Workforce Development
THE 'PROMOTION'
EPIDEMIC
BY MAHA KHATIB
We all want to develop, improve, become better at what we do, and eventually climb the career ladder and ‘get promoted’. This is normal.
However, what is NOT normal, is considering, directing and planning all employee development activities towards one end in mind - “getting a promotion”.
I have noticed during the past five years a rapidly growing epidemic, I call it the “promotion epidemic”. In most employee development discussions the main objective and focus is how we can assist employees in getting promoted. What really worries me about these discussions is that fact that they are common across different industries, sectors and levels.
For example, in performance evaluation and appraisal discussions, it is rarely important what the employee has achieved or performed, or what the performance gaps and issues are and how to work on bridging them! However, what seems to be important is what rating the employees will receive so they are eligible for promotion.
One question comes to my mind during those discussions: “If we all get promoted, who will do the actual work?” Obviously NO one.
What really astonishes me is the level of eagerness to be promoted, irrespective of true development. Also, the keenness to leave the world of specialized expertise amd enter into the world of management/leadership!
I strongly believe that Human Resources departments are not playing any role in addressing this critical issue. In fact, most of the time, the Human Resources departments are pushed into accepting promoting employees without even knowing why. In addition, we are not evaluating our HR systems to address and resolve this problem.
After all, we also in the Human Resources industry want to be promoted as quickly as possible.
To solve this problem once and for all, we as the Human Resources specialists need to address the issues and re-work some of our systems to resolve them. A good start is the performance management system used within the organization.
In most cases, the performance management system results through the appraisal system are directly and solely linked to employee promotion.
A need for a more practical and smarter system is required urgently. Linking employees’ promotions to a mere number that is concluded by one person with at least 50% subjective judgment is hardly an effective way to resolve the issue.
The primary goal of the performance management systems we are currently using is to monitor, resolve and evaluate employee’s current performance levels for a job they are doing now. A more rigorous and integrated promotion policy and system is required to be linked to:
1) Employee performance appraisal results for at least 3 years to address consistency.
2) Employee contribution to the organization achievements and results for at least 2 years to address cultural-fit and alignment with vision and values.
3) Employee disciplinary record.
4) Assessment or development centers results including the assessment of technical competencies, behavioral competencies and leadership competencies.
5) Development plan for at least 18 months.
28 | TRAINING MAGAZINE MIDDLE EAST NOV 2014