When to promote someone

You’re doing pretty good at your current role. You exceed all expectations at your current role. We are promoting you!

Do you relate to this statement? Did this ever happen to you? Do you see something wrong in this logic of promotions? I do.

We’ve all seen it happen. Someone gets promoted solely because they excel in their current role. While organizations often consider various factors when deciding on promotions, the core argument usually revolves around an individual’s outstanding performance and the belief that they will thrive in the next role. But is this really a foolproof strategy? I beg to differ.

Being exceptional in one role doesn’t guarantee success in the next. Just because someone excels as an Associate doesn’t mean they’ll meet the expectations of a Senior Associate right away. They may not tick all the boxes required for the new role just yet.

There’s a management concept on this called the “Peter Principle” which says that people get promoted to a new role because they performed well at their current role. If they prove competent in the new role, they’ll be promoted again. This cycle continues until they reach a position where their skills no longer match the requirements, resulting in a lack of future promotions. It’s an inevitable outcome according to the Peter Principle.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen this flawed logic applied to many people managers as well. Great individual contributors often get promoted to managerial positions because of their exceptional performance. But being a top-notch individual contributor doesn’t automatically make someone a great people manager. In fact, it can lead to two negative consequences:

  1. An exceptional performer becomes a sub-par or even worse performer as a not-so-good people manager.
  2. The employees who now report to this new manager gradually become frustrated and may even leave the company.

Neither of these outcomes benefits the person being promoted, the leaders, nor the organization as a whole. So, what’s the solution? When should promotions actually happen?

When do you promote people then?

Well, I believe promotions should only occur when an individual can confidently be rated as “Meets Expectations” for their next level. Otherwise, we’re setting them up for failure. For example, an Associate should only become a Senior Associate if their manager can genuinely rate them as “Meets Expectations” or higher for the Senior Associate role. It’s not enough to rely solely on the fact that they “Exceed Expectations” as an Associate. After all, they could excel in their current role but struggle in the new one.

What does this mean?

  1. Organizations should have well-defined competency frameworks that outline the different roles, their responsibilities, and the growth path
  2. Employees should regularly evaluate themselves based on this competency framework, considering both their current role and the one they aspire to
  3. Managers should assess their reports using the same competency framework, accounting for both the current role and the next level
  4. Promotions should only occur when there’s confidence that the individual will be competent in their new role

Points to consider

Being competent at the next role doesn’t mean you’d make the person work as a Sr. Associate for 6 months to “Test” them and still have them as an Associate and be paying them what you’d pay an Associate. Being competent here means seeing potential.

While there are a lot of nuances, if I were to simplify this:

  1. If someone exceeds expectations in their current role but you don’t see strong potential for the next role, provide additional training until you witness that potential
  2. If someone exceeds expectations in their current role and shows some signs of readiness for the next role, make an educated decision (considering other factors as well). If you’re confident, go ahead and promote them. If not, invest a little more in their development
  3. If someone exceeds expectations in their current role and displays a lot of potential for the next role, it’s time to promote them

Promotions should set people up for success. Any approach that doesn’t fit this bill, should be discarded.


Disclaimer: Hey! These are my unfiltered thoughts, kind of like a stream of consciousness. I’ll be honest, I haven’t done extensive research. So, take all the information with a grain of salt. It’s mostly based on my personal observations and perspectives.

Hope you enjoyed the read! If you have feedback or a different perspective, I’d love to know. Catch me on Twitter or mail me at me@chettyarun.com Thanks!