserve their commitment and motivation these employees need a clearly defined development plan! As a manager of a home-run hitter, you need to let your slugger know that you recognize his/her ability, and communicate that they have potential to move up through the ranks—but at a steady pace as their skills and experience develop.

Many organizations have introduced succession planning systems that allow for more open communication about the career paths available to employees. The trend is towards employees taking responsibility for their own professional development—but for an employee to be able to do this effectively their manager needs to help them:

1. Identify the type of development they need
2. Set development goals
3. Clarify the steps needed to achieve those goals
4. Find a way to assess whether the development goals have been met

By providing your employees with clear career development guidelines they will be better able to take accountability for developing the skills they need to move up through the ranks.