Establishing criteria for promotion in organizations 1

Every employee who secures job in an organization will like to make progression in his or her career. This progression is taken as a recognition of the employee's contribution to the organization. This progression in career is done through promotion. Although promotion seems to be more important to the employee, it is also importanto to an organization as a way of compensating employees for the loyalty demosntrated. However, the decision to choose those to promote from all employees should not be an easy one. In order to overcome this dilemma, organizations should establish some criteria for promoting their staff.      The criteria for promotion should be clear and communicated to all employees. The question then arises: what should be the criteria to be used? Some think the main factor for promotion should be technical skill, others consider a combination of technical and behavior, while others consider affinity with the superiors as the most important factor. However, there are some things that should be thought about. Firstly, any type of promotion involves going to a new position where the individual will lead a team, whether a small one or a big one. Therefore, the criteria to be set must recognize this fact.

     Leading teams implies the person should have good interpersornal relationship skills. This also means being able to work in groups. There is no way a person can lead a team without having this ability. An organization can verify this ability by looking at the performance assessement of the employee. The track record of this employee will show if he or she has this quality or not. The question is: what happens if the employee has other qualities, but lacks in team work ability? How should organizations deal with this?

     In the next posts, we will try to answer these and other questions. So, watch out!                    

Promotion and conflict 3

In my last post, I presented two ways in which organizations can reduce the intensity of conflict resulting from promotion. These were by stating clearly the criteria for promotion and by providing training to the new managers.If these measures do not work, organizations should consider a more drastic one.

     Insubordination is dangerous for teamwork, and consequently, to the organization. The insubordinates should be given some time to change their behavior, resign from their job or face demition before they contaminate the whole company. This measure should be taken so the situation does not get out of control. However, this punishment should also be communicated together with the criteria for promotion. 

     It is important that organizations take such a drastic measure because the effect of rotten apples in any environment should not be neglected. The dissatisfied employees generally try to gather many people to their side. In this way, they form small groups or silos through which the flow of information is controlled. Information of sympathisers are left to pass through while those of the enemies, not. One of the killers of organizations is lack of internal communication. Therefore, organizations should take the case of insubordination serious. 

        

Promotion and conflict 2

In my last post, I introduced the topic of promotion and conflict. That is the conflict resulting from promotion of one of the colleagues at work. At the end of that post, I left a question about how companies should address this problem. In order to reduce the intensity of the conflict, companies should adopt the following measures.

     Firstly, organizations should state clearly their criteria for promotion and make them available to all their employees. This simple act will show the employees that promotion policy is purely based on merit and not on favoritism. It is understandable that organizations reach a limit where they cannot carry out promotion unless aged employees retire. Even in this situation, they should make it clear to all their employees that promotion is frozen so nobody will be expecting to be promoted. This opens door for those who want to leave the organization. Transparency and open communication always reduces tension among people in any situation.

     The second measure organizations should take to minimize the problem is to give proper training and coaching to the newly promoted managers. This will help them understand their roles appropriately and give them tools to be used in dealing with their subordinates. This is very important because young employees are sometimes promoted to higher positions in innovative organizations like the hightech ones. These younger managers generally come from technical background without any management or administration training. Their roles had always been related to solving technical problems and no experience in interpersonal relationship. Therefore, these must be trained to acquire this ability if their organizations want them to perform well.

     In the next posts, we will look at other measures that can taken. So, watch out! 

                   

Promotion and conflict at workplace

One of the problems workers have in organizations is lack of good relationship with their superiors. There are various reasons for this to occur. However, we will look at one of its causes - promotion. Whenever promotion occurs in organization, there are always the happy and the unhappy ones. Those who are promoted are happy while those who are not, are unhappy. There are those who think they are more qualified for promotion than those promoted. There is also the problem of promoting someone to lead his peers.

     In the first case, those who feel more qualified, but not promoted do not accept their new leaders and conflict is created. There was an Organization where this problem was evident. In this, one of the two middle-level managers was promoted to a senior level position while the more experienced one was not. The more experienced one could not support the situation that he had to leave for another organization where he took an even lower position than his original position. However, there was conflict with the new boss before he left for another company. Others who did not leave stayed, but continued complaining and showing dissatisfaction.

     Conflict arises because a new leader does not feel very comfortable to command his former peers. The second is that the subordinates apply a lot of resistance in taking orders from the new leader. In some situations, the president of the organization spend time mediating the conflict. Many companies do not consider it as a conflict because it seems to be subtle or may die away after sometime. As a result of the conflict resulting from promotion, the following questions are posed. How should organizations promote their staff? How should organizations address the promotion problem when it occurs? Watch out for the answers to these questions in the next posts.          

Consider being a linchpin in your Organization!

In my earlier posts, I have written many things about how one can have an extraordinary career. However, these issues are not limited to career, but to all areas of endeavour. It is true in whatever we do. There is no way you can desire to have an excellent result from something without an excellent performance input. It is one of those logics of life. It seems so easy, but many do not apply the concept to their daily activities. 

     For someone seeking to have successful career, he or she should first consider being a linchpin in his Organization. Before we move on to explain the importance of this concept, let us first understand the meaning of a linchpin. A linchpin simply means a part that connects a whole structure or body. The importance of linchpin lies in the fact that if removed, the whole body disintegrates or collapses. It is important you become a linchpin in your organization. This can be done in the whole organization if it is a small company or in specific areas or departments in the case of large organizations.  

     The next question you should ask is: how can I become a linchpin in my Organization? In the next posts, we shall look at how one can do this. So, look out for this!

  

How does your dressing fit your job?

Have you ever wanted to know something about your dressing? About how your dressing matches with your job? Do you go by the dressing code? in the case of the absence of dressing code, how do you go about it? Dressing is not restricted to clothes, but to other things you put on your body. For example, tattoos and piercings. 

     What you might not understand is that how you dress affects people's perception about you. This is true, especially, in positions of higher responsibility, such as managerial and executive functions. This is because people occupying these positions generally represent their organizations outside their companies. They are considered as the image of their organizations which they represent. However, it is impossible for you to change your behavior overnight when you reach these positions.

     The objective of this post is to show that you should start dressing appropriately in junior position so you can transmit confidence to the administration earler in your career. In this way, they can consider you a possible candidate for senior position when the opportunity arises. As I said before in my earlier post, behavior is the most important factor of consideration for occupying executive position. How you dress is taken as a part of your behavior.

     If your Organization has a dress code, you should abide by that. If your Organization does not have it, you should understand your organizational culture, your business segment, and the niche your Organization attends. Always ask yourself how your dressing matches with the culture of your Organization and the people you attend. Compare your dressing with people working in an organization to yours. Observing others ahead of you is a powerful way to learn! Do not think that because your Organization does not have a dressing cade implies that you can dress anyhow you like. Think about this!                  

  

What is holding your career back from progress 5?

In my earlier posts, I gave some reasons why some people are not making progress in their career. These reasons are flexibility, inability to work in teams, and lack of identification with the organization. In this post, we are going to look at another factor that limits career progress. That is lack of appropriate skills. 
     I know many workers may think because they have college degree automatically gives them the necessary skills. In the world of today, a worker should engage in a life-long learning process. You should update your knowledge in order to fit with the dynamics of the market. The global market is highly competitive and in some segments, disruptive. That implies that what you learned today may no longer be applicable tomorrow. One's level of adaptability to changes depends on his ability to learn new things. 
     This means that your college degree is an entry point to a constantly-changing world. Take for example a chemical engineer working in automobile company. The tendency since 25 years ago has been on renewable energy or alternative energy to gasoline. This means that the engineer's knowledge of battery has shifted from traditional one to how batteries can power vehicles. This can be in the form of hybrid cars or purely electric cars. If the engineer does not have knowledge about this new technology, the Auto company will fire hime and hire another chemical engineer with this knowledge. 
     As a teacher and a coach, I realized that many electrical engineer managers have been fired from a utility company where they used to work. This occured, in part, as a result of automation of systems and their inability to adapt to new technologies resulting from that. Therefore, it is not enough that you have a degree in something. Your knowledge and skill must be applicable to your organization in solving problems. However, the problems depend on the dynamics of the market. The unpredictable nature of the problems makes it difficult to anticipate the solution. But, you can always upgrade and update your skills in such a way that it will help you find solution whatever the problem may be.
     That is the essence of life-long learning. Many workers forget this fact by living lifstyles that do not permit them study anymore. Only public functionaries have guaranteed job. The rest has to make it. Today, there are many ways one can update his skill. There are online classes, free online materials, company-sponsored courses, etc. Even if it involves paying for it, you have to do it because it is an investment. You cannot have a successful career unless you invest in it. Think about this!                
     

  

What is holding your career back from progress 4?

In my last posts, I have given some factors which restricts career progress of some workers. Today, we are going to look at another factor, inability to work in groups. This factor is really a limiting one.

     Companies are made up of people and never an individual. Companies are also divided into different departments. Therefore, it is impossible for a worker to carry out his or her function solely. Since a company has a defined target, all jobs must be coordinated and directed towards the target. If all workers execute their functions individually, then, the company becomes a tower of Babel. But, why do some workers have this defect? 

     There are many reasons to that. One of them is that some people feel they know more than others. As a result, they should be left alone to solve all the problems. During my doctoral degree program at the University of São Paulo, we were informed of the result of a survey conducted by the Trade Association of São Paulo which represents industrialists of the named state - FIESP. The survey indicated that the alumni of the University have a big defect: inability of working in groups. This fact results from the fact that the University is considered the best in Latin America. As a result, the alumni consider themselves to be above others and do not like to work in groups. The effect of this defect is that the market has restrictions in recruiting the alumni from the cited University.

     No matter how intelligent you may be, there is always something you can learn from others. Companies cannot promote someone to managerial position if he cannot work in groups. The logic is very simple. How can someone who cannot work in group lead a group? This is because being any type of manager implies leading teams. 

     Another reason for this problem comes from the fear of losing the priveledge tied to holding knowledge. Although many companies campaign for dissemination of knowledge, some of their workers hestitate to do that because they fear they will lose their power and the priviledge that goes with it. Companies stimulate collaboration by creating Knowledge Management Departments. You should negotiate with your Organization to see how it will recognize you for it. After that, put your knowledge at the service of your Organization. You should remember that it is your Organization that gave you the platform through which you were able to invent or create something.

     Remember that your career depends on the value you bring to the organization. Your knowledge or skill constitutes a major part of that. The other part is your behavior. In my last post, I commented that you can get what you want only after giving what you have! Therefore, you should give or share the knowledge you have so the organization can compensate you with an excellent career. Work in groups and bring your knowledge to life and you will never regret it. Think about this!

              

          

  

What is holding your career back from progress 3?

In my last post, I mentioned the lack of flexibility or adaptability to changes in a company as one of the reasons why many people get stuck with their careers. Today, we are going to look at another factor that also causes the same problem. That is lack of identification with your company. 

     Lack of identification with your organization is a big career killer. This is especially true for someone eyeing to occupy executive position. Remember that the most important information in a resume for executive hiring is a well-documented result achieved in your former organization, or what is called is called the value added to it, and consequently, what you can bring to the new oganization. Your education and experience are considered basic requirement for entry level positions. Organizations want to know what you can bring to the their institutions that will make justify them paying you such a high salary. Your achievement is determined by your ability to identify yourself with the organization and can motivate others too. 

     This is a concept that many people do not understand. Identifying yourself with an organization means considering it as your own. That means you should do everything you can to make it succeed as you would do if it were your own company. However, the element that will make you do it effectively is your understanding of the company's vision. Your Company's vision must be aligned with your vision in order to be fully engaged. The irony is that some workers do not know their companies' mission statement, not to talk about their vision. 

     In order to get what you want from a company, you must first understand what the company wants from you! It then follows that if you give the company what it wants, you will receive what you want. As simple as that. This is the guiding principle from making any business profitable. In other words, this is the principle on which wealth creation is based. No company can give you an excellent career opportunity unless you are highly productive to it. 

     Therefore, if you want to have an excellent career opportunity in an organization, you must understand its vision and ask yourself what you can do to reach that vision. Think about this!

          

What is holding your career back from progress 2?

What is holding your career back from progress? Many people find themselves trapped without any chances of moving forward or sideways. One of the reasons for this situation is lack of flexibility or adaptation to new ideas, technology, concepts, or processes. 

     Companies compete on a global basis in varieties of areas. This is because we have new countries entering into the traditional markets dominated by developed countries. This puts pressure on traditional companies which try to defend their market share. In order to defend their market share, companies computerize their processes in order to be more efficient and reduce costs. They also do this by introducing new business ideas with different business models. Whatever they do for survival alters workers' ways of executing their functions. It is impossible to make changes in organizations without making changes in the workers.

     Although companies offer change management training as a way to prepare workers, some do not adapt to the proposed changes. This occurs mostly to older workers. As a result of their time with company, the management generally keep the workers. Secondly, companies may lose a lot of money by firing them. Instead, younger workers are promoted because they are more flexible or adaptable to anything new. 

     So, if you are not making any progress, you should verify your position with respect to the changes occuring in your Company. How do you embrace these changes? This is one of the reasons for being stuck with your career.

     In the next posts, we will look at other reasons why some people do not make progress in their careers!

                 

What is holding your career back from progress 1?

Many people are found trapped in their careers. They do not move forward nor do they move sideways. They are stagnant. They are found trapped in a hole. But, what are the factors which hold people's career back from success? Before we look at the causes, let us first define what is meant by a stagnant career.

     The career of a person is considered stagnant when compared with his or her peers. When someone does not receive promotion while almost all his peers have been promoted. Some peers may have even reached the position of vice presidency or presidency. In some cases, promotions are not done vertically, but horizontally. For example, the function can be the same, but importance may be different. A person may hold the same function, but with many subordinates or with many subsidiaries or even more important department such as the Finance.

     How do you feel when you see your peers going into higher positions? If you feel bad about it, what do you do? The first thing to do if your career does not move vertical or horizontal is to ask yourself what is wrong with you. For you to do a thorough analysis, you need to consider some factors. These factors will be explained in the next post!             

   

The effect of culture on negotiation 2

In my last post, I wrote about the effect of Oriental Culture on negotiation with the western culture and what westerners should be aware of. Today, let us look at how Latin American culture influences its negotiation process. 

     Latin America is composed of countries located in the Southern and Central America. Someone doing business or going into negotiation with a Latino person should be aware that he or she needs a reference or referee who is known by the Latino. The door opens to you through this referee. Generally, they do not trust people they do not know. So, having a good referee is more important than a written contract. 

     Another observation is with respect to pricing. Prices are not generally given freely through the phone. Prices are given to you only when they see you in person and are sure you are going to buy the product or service.

     So, do not ignore these cultural differences while negotiating with someone from Latin America.         

The effect of culture on Negotiation

In my earlier post, I wrote about the art of negotiation. In that post, the art of negotiation did not consider the effect of culture. The post considered people of the same culture. Now, how does one go about negotiating with people from other cultures? The cultures generally considered are East and Western cultures. However, we have sub-cultures within these. 

    The Eastern or Oriental culture is known for not being too verbal or too persuasive like the Western culture. In the same way, the Orientals do not like a lot of persuasion. This means when you are negotiating with people from Asia (China, Japan, etc.), you need to give them all the information you have without making a lot of maneuvering tactics or going from point to another. Present your minimum price because there is no room for a lot of bargaining. You should understand that you should not get immediate reply or order for your products or services. Do not consider that to mean the deal will not be closed.

     Another difference lies on the fact that they maintain their words, with or without written contract. In the next posts, we will look at the effect of other cultures on negotiation. So, check out!       

  

How does your behavior affect your career 3?

In my earlier posts, I gave some tips about the effect of your behavior on your career. In the present post, I will give some advice on what to do after discovering that your behavior may be affecting your career. Immediately you notice any of the tips given in the second post, you need to take the following steps:

 - think about the last time you met with your superiors and remember how
    they felt about your comments and your suggestions;   

 - did you notice anything from their body movement when you made the
   comment?
 - imagine yourself to be the boss and someone made the comment to you. How
   would you react?
 - if you cannot find solution by yourself, look for outside help immediately;
 - do not look for help from your organization because your colleagues might be
   afraid to tell you the truth; 
 - the appropriate outside help will be psychological one. They have various 
   tests about human comportment. This is what you need;
 - you need to invest some time and money in this process. It is not a problem
   someone solves in very short period of time;
 - bear in mind that changing behavior is very difficult, but you can do it
   because you are the one who desires for the change; 
 - do not enter into the trap of thinking that investment in personal development
    is a waste of money. It is an investment with a huge return; 

After the training, you will see how people will like to be associated with you. Good luck!
      

    

Negotiation is an art!

Negotiation is an art. It is an art of discovering who needs the deal the most. Who needs the deal the most has to accept the conditions imposed by the other side. It is as a simple as that, although nobody will give you this information. The jargon generally used is a win-win negotiation. There is nothing like a win-win negotiation. If one wants something he does not know how to produce or know the components or from where to get them, the person will be very happy to have the product at the price given to him. If the buyer has some information or some knowledge about the product or where he can get competitors, his negotiation capacity increases. In this case, he cannot any price given to him.

     When going into negotiation, try as much as possible to have information about what you are negotiating. On the contrary, you are going into submission and not into negotiation. So, think of that!