Who should you promote?

A successful business depends on the teams that you have created. The better you are able to find the right people to work together in a team, the more success your business will have.  Which means that you need to pick the right people to promote to elevate them to the right position and in the right team. Seems easy, but there are some things to look out for to help you understand who you should promote. Determining which person is actually the best candidate for promotion.

Believe it or not, there is a formula that can help you zero in on exactly the right person for any type of job that you may need. So, answering the question who should you promote is much easier since you already have a baseline from which to work to find the right person.

In this article, I will give you several tips on how exactly to identify the ideal candidate to promote.

1. Assess their personality  

Many managers or Human Resources Directors often will promote the people that have seniority without taking into account whether their personality even makes them a fit for the new role. They’ve paid their dues, after all.

Well, it’s important to take this kind of thinking out of your promotion strategy. Instead, look into becoming CPI certified so you can make a scientific assessment of the traits of the people that you have as your candidates for a promotion.

This way you can make an unbiased assessment about whether the job is even a good fit for them based on their strengths and even their weaknesses.

For example, if you do your personality assessment and find that a person has traits that would make him or her a good leader, and the role you are looking to fill is managerial, then this is a logical person to be promoted. On the other hand, if the role is a client-facing one and the candidate has great interpersonal skills then this is another example of a good fit.

2. They are perpetual learners

Some people are content to put their head down and just work hard. Which is a good trait for many situations. But, for a promotion to a role that requires some kind of leadership, a good work ethic is only part of the equation.

Instead, a person who is a perpetual learner is who you should be looking for when a promotion is available. It doesn’t even matter what it is that they want to learn. It could be ancient Greek history and it is still something that should get your attention.

The fact that they enjoy learning means they are receptive to new ideas. They are more curious than others which means that they will seek out innovative solutions to solve a problem.

3. They thrive on feedback

Feedback, or, for those that prefer, constructive criticism, is often not taken well by employees. People naturally get defensive and feel like they are being attacked.

There are certain types that actually love the feedback that they get as they see it as a learning opportunity. Those types may seem like they exist only where unicorns are found, but there surely are a select few working in your company who are that way.

People that can take constructive criticism will use that as an opportunity to figure out a better way to do things. They clearly see that their way was not working and are happy to have somebody let them know that there may be a better way.

When you are doing employee evaluations then keep an eye on who is actually using the information provided and are seeing their work improve. It’s those people who should be on your shortlist.

4. The self-starter 

Some of the most valuable people in your company are those that can get a lot of work done with minimal supervision. They don’t need their hand held to figure out how to get a project from point A to point B.

These people are able to problem solve and see the way around obstacles without having to ask a manager for help. It seems like a shame to take them away from a role that makes your business run more efficiently, but they should be considered for the promotion as this trait can help then find ways to get the most out of any situation.

When they find themselves in a role with more responsibility they will likely relish it.