Promoting Staff to Leaders

Deciding who has leadership potential to promote from within the company

© Joni Rose

Nov 20, 2006

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Are you considering promoting a team member to management? See if they pass the criteria listed here before talking to HR. Promote them for the right reasons.

Promoting from within is a great solution to a vacant managerial role if there is someone in the ranks with leadership potential. All too often staff is promoted for the wrong reasons i.e. they are a warm body or they have been with the company a long time. Seniority and being there are not good reasons to promote someone that will be setting the stage for performance of a team of people.

To determine if a staff member has what it takes to be a leader, ask yourself if they have the following qualities:

  1. They are able to consider what is good for the company as well as what is good for the team
  2. They encourage a team approach to decision making and process
  3. They are well respect in the company and amongst the members of the team
  4. They are mature enough to not let the promotion go to their head
  5. They are dedicated to the cause – the overall mission and goals of the company
  6. They are not afraid to work hard or put in extra hours when needed
  7. They would be a good mentor and coach to new staff
  8. They have good time management and delegation skills
  9. They have the emotional intelligence to handle the tough parts of the job – disgruntled employees, terminations etc.
  10. They will be able to make the transition from team member to team leader

If your candidate for promotion fits at least eight of these criteria, then they are a good fit for a leadership role. If the candidate fits less than five of these criteria then you may want to consider that you are promoting them for the wrong reasons. It may be better in this case to consider bringing in someone from the outside.

If you have comments or suggestions on this article, please start a discussion

If you liked this article, try:

Building Cooperative Teams

Performance Management Series

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.


The copyright of the article Promoting Staff to Leaders in Training/Professional Development is owned by Joni Rose. Permission to republish Promoting Staff to Leaders must be granted by the author in writing.




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