How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Employee

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A really great employee is “rewarded” with a promotion to a leadership position, and now they are failing miserably. You’ve noticed their motivation and drive decline, and their stress increase exponentially. “They were so good,” you say to yourself, “what happened to them?” The answer to that question could be several things (which we’ll discuss later), but throughout my career I have seen senior leaders immediately jump to evaluate and judge the person they promoted instead of looking in the mirror. Notice the “what happened to them” response. In fact, the mirror might reflect that it was not “them” at all, but a misstep (or a series of them) on the part of leadership. To get to the root cause(s), start by asking these questions: Was this person promoted for the right reasons? All too often employees are promoted because they are the best at what they do – i.e. “rewarded” for their skills and knowledge, and maybe even because they work really hard. Another common promotion criteria, it seems, is tenure. I once heard a seasoned district manager justify a promotion based on the comment “because he’s a good guy, and he’s been around a long time.” I’m not suggesting that these things shouldn’t be considered at all, just that they’re not the primary criteria for success as a leader. Did anyone ask about their leadership qualities? Do they inspire others around them? Do they role model behaviors that reflect the organization’s values? Do they naturally create followers? Did we set clear expectations about how a leadership role is different than an individual contributor role? I wish I had the proverbial dollar for every time I’ve heard a new leader lament that it was not what they thought it would be…it’s a lot harder…more stressful…not really what I wanted…etc. Many employees see stars in their eyes, and start counting the money when they are presented with the opportunity for a promotion, but don’t stop to consider (or are not appropriately coached) on what a leadership role really involves. Did we create the right support system for the new leader? Coaching and mentoring support is critical to those new to leadership. They may have a business degree and/or attended some great leadership seminars in the past, but applying that knowledge successfully – in the real world and in real time – is a skill that requires practice. Coaches and mentors can accelerate the learning curve by acting as sounding boards before critical actions are taken or decisions are made – sharing their experience and asking objective questions. Did we set the bar too high? If you’re expectation is that this superstar employee will be a superstar leader right out of the gate, you’ll set them, and the organization up for failure. I have coached hundreds of new (and unhappy) leaders over the years, and one common theme is that they think they’re expected to know everything and to be able to make all the decisions on their own. That’s what a manager does, right? That’s why I was promoted isn’t it? They are also deathly afraid of making mistakes – for fear that it will ruin their career and make it look like they should not have been promoted in the first place. This kind of pressure to immediately perform can cripple even the strongest people. New leaders need to know that it’s OK to ask questions, and it’s especially OK to make mistakes. They need to feel secure in knowing that those are things expected from a new leader – seeking advice and being honest about their shortcomings and mistakes – not that they must be flawless and all-knowing. So now what? Can this be fixed? Should we just put them back in an individual contributor role and write it off as a poor decision? Is their apparent failure as a leader reason enough to exit them from the company? The answer is “it depends.” No two situations are exactly alike, and therefore cookie-cutter solutions are not usually appropriate. Start by evaluating what, if any, of the common errors outlined above may have been made – starting with your criteria for promotion and your support systems for new leaders. That may necessarily mean a hard look in the mirror about how much of the current situation you own! From there, an open, honest conversation with the leader, including admission and discussion of any mistakes the company might have made, will go a long way to developing the appropriate plan of action. Remember, this employee was once a top performer, as evidenced by your decision to promote them. Keeping them – in whatever capacity makes sense for them and for the organization – is the ideal outcome! To prevent this from happening again, proactively assess your company’s promotion practices: 1. Have you established clear (but not necessarily rigid) criteria for promotion? Is it a “balanced” approach – i.e. not purely based on metrics?rn2. Do you identify and develop individuals who show leadership qualities – no matter how long they’ve worked for you? That is…are you always developing your bench?rn3. Do you use some kind of objective leadership assessment to support promotional decisions? There are many good ones out there, but they don’t necessarily have to be a pass/fail tool – just decision support. And don’t forget the due diligence of conversations with their current peers and teammates – keep those informal and you’ll get the best information.rn4. Do you have coaches and/or mentors for your new leaders? They NEED someone they can safely bounce their thoughts and ideas off of, and who will guide them through the minefield of first-time leadership. Hint: Their new boss is rarely the best person for this!rn5. Do you have very candid conversations about the different skill set needed to lead others’ before the promotion is finalized? Who does this and how? Again, don’t assume that their boss is the best person for this. This should include a discussion about how hard it can be to lead people who were formerly peers (and maybe even friends), and how those relationships may change. rn6. Does your company provide career paths that allow outstanding individual contributors to be “promoted” without necessarily having to be placed in leadership positions (e.g. Analyst level 1, Analyst level 2, etc.)? Many companies have taken this approach to retaining top performers, who are not necessarily well-suited for (or may not be interested in) leadership positions.