Promotions Aren't the Only Way to Get Ahead

For the last year, all we’ve been hearing about is The Great Resignation, or as I like to call it the Big Quit. As an HR professional, it doesn’t surprise me to learn that 47 million people would quit their jobs if they faced low pay, lack of opportunities for advancement and felt disrespected at work – the top 3 reported reasons for these departures.?

From what I can glean from social media, these reasons are often interrelated.? Employees are doing more work for the same money and/or are not being recognized with a promotion for the extra effort.? So how do we make meaningful change happen in an environment where companies are tightening their financial burn?? I think we need to completely reimagine the concept of promotion.???

The pace of tech (and other) industry growth has fostered a promotion mindset to the exclusion of all other forms of career development.? As inflation rises, it makes sense people want and need more money in their paychecks, but it just isn’t sustainable to have everyone thinking “I deserve a promotion because I have been doing this job for 12 months” (time-based) versus actually earning and being ready for that next job.?

In HR, we have been talking about careers for too long as ladders.? Although I have seen some smart discussion of career matrices or lattices, these concepts have not gotten embedded enough in today’s workplace. Alice Rinne offers a different perspective in her recent HBR article, “Stop Offering Career Ladders. Start Offering Career Portfolios”.??

But no matter what career progression metaphor we use, it is even more important to broaden the idea of job satisfaction.? What if people measured their job satisfaction not just by the size of their paycheck, but by the opportunities they have to increase their knowledge and social capital, to make a difference, or to serve as a mentor, etc. (more on this below)?

Given the trends of tightening belts, slimming corporate hierarchies, flattening of orgs, and people staying in the workforce longer…not to mention smaller HR teams that can’t handle the pressure to constantly promote everyone… it feels like time to make a change. But how do we do that when the next position has forever been the currency for career growth??

When I worked in the banking industry, we did this through our budgeting process.? At budget season, each promotion came with a precise price tag, and we were able to allot only so many promotions to each next level based on budgets.? If we had 45 people up for Managing Director, for example, and we only had budget for 15, we used our talent roundtable discussions to get from 45 to 15 based on performance.?We rarely made exceptions because of favoritism or intense lobbying by one group or leader.? This kept the promotion numbers right-sized, but I’ll admit it did not always feel good to the employees who were not in the room, especially if their manager was unable to deliver the necessary feedback throughout the year so they knew where they stood. This is just one method and it is still promotion based, so here’s another approach.

I very much enjoyed Julie Winkle Giulioni’s latest book, “Promotions are SO Yesterday”, where she shares her latest research.? She shows that when people know of other ways to grow, they express more interest in every other dimension over advancement.??

The eight Cs of her multidimensional career framework include:?

• Contribution (making a difference)
• Competence (building skills)
• Confidence (trusting your talents)
• Connection (cultivating relationships)
• Challenge (stretching beyond your comfort zone)
• Contentment (feeling joy in your work)
• Choice (enhancing the autonomy you can exercise)
• Climb (promotion)

In fact, she demonstrated that every age group ranked “Climb” dead last in their priorities, except 20-somethings where it was second to last.? ?

We have failed to recognize that careers are actually made up of many moments, albeit less in-your-face, less social media-worthy than a promotion - maybe we need to make them so!? If we use Giulioni’s framework, we would give equal weight to people’s efforts at building their skills, making a difference, expanding their network, taking stretch assignments, gaining more autonomy, learning to trust themselves, or finding (or creating) joy at work, since they are equally important for career development.

HR’s role:? While it is ultimately every employee’s responsibility to own their career, employers can make a huge impact on what career development can be by architecting for success. And while it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that the culture and conditions exist in which talent can really thrive, HR must take the lead. If we want to attract and retain talent, it is imperative to create job descriptions, org structures, career growth options, and OKRs for employees who don't want to climb the corporate ladder.

Some companies have done that for those who don’t want to manage people, but bring other skills, often technical, to the table.? How could we build on that learning to add more creative paths that are not only about advancement “up”???

Manager’s role:? While everyone is responsible for their own career path, direct managers play an integral role in career development. They can help their team members articulate what they want to be or become and help them identify and navigate the career development possibilities within the organization that match their goals. They are also responsible for giving performance feedback to everyone they oversee (directly or in a matrix role) in a way that helps that employee better understand their strengths and development needs.??

This role is not for the faint of heart.? The expectations are high and the pandemic and resulting hybrid workplace have made the manager’s job even more complex. They are not only ensuring that the work gets done but they are doing that without regular face-to-face contact.??

But rather than be that manager that avoids providing feedback, or ignores their team member’s developmental needs until it’s time to announce they didn’t get a promotion, perhaps it’s better sit down a few times a year and discuss the 8 C framework and help your employees identify a few ways they can achieve the career satisfaction they are looking for unrelated to a promotion, and discuss how you can help them along the way.

Summary

Despite the current environment, employees are still loose in their seats, longing for something better.? They want to be seen, heard, and valued. ? They want purposeful work that is aligned with their values and they want to grow and learn.??

We are in desperate need of a reboot to the way we have always done things -- vertical career growth.? We need to be change-ready for the new world we are living in.? That means we need to envision new career architectures that do just that. What ideas do you have for how we can all participate in creating a new way forward? Share your ideas in the comments.