Should Internal Promotions Be Made Over External Ones?
I recently came across these questions that were posed on promoting employees:
“How can businesses identify current employees for promotion opportunities? What qualifications or characteristics should they look for? What are the benefits of promoting from within the organization? When and why should you consider an external job candidate?”
To be honest, I’m not a fan of how these questions were poised, but maybe that’s the point. The reason I don’t like them too much, is that it doesn’t feel like there’s enough emphasis given on taking the time to truly consider what would be best for the health of each individual on the team, and the overall organization.
There’s a big opportunity to pause, to make careful, thoughtful choices here AND provide the tools and support for your existing team even if it’s just good communication about what promotion looks like, how to achieve it, and why decisions on promotions were made.
Starting to take time with this subject that affects the dynamics, well-being, and trust with teams is absolutely worth it, because if it’s not done well, feelings can get hurt, promoting the wrong people might harm team dynamics, and loyalty and trust could be crushed.
When looking to promote an internal candidate, there are a few things that businesses should be looking for.
If it's a manager position promotion, a few questions come to mind that need to be explored before a decision is made on whether or not about the internal candidates:
Are there people on your existing team that have shown interest in this and want to manage people? Just because someone has been in an organization for a while doesn't necessarily they may be great at leading people even if they have incredible institutional knowledge.
If it's a new manager being considered, what support and tools will they be given to thrive and lead teams?
Does the person/people being considered for a manager position have solid emotional intelligence, care for every person in the team/organization, and do they align with the business objects and values?
The results from these will help inform the business if they should promote from within for management.
If it's for an individual contributor role, some other questions come to mind:
Has the business defined what skills and mastery look like in that particular role and has the person/people being considered demonstrated this?
Is the person/people being considered collaborative, a good mentor to others?
If the person/people being considered aligns with this all, than promoting would be a great option!
Promoting from within is a great way to reward folks who have been loyal to the organization, boost moral, and if done and communicated in the right way, can align people with their purpose in the organization and increase retention.
I believe it might be time to consider external candidates if you don't have people aligned well with the organization with taking on a managerial role, and if your individual contributors haven't evolved enough to take on the additional responsibilities.
If there isn't the ideal candidate to promote from within, what tools, coaching, and mentoring can be deployed from within so that it's easier to identify existing team members for promotions? What clarity can the existing team have on what they need to do to achieve promotions? Building in these systems can really improve moral, purpose, retention, and, meeting the objectives and the goals of the organization.
So, at the end of the day, it’s not a one size fits all situation when it comes to internal vs external promotions. It’s a situation that is based around what the company has done to promote growth, provide tools and mentorship so people can evolve into leadership positions, and how to communicate to team members about promotions and company decisions. If employees are left in the dark too much, it could lead to uncertainly, resentment, and loss of trust because they can’t connect to the why of anything and feel like an important part of the team.
The right amount of clarity and communication can make a huge difference on earning trust, elevating retention, and happier teams.