#11 JooBee's newsletter

TL;DR

🔽 Promotions creating a top-heavy org? 3 ways to keep your people

🐾 How to design Promotion Career Moves for your employees’ progression

❓ Your views on Career Moves

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Promotions creating a top-heavy org? 3 ways to keep your people

The challenge isn't the quarterly cycle itself - it's managing expectations. Just because there's a ritual doesn't mean we must push for promotions every quarter. Failing to manage expectations can leave employees expecting promotions regularly, potentially making the organisation top-heavy. 

To strike the right balance, consider both business and employee needs

Our business has its own set of needs and goals, and that's what determines the specific roles we have in place or can create. I am not focussing on job titles here because we know that VP of 50 people is not the same as VP of 500 people. Call the roles whatever suits your start-up - what’s right for you. What counts is the actual substance of the role - ownership, responsibilities and challenges. That's where real growth opportunities lie.

On the flip side, employees also have their own needs and aspirations. So, the sweet spot is to find a balance between business needs (if there's a genuine need and the role even exists) and employee needs. If this balance is off, we end up with an organisation that's a bit lopsided, and that's not where we want to be.

Growth opportunities ≠ “promotion” 

I get it. We all worry about our team members jumping ship. But let's dig into one of the primary reasons why folks decide to walk away from their jobs – "lack of growth opportunities."

💡Let me be crystal clear - providing growth opportunities doesn't mean just promoting someone. I've been in the trenches and seen the following scenario play out too many times:

For TRUE growth opportunities to exist, the role needs to exist

Below are 3 ways growth opportunities can exist within most organisations. However, it is crucial to remember that start-ups operate on a much smaller scale and less complex structure compared to bigger corporations. Hence, it is important to also understand how this might limit each growth opportunity.

1️⃣ Opportunity to take on more complexity 

This type of role allows individuals to take on increased levels of complexity and accountability. This can involve being accountable for more people/projects/products, operating in multiple geographical regions, dealing with greater ambiguity, managing bigger budgets, strategising across longer timelines, etc.

This growth opportunity applies to both the managerial (MG) and individual contributor (IC) paths. For instance:

• Managers (MG) making an impact by overseeing more complex groups of people (e.g. growing from Engineering Manager to Senior Engineering Manager) or

• Individual contributors (IC) making an impact by managing more complex projects or products (e.g. growing from Senior Engineer to Staff Engineer).

⚠️ However, it's essential to acknowledge that the scope of this opportunity is limited by the size, complexity and growth stage of your business and organisation.

2️⃣ Opportunity to change paths (IC ➡️ MG ➡️ IC) 

We've left behind the outdated notion that the only way to advance in one's career is by becoming a manager. In today's organisation, we've embraced the concept of a dual career path. With this, start-ups have the potential to provide growth opportunities for individuals to develop their skills, whether it's in managing people or overseeing critical projects, by switching paths. For instance, a Recruiter can grow into a Recruitment Manager (IC to MG), or grow from being a Recruitment Manager to becoming a Principal Recruiter (MG to IC).

⚠️ This opportunity depends on the number of teams within the start-up (i.e. headcount) for MG roles and the level of technical complexity required in IC roles.

3️⃣ Opportunity to change professions (a.k.a. job families) 

Switching roles to a different profession is another opportunity for growth. It's a chance for individuals to leverage their skills and broaden their expertise in a new field. For instance, a UX Designer growing into a Product Manager role, or a Customer Success Manager growing into an Account Executive role.

⚠️ It's essential to note that this opportunity is contingent on the availability of suitable roles and the right entry level.

The sweet spot is to match employees’ aspirations with business needs and opportunities

If your business opportunities don't align with your employees' aspirations, you should be ready for the possibility that they might decide to explore other options.

It is essential to have open and proactive conversations from the get-go, for which benefits are twofold:

For your business - it means you won't create roles that don't truly exist, which could eventually lead to disappointment for your employee or an imbalanced organisation.

For your employees - even if their next adventure takes them beyond your walls, it reinforces the trust that you genuinely have their best interests at heart.

What's more, when the right opportunity unlocks down the road, these individuals may just bounce back (in HR we call them 🪃boomerangs! Here’s an example: ‘Why I became a boomerang employee’ by Marie Krebs). And when they return, they'll bring an even wider range of experiences and skills, benefiting both your company and their personal ambitions.

How to design Promotion Career Moves for your employees’ progression

(💡Before we dive in, I want to stress that I'm deliberately using the term "Career Moves" rather than "promotion." This choice reflects my belief that growth opportunities and career progression are more than just promotions - as you have read in the article above.)

Each one of us, whether we're managers or employees, has our own perception of how Career Moves works - shaped by our past experiences in other companies. For example, in your previous company, some practices might include:

• Employees should achieve a perfect 5 out of 5 performance rating to be eligible for promotion, or

• Employees must have been in their current role for a minimum of 12 months before being considered for Career Moves, or

• Employees must go ‘up or out’ 

These practices may or may not apply to your start-up, and they may or may not align with our personal values - I am not here to judge the practices but to explore different perspectives. Therefore, it's crucial to manage expectations regarding Career Moves within your start-up to ensure alignment. 

Designing Career Moves: 2 things you should consider 

When my team and I build Career Move processes, 2 key factors (among many!) that help in managing expectations are:

1️⃣Aligning on Career Moves core principles

I always kick start the project by defining the core principles of Career Moves with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). Agreeing on these principles is crucial for aligning how we do things in our start-up (avoiding any unconscious assumptions from past experiences!), explaining the ‘why’ behind our approach, ensuring accountability at the highest level and providing clarity for all our people. 

Here’s an example of Career Moves principles from one of my past companies to align us:

Keep in mind, the main takeaway here ISN’T the principles listed above - it's the importance of establishing clear principles upfront and eliminating any unconscious assumptions before diving headfirst into a project. 

2️⃣ Ensuring decisions are evidence-based and aligned

Often, managers feel let down or frustrated when they discover misalignment in expectations after nominating employees for Career Moves. How can they better prepare their team members? What steps could they take to ensure success? What tangible feedback should they gather?

To avoid disappointment and foster alignment, let's start with the end in mind. Offering managers clarity on decision-making criteria empowers them to guide their teams toward success.

Typical evidence for decision-making includes:

🌱 Evidence of development: Consistent behavioural examples aligned with the next role (e.g. Career Map) and company values.

🔢 Evidence from multiple sources: Tangible examples observed by others and measurable results from tasks, projects or team performance

⌛ Evidence of consistency: Sustained behaviours over a period of time (not a one-hit wonder!)

These 2 steps are only part of the bigger picture in designing Career Moves process, but they're absolutely crucial to ensuring everyone in the company is (1) aligned on expectations, and that managers have (2) clarity for decision-making, so that they can enable their employees to grow and make their next career moves.

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