Topgrading

Those of you who have read the latest edition of Topgrading may remember that the statistics on promoting success are as dismal as those on hiring success.  Why?  Too many promotions are based on the candidate’s performance in their present job.  The candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the new job are not scrutinized closely enough.  When that happens, too often you get to experience the “Peter Principal” first hand.  (The Peter Principle is the idea that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.)

Next time you consider someone for promotion, especially if that person will be moving from an individual contributor position to a management position, go through the following steps.

 First, create a detailed Job Scorecard for the new position if one does not already exist.  Next, conduct a Tandem Topgrading Interview with the candidate.  Ideally, the interview should not be conducted by the candidate’s current boss.  However, if that is unavoidable, be sure the other interviewer is an unbiased third party.  After the Topgrading Interview, do 360 interviews with 8 to 10 coworkers.  Those 360 interviews should focus on the new job. 

Follow that process and you will be as successful in promoting high performers as you are in hiring them. 

Why 75 Percent of Managers Promoted Fail

Last year I met with the #1 human resource executives of the world’s largest 100 corporations and they confirmed what our research found: only one in four managers promoted turn out to be the expected high performer. Why do so many managers fail? Our business culture supports myths, and the Topgraders instead embrace facts. Topgrading companies achieve 90% success promoting people.

Myth #1: People should be promoted because of their strengths.
Fact: Failures at executive levels are mostly due to people not overcoming their weak points.

Almost monthly I read drivel in leading business magazines about how success is achieved through relying on one’s strengths, “because people won’t overcome shortcomings anyway,” they say. Nonsense.

Of 6,500 executives I’ve assessed or coached, 90% were mediocre in one or more jobs, and the reason was clear: their weak points dragged them down. The sales manager promoted to general manager continued selling, while not learning enough to manage operations. When his plants faltered, so did he, and he was passed over for subsequent promotions. He was good at selling and continued to rely on it. Dumb!

Recommendation: Although you should hire individual contributors based on their strengths, only promote managers after they have overcome fatal flaws, serious weak points.

Myth #2: Bosses can judge subordinates’ promotability.
Fact: Boss’ promotion recommendations fail 75% of the time.

The 25% good recommendations occur when high performing bosses are recommending people to succeed them (a job they know). How likely is it that the Manager Financial Planning will know enough about marketing to recommend one of his financial planners for Marketing Analyst?

Recommendation: Use the Topgrading approach. Have two managers conduct a tandem Topgrading Interview of the financial planner. This is the approach Topgraders use to achieve 90% success promoting people.