As a business leader, we see our team for their strengths and weaknesses, for what they do – and what they don’t. If your team isn’t working to their full potential or isn’t working as hard as you’d like them to, maybe it comes down to this.
A survey of over 400,000 people from across America found that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than two times as likely to give extra effort at work and to plan for a long-term future with that organization. Something else that moves in your favour as an employer, is that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than five times as likely to believe their leaders act with integrity.
That’s a pretty startling impact because it shows that this part of your HR strategy – promotions – actually does have a huge effect on your bottom line. However, for a lot of business owners promotions are something that aren’t always thought of strategically and are often no more than a reaction to a resignation.
So how can you straighten up your act when it comes to promotions this year and build some team moral, value and commitment while you’re doing it?
Start with your values
This is where every business owner should begin. What do you value in your team? What does your team value within themselves? If you have built a business upon a robust, hard-working, highly efficient taskforce then you want someone who enhances and drives productivity. If your team is about the human side of things, the nurturing, engaging, helpful and supportive network, then you want to find someone who promotes and espouses that. They not only have the right approach and attitude, but their peers will respect the decision and possibly even strive for that, too.
Look for someone who wants the job, not the position
In every organisation, there are the people who love their job and the people who love their power. People who love their power and not the job are almost always going to be the ones who let you down. You need to look for the people within your team who want a challenge, who strive for results and outcomes, who want a sense of accomplishment, not a sense of importance.
Incorporate peer-peer learning
One of the biggest ways to assess your employees is through peer to peer learning. While peer to peer learning has some incredible benefits to building team culture, increasing the value of a team and generating great education ROI, it also allows you to see who stands out from the crowd. Who wants to go above and beyond to learn a new skill? Who wants to take what they’ve learnt and – most importantly of all – share it around with their team members? Who has the leadership qualities and human qualities to empower and drive the team to a better position? Those are the people you want to keep an eye on. Google has established their own employee-to-employee learning program and shared the secrets so you can do the same.
The study found that the businesses with perceived efficient management of promotions had significantly lower turnover rates, higher productivity, innovation and growth metrics than their competitors. So the impact is clear, manage promotions effectively and you’ll have a better bottom line, better culture and a better business.