The Reasons to Promote from Within

There are many sound reasons for jansan organizations to look within their own ranks for potential supervisors and managers.  In-house promotions can improve morale, for example. Other employees within a business, seeing that hard work pays off in the form of promotions and bigger paychecks, will be motivated to stick with the company and be more devoted to their jobs.

A promote-from-within policy, in addition to increasing morale and helping retain high-quality employees, can make an organization more efficient. Employees already know the company’s policies, procedures and systems. The company knows the employees, too — their strengths, weaknesses and job performance.

Organizations that truly want to promote from within typically identify their future managers by utilizing their own performance appraisal rating systems and engaging in formal or informal succession-planning meetings. Managers at these companies ask themselves questions:

• Which employees have had the highest ratings within the past 6 to 18 months?
• Who has exhibited the initiative to perform above and beyond the required job duties?
• Is the employee willing to take on a leadership role with additional responsibilities?
• Has the employee’s performance improved on a consistent basis or fluctuated?
• Does the employee exhibit leadership behaviors or have the capacity to perform well within key supervisor/management competencies?

Leadership traits
The last question is crucial to the evaluation process. The competencies (i.e. skills) expected of a supervisor or manager should differ from those of a cleaning worker. While technical expertise at refinishing a floor or extracting a carpet is vital for cleaning workers (and useful for supervisors), leadership skills are vital for good managers.

Listed below are common leadership competencies that should be considered when assessing employees. These are skills, not traits, and they can be observed and measured on a consistent basis:

Problem solving and decision-making — A good leader must accurately evaluate all information to solve problems and make decisions in a manner that benefits customers, cleaning personnel and the management team.

Managing performance and delegating — Monitoring the performance of cleaning workers in line with business goals is essential; this must be done while holding oneself, others and teammates accountable for agreed-upon results.

Communication — Managers should share information with individuals and groups in a manner that ensures understanding and encourages input from others. Helping workers succeed in their jobs by defining expectation levels and giving them a strong sense of purpose also is indicative of a strong leader.

Planning and organizing — Job responsibilities and functions must be well-organized by planning time for high-priority goals, requirements, and areas of greatest opportunity.

Respect and trust — Maintaining effective relationships with superiors, peers, and team members based on trust and respect in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives, is key.

Other factors
Keep in mind it is not advisable to make performance appraisals the only factor in promotion decisions. In conjunction with the appraisal process, assessment tools, including assessment centers, aptitude or personality tests, and interviews, provide the information an organization requires to make successful promotions.

Commitment is another crucial factor to consider. The employer should be willing to commit time and resources to training and development.

There always will be skill gaps when promotions occur. But thousands of supervisors and managers have been placed in new positions without the proper training or tools yet have become expertly skilled at their new jobs.

Employees need to be committed to their new roles, too. Additionally, they should remain open to coaching, constructive criticism and development that will enable them to grow professionally.

Even with the current tools and systems, the promotion process is not an exact science. But when the process is done right, employee productivity will improve, turnover will be reduced, and costs will decrease. And the investments made in the promotion process will positively impact both the organization and its customers.

About David Frank

David Frank is known as “the high-impact speaker who motivates.” Every year he presents more than 100 seminars specifically designed for the cleaning industry. He is a nationally recognized authority with more than 25 years of experience in cleaning system design, motivation, leadership, facility management, indoor air quality, and numerous other topics for cleaning organizations. He is the president of the American Institute for Cleaning Sciences (www.aics.com), an independent, third party evaluation and accreditation organization that establishes standards to improve the professional performance of the cleaning industry.