Flawless internal recruitment - getting the right person in the right role
How to Successfully Promote from Within
Welcome to the second blog in this two part series. In the first article we examined the pros and cons of hiring internally, if you missed that one you can read it here. In this edition I’ll be showing you how to recruit internally without undermining your organisation's culture.
Promoting from within sounds great in theory and there are lots of benefits over external hires but it needs to done well for it to be a long term success. Hiring internally can cause friction and conflict especially if you’ve got a few people who’ve expressed an interest in the role but when handled thoughtfully and done well, internal progression is great for everyone.
So how do you get it right? How do you make sure you get the right person in the role, provide development and career progression opportunities and avoid alienating other team members? Let’s get into it.
Decide what you really want/expect from the role
Get clear on what qualities, skills and experience you want or need and be specific. If you are looking for something generic, like “someone who can manage a team,” then you may be disappointed with what you get. Share your requirements openly, so that employees can self-assess if they're a fit, and you know how you’ll evaluate them. What does a good leader look like in your organisation? You need to know this before you start the recruitment process.
Don’t just look in the usual places
Allow all qualified internal candidates to apply, not just those you’ve got in mind and those who actively put themselves forward. This will reduce any unconscious bias in your hiring process and build trust in the process. You never know who might surprise you with interest, and it prevents you from choosing the first person you think of.
Opening the job to all qualified internal applicants makes the process fairer and merit-based. It also brings to the surface talented people you may not have considered otherwise, and it shows employees their hard work can be rewarded with development in their career.
Are you actively preparing your people for their next move?
Research carried out in 2022 showed that one in four employees didn’t feel confident about their career progression in their current organisation.
If you aren’t actively showing your employees you care about their growth, they are going to start looking externally. Provide training and resources on how to apply for a promotion, updating their CV and succeeding at an interview. Don’t expect them to know how to do this without some help and don’t hold these opportunities back because you’re afraid they might leave.
Interview thoroughly and give feedback
Take all candidates through the full interview process, just like you would with an external hire. Look out for red flags that they may not be ready. Make the process supportive as applying for a role internally can take a lot of courage. Team members who don't get the role should get lots of value from the process. Take the time to give quality feedback to everyone. Team members may see that they don’t have the skills they need yet and you can transition the conversation to a career growth plan so they are ready in future.
Train and support for success
I cannot emphasise enough how important training is for newly promoted managers. Don’t set your people up to fail. Even your top performer will need help transitioning to leadership, especially if this is their first time leading. Don't just throw them into the deep end and hope for the best. Work with them to identify any skill gaps and provide access to training mentors and coaching so they can develop their capabilities quickly.
Schedule dedicated time in their calendar for coaching them and use 1:1s for this. Vital skills like empathy, influencing and communication need focus and practice to master. There are countless managers who struggle because they didn't get the development they needed. The time you invest here pays back dividends. Not to mention the impression it gives to those who might be considering a move into management in future. Make it seem like something they’d actually want to do.
Celebrate the win
Promoting from within is a good reason to celebrate and praise someone. Announcing the promotion publicly and perhaps a team lunch is a great way to recognise the moment. A public announcement that someone has been promoted is good for a few reasons:
● Serves as a key marker. If a former peer is now the leader of a team, the event can clearly mark the transition for them. This makes it clear they have new responsibilities and authority, which you’re granting them and endorsing.
● Credibility and authority. It may not be that obvious, but when you promote someone, you share a little piece of your own authority with that person. Public recognition is one of the ways to do it and show to other teammates that you trust the new manager. They need to see that you are confident in your decision.
Help your team understand what a good answer looks like when they ask themselves, "Why should I be promoted?"
Much of this will come from a transparent recruitment process and the quality of feedback you give from interviews but it will also feed through annual and mid year appraisals. Ask your team members often what their career objectives are and identify opportunities for them to acquire the necessary skills. Be clear about what's required of them and what good leadership looks like.
None of this works if you don't have a culture of developing leaders in the first place
It's a major career change to become a manager, and every step into leadership comes with its own challenges. Too easy for the Peter Principle to kick in and you end up with people over their heads. No one likes to work for a boss who doesn't know what they're doing. Or a boss with brilliant technical skills but who is terrible with people.
If you're going to promote from within, you have to invest significantly in training and developing your people so they are ready. Without this help, you have to bet on how well they will self-teach, and have no standard approach to what good leadership looks like in your organisation and how it supports your values.
But how do you do that? There are two key ways:
Understand the difference between success and failure. Sign up to the monthly ‘Work in Progress Newsletter’ - the September edition will cover the 10 most common mistakes organisations make when promoting from within and what to do about them.
Set a good example. Have high quality 1:1s to learn how your managers are doing, give them the feedback and support they need. Give your new managers an easy to follow leadership framework.
If you’re looking for help and support to develop your management skills, we can help. Book your free business development call to find out more about our services and how you can partner with us to build your leadership pipeline and capability.