“You made the promotion decision. Is that when things began to unravel?” I asked.
Joann looked pensive. Her head slowly nodding. “Yes. So, the problem appears to be an underperforming manager, but the cause of the problem is me?”
“You made the decision. Now, you are living with the result.”
“But, I had hoped this person could make the grade,” she explained.
“And you were hoping you could hang this situation on someone else. Hoping no one would discover your decision.” I could see the blood draining from Joann’s face. “So, what are you going to do?”
“I am going to have to eat some crow,” Joann relented. “I have to take responsibility for the decision. And the first person I have to talk to is the person I promoted.”
Over-promoting someone to a position significantly beyond their capability is a frequent mistake, yet the accountability rarely lands on the person who makes the promotion decision. Often, it ends with a messy termination and no winners.
All of this distraught could have been avoided by testing the candidate prior to the promotion. Testing the internal candidate, with delegated Time Span appropriate tasks, and observing their behavior, in the heat of reality, trumps hope every time.
The peter principal is still living and strong in the workforce.
I have enjoyed these last couple post and been following them intently.
The idea of responsibility falling on the person who promoted the leader. What a paradigm shift
By promoting this person they just feel overwhelmed and stressed and this creates a return loop problems for the leader. What a great insight that the person who promoted them is never seen as the resposible party.
Michael,
Only when the manager understands that they are responsible for the output of their team, do things begin to change. First consideration. Who is on the team? Are they capable of completing tasks to achieve the goals of the manager? Thanks for posting your thoughts.
I’ve been watching these last few posts like a hawk, Tom. This is such a central issue in all the massive, costly mistakes I see my clients making.
Too often I don’t see any messy terminations, which would at least benefit the company in the long run. Those who are over-promoted make bad hiring decisions and promote others like themselves. Thus the cycle continues.
An enlightened manager can fix the problem with those who report to them, but what of their manager or peers? How can the managed bring the issue to the attention of their manager, or manager’s manager, in a way that will result in change, but not scupper their career prospects?
Can the problem even be fixed from the bottom up?