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Four requirements of internal branding and why it all matters

There’s a reason that every business degree requires a Marketing class. It doesn’t matter what your job is anymore, you better be a marketer too. In Daniel Pink’s book, To Sell is Human, he discusses the importance of being able to sell in every profession. He argues that we all need to be sales people in order to be successful. I would argue the same thing about marketing. We have to be able to market everything that we do even when our customers are internal to the organization. Examples include support departments such as Human Resources, Finance and IT.

I believe that branding is of the utmost importance when it comes to internal marketing. It’s where everything starts. If you don’t have a good brand, you can’t sell your product, service or value. There are four key requirements to achieving this brand.

Consistency

A strong internal brand requires consistency. My team jokes that consistency is my favorite word in the dictionary. They get it though. Consistency in branding says so many things to our customers, end users or stakeholders.

  1. It says we’re credible. Consistency allows people to actually understand our brand and if they can understand it, they can buy into it. They can appreciate it and believe in it. They can trust it.
  2. It says we’re predictable. Customers want to know what they can expect. Consistency gives them comfort in knowing that there is quality in everything we offer, regardless of the day or time or who on our team or in our organization they encounter when they have a need.
  3. It says we’re confident and if we’re confident, everyone who comes in contact with us and our product or service will be confident too. Consistency means we know what we’re doing, we know what we’re offering is exceptional and we’ll produce the same high quality time after time.

Sophistication and Simplicity

A strong brand must be sophisticated, yet simple. Wait what? I’m contradicting myself, right? How can we be both at the same time? I’m not going to say this is easy. It’s actually extremely difficult to find the right balance between sophistication and simplicity when it comes to our brand.

Our brand has to be smart. It has to meet every criteria our stakeholders are looking for – personalization, versatility, relevancy, wit and much more! Yet, it also has to be simple – consistent (check!), understandable, quick and to the point.

The best way I have found to do this is to keep simplicity at the core throughout the planning process while considering options for incorporating the sophistication. Apple is a great example of this. The company’s brand is always simple, an apple. Yet, they add flares of sophistication and complication by offering different color options for user personalization. They keep it consistent in that every computer operates the exact same way with a dock of icons and every iPhone works by clicking on any icon to open an application. It’s smart and innovative but it’s so simple that users will be able to use Apple products for years and decades (maybe their entire lives) without learning new ways to operate the products.

This is very different than Windows products which requires a slightly more tech-savvy user to be able to operate it without instruction. As a trainer, I’ve witnessed this thousands of times. It used to be a start button with a menu. Then, with Windows 8, there was an entire start screen, not just a button. Now, Windows 10 is a combination of the two. My mother cannot operate her Windows computers if her life depended on it but she’s had three different iPhones and she used all of them like a pro. She asked me just the other day if I knew that she could do everything on an iPhone and there’s really no reason she needs a computer anymore.

Yes, how customers interact with a product or service is part of branding.

Appearance

I hate to say it but looks matter…a lot! Our brand can be consistent and we can win the sophistication/simplicity balance but if our brand is not appealing, neither is our product, in the eyes of our stakeholders at least. We must consider all design elements such as contrasting colors, white space and appropriate font sizes when designing any outward facing elements of an actual product or when designing promotional (or other) materials.

Impression

A strong brand leaves a lasting impression. It elicits emotion and retention. This requires all of the previous three requirements. It’s the wow factor when all is said and done. Do all of the elements of our brand come together cohesively?

It’s important to do a check, a double check and a triple check test before we launch our brand. It is also necessary to pilot our brand, ask for feedback, whatever it takes to make sure it will hit home for our audiences.

Our business, our value and our reputation rely on a strong internal brand and the four requirements of that brand. That should be reason enough to pay more attention to our internal brand!

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Create a Sense of Place for Your Team

A sense of place is actually a fairly common phrase used in geography, landscape design and interior design. It refers to the idea of creating something special and unique where people feel that they belong, perhaps to something greater than themselves. I think of really well planned parks where the design really took into consideration the people who would visit them – meeting places, comfortable spaces to sit, greenery and gardens, convenient walking paths, options for activities and other necessary concepts to create a feeling for visitors that they belong there.

Let’s apply this concept to the workplace. Creating a sense of place for your team does not have to be expensive. It can be but it does not have to be. There are so many ways to make employees feel like they are part of something when they’re at work, like they have a sense of belonging. They should feel meaning when they go to work every day. There is a lot that can play into a sense of place. You don’t have to have all of them to be successful but as many as you can incorporate into your workplace will be beneficial.

Efficiency

Efficiency in this sense is not about how fast you can get a task done. It’s about what makes sense for people at work. Are your workspaces designed so that employees can get to and from their offices with ease? Are they able to move within your organization in a manner that makes sense and does not require a lot of thought? For example, I think of an office space where on one level, there’s a food court in the middle and meetings spaces surrounding it. Then, on the second level, offices surround a community area with games and a patio out to a Zen garden. The two floors are open to each other and you can get to any single point easily and everything is placed logically. It’s easy to grab a bite to eat or a coffee right before or after a meeting when people usually need one of the two. It’s easy to take a break from office work by just stepping outside your door to play a game with a coworker or take a walk in a relaxing atmosphere, the garden.

Life

Workplaces often lack life, green life that is. Studies show that plants, flowers and vegetation can increase energy and focus and lead to a longer life. Purchase plants for your employees’ offices and build a garden together. There are so many benefits to a community garden:

  • It falls into our category of adding life into the workplace so it can increase productivity by helping your employees focus more.
  • It gives people something meaningful to do when they just need a break.
  • It builds on teamwork and can really bring people together for a common cause.
  • It is a great perk for employees to be able to take home food from the garden.
  • It encourages employees to cook for each other and share their recipes.
  • It allows for great conversation in a much safer and comfortable environment, rather than at the water cooler.

Options

People don’t like feeling stuck and if you’re trying to create a sense of belonging, you don’t want them to feel stuck. Build options into your workplace

  • for where people do their work – offices, open spaces, think pods, couches, etc.
  • for where people have their meetings – conference rooms, lunch meeting spaces, cafes and fun rooms (exercise balls, stress balls, basketball hoops).
  • for where people can take a break – gardens, food courts, coffee shops, game rooms or quiet rooms.
  • for where people can collaborate – training rooms, rooms with smartboards, computer labs and project rooms.

Connectedness

So, it’s great to have work spaces that make sense. What about the human side? Create a sense of place for employees by creating a culture of connectedness. Don’t just build a team; build a community. A community is a group of peers who trust each other, have found commonality despite their differences and feel a bond. They not only work well together but they do everything well together. A great recent example of this is the Chicago Cubs team. Whether you’re a fan or not, you can’t deny the sense of place that Joe Maddon has created for his team. They laugh together, play together, work together, win together and lose together. You never hear the players blame each other for losses or take all the credit for wins. If you watch them in the dugout during games, they are genuinely having fun at work. They’re never as serious as the other team. They goof around with their fans and with each other. They have become something larger, greater and better than themselves.

Celebration

Celebration is not just about throwing a party after a big accomplishment or telling people good job after they complete a project. Celebration is constant, genuine and 360-degrees. If celebration is truly a part of your culture, you sometimes celebrate for no particular reason. Don’t just do payday treats and birthday parties. Those are expected and can feel forced or disingenuous. Some things you can do include surprising your team with treats on totally random days, dropping off little anonymous gifts on their desks before or after they are at work and throwing a thank you party out of nowhere (not when anything important is going on). I’ve done these things for my team and it has paid off ten-fold as they now celebrate constantly. They have fun and do great work. It’s hard to believe sometimes that it’s possible to have both but when you do, it is quite amazing!

Purpose

Give people meaning, not just in the work that they do everyday but at work in general. If people don’t know why they go to work everyday or why they do what they do, you’ve lost the battle. Don’t be confused though. Meaning and purpose looks very different than reason. A good reason to go to work is to get paid. A good purpose for going to work is to serve your team and better the lives of your customers, patients or clients. To really have purpose, your team has to believe in everything: their work, their team, the values of the organization, the people they serve, the physical space they work in, the technology they work with, the product and service they are delivering and the leadership they have supporting them.

Remember these six pillars of creating a sense of place as you look to make positive changes to your teams, organizations and cultures. From my sense of place to yours!

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Don’t beg employees to stay as they leave

Stop begging at work. Quite frankly, it’s really not a good look for you anyway. We’ll get to that. What I’m talking about specifically is when employers beg employees to stay only after they leave, or threaten to.

Whether an employee is asking for a raise or some other work environment change, their supervisors or HR do not usually take them seriously until they are about ready to leave or worse, already left your organization. So, what’s the big deal? Well, it’s actually quite disrespectful.

  • It’s disrespectful to the employee. When employers don’t consider an employee’s request for something to change to make their work environment better, the employee feels devalued. I’m speaking, of course, about high performers. You may not ever be able to make everyone happy but the worst thing you can do to your highest performers is to make them feel less than what they really are to you. Waiting until they threaten to leave to make a change doesn’t help. It takes a lot of energy for them to look for another job and go through interviewing processes. It is completely disrespectful to them when you make them an offer to stay only when you realize they can go somewhere else.
  • It’s disrespectful to the other organization that is ready and willing to hire your employee. If you wait until your employee has another offer on the table, you’re wasting the time of the organization that has invested resources in hiring your employee. It takes time, money and other resources – someone to source the applications, a recruiter, a hiring manager, an onboarding staff, trainers, etc. You wouldn’t want this to happen to you so don’t put this burden on others.
  • It’s disrespectful to your team. Your team is not just going to think that you do not value people but how are they going to feel when they find out you made a higher offer or change for the employee who was leaving? The message you are sending is that the only way someone can get a higher salary or positive change on your team is if they threaten to leave. Everyone will start looking for another job!
  • It’s disrespectful to yourself. As leaders, you have a responsibility to support your teams and like it or not, you have a reputation to maintain. If you beg employees to stay only after they leave, you look like a fool and that is not a good look for a leader. Respect yourself enough not to do this.

I’m not suggesting you give employees everything they want, not even your highest performers. The point is you need to take off the blurry glasses and at least take a hard look at what’s going on in your workplaces, how you are treating your best employees and consider making meaningful changes before you lose them. Take this as a way to look in the mirror at yourself and do a quick reality check because you often don’t realize the impact of your decisions and actions especially if no one tells you or you’re in the midst of a busy work schedule. Be proactive in making appropriate changes for your team instead of waiting until you feel forced to do it because they are looking for another opportunity.

I get it. Depending on where you are on the hierarchy, you may or may not have as much power as you would like in order to impact change. Before you give up on fighting for your employees though, answer this question honestly: did you even try fighting for them or did you just give up? Ask the right questions to your HR departments. Take the time to put a business case together to present to your senior leaders. Draft a well thought-out proposal for your boss. Use your connections. If you lose the battle, at least you know you went down fighting for what you believe was the right thing.

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Focus on one: Quick transformations that stick

Have you ever been part of an initiative to make a change and it fell apart, did not last very long or was not enforced (so no one actually did it)? Silly me, right? Of course you have! We all have! Change is not easy. It is something that organizations have been trying to do forever and most have not found anything that works.

First, let’s talk about some methods that do NOT work but many organizations still insist on doing. Let’s save you some time because as my mother says, “You can often learn as much from others’ mistakes as you can from your own.”

  • Change it but don’t say it. It’s hard enough for people to experience change but to make a change and not tell them about it is even worse. Ask employees for their feedback, include them in the change and inform them throughout the process.
  • Say it but don’t change it. This happens too. Don’t say you’re going to make a change (especially if it’s a positive one) and then not maintain the change. This happens a lot with process improvement initiatives where organizations will make some efficiency changes and then a few months down the road, everyone resorts back to the way they used to do things. This can be frustrating for the staff who put a lot of work in making the improvement changes. Get buy-in and ownership and hold each other accountable.
  • Put it in the 3-5-10 Year Plans. Why is everything is a three, five or ten year plan? Successful transformations can happen in a lot less time than that. What usually happens with the 3-5-10 year plans is that by the time the deadline hits, there are new leaders in charge of the plans who end up making brand new 3-5-10 year plans. Therefore, nothing gets done, everything is a blame game and it becomes the cycle of operations.
  • Change it all. Organizations try to change everything at once. When you have too much change going on or too many initiatives in motion, people get confused. You cannot blame them for not buying in when they can’t even understand what is going on. You cannot change everything and expect it to happen quickly.

So, how do we solve this problem of unsuccessful change management? I have one solution and only one solution for you to try. Transform one thing at a time. For example, if you’re trying to shift the culture of an organization to be more team oriented, start with one department or one manager’s team. Survey only that one team, see if you can get to the root of the problem and implement your solutions with them. The problem is not usually with the plans or solutions that people come up with; it’s the fact that they are trying to implement that plan or solution at too large of a scale.

The same concept works when we’re trying to make transformations, in people or in organizations. If you can get one team to make significant transformations that last, other leaders will be knocking on your door begging you to work your magic on their department or team. Then, the larger impact will be felt and it will last longer. Plus, if you only make one transformation at a time, you can probably do it in less time. Forget the 3-5-10 year plans for change; make 3-6-9 month transformations one at a time. Focus on one to make quick transformations that stick!

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Engaging a Free Agent Workforce

We’re all free agents. We always have been but more and more, we’re seeing people take advantage of their free agency. So, how do you engage a workforce full of free agents?

It’s not going to be easy but employers need to start thinking about customization and personalization. Each generation, each profession and each person may want something totally different out of their companies. The most forward thinking companies are trying out some different tactics to keep their best employees around. You should too!

Flexible Scheduling

Don’t just enforce a 4-day work week policy on everyone and call it a day. Flexible scheduling means that you allow for employees to flex their schedules as necessary so that they can have a better integration of their work and life. It’s about empowering people to do what they need to do and connecting the different pieces of their lives to make it whole rather than separate parts.

Service Initiatives

Offer financial and other resources for employees to support the nonprofit organizations and causes that they care the most about. Allow them to volunteer together. It builds teamwork and makes people feel like their values are aligned with the organization’s values.

A Sense of Place

With so many differing opinions, perspectives and values in the workplace, it’s never been more difficult to provide meaning for people at work. It’s the key to engagement, though. We need to be able to provide employees with a sense of place, a sense of belonging. Companies need to work extremely closely with leadership to ensure that employees feel connected to their work.

Regardless of the methods you choose to achieve the above factors, make sure that you are always re-evaluating to make sure that your practices are changing as your workforce changes. Customization and personalization are difficult things to accomplish but they are extremely important to engaging a free agent workforce.

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The role and impact of every employee on the mission

I’m about to take some new training professionals onto my team and the process got me thinking about why training matters in healthcare and the importance of non-clinical employees in the industry. In healthcare, there is one focus, the patient, and rightfully so. So, who takes care of the patient? The nurses, physicians, therapists and other clinical staff. When it comes to the employee population, often times, the spotlight is solely on the clinical staff because they take direct care of our patients.

When your touch is as direct and intimate as that of a nurse or physician, your impact is often immediate and clear. There’s no arguing the power of saving a life. So, what role does everyone else in healthcare play in customer service and patient care? I challenge anyone who thinks that they don’t have a role.

I’ve had the absolute privilege of wearing three hats in my healthcare career: human resources (HR), training, and information technology (IT). I can connect everything I have done and continue to do in these roles back to patient care. I know how I impact the bottom line and I want my soon-to-be training team to understand what their role really means in achieving the mission of our organization.

As an HR professional, my job is to make sure that employees receive appropriate pay and benefits, that they have avenues for support with workplace issues and that they get to work in a safe and engaging environment. As an IT professional, it is my job to provide functional and innovative technology, the appropriate support for that technology and the relevant guidance needed to make the best possible technical decisions for operations. As a training professional, my job is to offer clear and accurate education, effective evaluation of competencies and continued learning support to employees. All of these things allow our clinical staff to focus on the most important thing in our organization: taking care of our patients.

Ultimately, I do what I do so that the employees I serve can best serve their customers and patients. If non-clinical employees do not receive the proper tools and investments to do their jobs well, clinical staff will end up frustrated that they have to focus on things like slow computers, complicated HR policies, and accountability without training. Then, patient care is no longer at the forefront for these employees. However, if we value our non-clinical staff enough to empower them to make great decisions and do great work, they can make sure that the patient is always front and center.

As leaders, we should never diminish the value of our non-clinical staff and as non-clinical staff, we should always understand the important role we play in patient care and think about how to best serve our customers: the employees who take care of those patients. With support for and investment in both clinical and non-clinical staff, the employee and patient experiences become stronger, better and more valuable.

Whether you are in healthcare or not, its critical that employees understand their role and impact on the mission, regardless of where they sit in the company.

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How a punitive culture will punish you

Why are we so afraid to fail and why are we so afraid to let our employees fail? Often, it’s because we’re punished for it. If we make a mistake at work, we get written up for it or in the harshest of organizations, maybe even fired for it.

I challenge you to change this mindset in your organizations. I’m not asking you to give up accountability. I am asking you to rid the punitive cultures that exist in your workplaces. Failure without accountability has no place in the workplace but allowing people to learn from failure holds great value.

I’ve seen organizations lose exceptional employees because they punished them for a “mistake.” Some of these “mistakes” include making a decision that the organization felt should not have been made by the employee or forgetting to do something once. If you have a good employee in this situation, they may start looking for another job because you punished them right away instead of empowering them to learn from their mistakes.

It goes beyond mistakes though. Sometimes, employees are punished simply because they made a decision that the organization or leader does not agree with even though that decision may play out in everyone’s favor in the end. Employees don’t always have the chance to see their ideas, risks and decisions come to fruition because they get in trouble just for presenting them.

Allow your employees to fail and take some risks without punishing them. A punitive culture keeps people down after they fall rather than helps them back up. Remember that as leaders, we make mistakes too but we sometimes have the power to avoid punishment for them. We’re often trusted and expected to learn from our mistakes without any guidance from others.

Think about the last time you did something wrong. If you can’t think of something, you’re in desperate need of some self reflection. Then, think about the last time you did that same thing again but did it right. The feeling of relief that something that once went poorly now went very well is a pretty amazing feeling. Afford your employees the same right to have that feeling. Let them learn from their mistakes and have the opportunity to fix them or change them for next time.

Some of the most successful people and the best employees are the ones who make a lot of mistakes because they are the ones willing to take some risks. They learn from each mistake and eventually, they could be the ones who do something really cool that makes you and the organization look good too. So, stop punishing your employees for making mistakes or taking risks without first empowering them to learn from those mistakes or see the outcome of their risks. A punitive culture only punishes you.

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Want employees to step up? Make them a plate to step up to!

Why do so many leaders throw out the word “accountability” as if it’s magical and will just make people successful? Trust me, I believe 100% in holding people accountable. In fact, I write about it, talk about it and live it out every day in my work.

The wake up call, however, is that accountability is not something that just happens. We can’t just tell people what to do and then punish them if they don’t do it. “Do this, or else…” and “My way or the highway.” are threats, not forms of accountability.

Accountability is nothing without proper training, guidance, support, development, assistance, patience and leadership. Managers tend to focus so much on “what” they need to hold their staff accountable for that they often forget “how” to actually accomplish such a thing. They forget that if they want employees to step up to the plate, they need to give the employee a plate to step up to.

When I say “a plate to step up to,” I don’t necessarily mean that there needs to be a promotional opportunity or financial incentive. I mean that we need to give people a reason to step up. We need to motivate people if we want to succeed as leaders.

The years of 30, 40 and 50 year service pins are gone. Employees are going to have more choices than ever before when it comes to jobs. With an overwhelming amount of job boards at their fingertips and websites such as Glassdoor, the future of job-seeking is going to look more like job shopping. The ball is now in the jobseekers’ court, not the employers’ court.

As organizational leaders, we need to find ways to get the most out of our people and give the most back to them. Our jobs are harder than ever but if we do it right, our hard work will pay off. We need to personalize our relationships with each employee so we know what motivates them to step up to the plate and do their best work. Then, we need to create that plate for them and help them step up to it.

I used to shop at Express simply because I liked their clothes and well, that’s all it used to take to gain my business. If I liked your product, I bought it. They’ve never provided poor customer service. Their staff is as friendly as the next store but I stopped shopping there. Why? I found something better!

I went into a White House Black Market one day and who would have known but the experience changed my life…or at least my shopping experiences. Their clothes were no better than Express, in my opinion. An associate approached me, not to see if I needed any help, which is the question most store associates ask. “Do you need any help?” is a yes or no question. At White House Black Market, they asked me what I was looking for today and how they can help me get what I’m looking for. They made me think. I had to come up with the reason I was there, a goal.

I needed some new work clothes. The associate spent about five minutes walking around the store with me seeing what I picked out. She was checking out my taste in style, my size, my color choices, etc. She then said to me, “I’m going to take what you’ve picked out and start a fitting room for you. Then, while you try these on, I’m going to continue shopping for you. I’ll have more outfits ready when you’re done with what you’ve already picked out. We’ll keep trying until you have what you need.” I had a personal shopper! Coolest thing ever and it was free! Her picks were spot on with my taste!

That’s personalization, if I’ve ever seen it! Why not do the same thing with that “plate” we need our employees to step up to? Whether you like it or not and whether you believe it or not, employees are constantly shopping for jobs. Even if they are not actively seeking a job, people are dangling job postings, interview appointments and job offers in their faces constantly – LinkedIn InMail, position advertisements on every website, email alerts from Indeed, conferences and other networking events.

If we don’t personalize that “plate” that we expect our employees to step up to, we’re going to lose them and that accountability you were trying to force on them is completely irrelevant. Talk to your staff, find out what makes them tick and use that to create motivation and build accountability.

To most leaders’ surprise, employees actually appreciate accountability. They want to set goals with you and be motivated to meet them. They won’t do those things though if you’re micromanaging them, providing a negative work environment for them and giving them unrealistic expectations to work with.

What does each of your employees’ “plates” look like? Does it have money on it? Is there a career development plan on it? Does it have a learning opportunity on it? Is there some recognition or reward on it? Does it have a touching story on it? Maybe, there’s just a big smile and nice pat on the back waiting for them on the “plate,” and that might just be enough for them to step up.

Remember, though, that fair is not always equal. Motivation comes in all different shapes, sizes and methods. Either way, it has to be personal and mean something to the person you’re trying to motivate, the person you’re trying to get to step up. If that plate doesn’t have what they’re looking for, they won’t step up; they’ll step away to find a different plate to step up to.

So, are you serving up a plate of motivation?

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Your choice: Peer to fear or peer to pioneer?

So, you’ve been promoted. Congratulations, you’re now in charge of your peers and possibly, your friends!

Don’t panic! Here’s a recommendation you can follow to be successful. I call it the LASH OUT solution.

Layout expectations for everyone.

If you outline your expectations to your entire team, including your friends, everyone will know what they need to do. Be very clear about what results need to be produced.

In addition to the work, successful leaders define expectations for their teams related to people skills and team behaviors. Tell your team the kind of leader you’re willing to be and make clear what your expectations are of them, individually and as a team.

Avoid favoritism.

Don’t treat your friends better than everyone else. This sounds simple but it’s actually very difficult to do consistently. People are often afraid of breaking friendships if they don’t give their friends special treatment. As my mother would say, if they don’t want to be your friend for doing the right thing, they’re not good friends to begin with.

Now, I’m not a believer that you cannot keep your friendships or build new ones with team members. However, leaders need to constantly remind themselves of the line between friendship and leadership. Don’t let your friends on the team get away with doing less work, producing lower quality results or misbehaving. You’re only hurting yourself if you play favorites. Plus, it makes you lose credibility.

Spread the love.

Did you used to go out to eat or enjoy happy hour with some of the employees you now lead? No one’s asking you to stop but you might want to consider inviting the rest of the team sometimes or doing these same things with rest of your team members. If you can include everyone in the activities that build personal relationships, you may end up with a really awesome team who not only enjoys working together but genuinely enjoys each other.

Hold your entire staff accountable for team and individual goals and behaviors.

Remember when we talked about expectations? Don’t just set them. Hold people accountable for them. If someone on your team needs coaching, even if it’s your friend, coach them. Communicate to them that you want to help but that you also have expectations of them.

The goal is to get the most out of your team so that you can lead change, create positive results and make a difference together.

Opt out of all the gossip.

The days of water cooler chat are over when you’re promoted to a leadership position. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in the gossip. Not that it’s okay for your employees to be gossiping but when you’re a leader, you need to be the one who sets the example.

Understand your employees.

Get to know everyone on your team, not just your friends. Learn about what they like, what motivates them and what frustrates them. Use what you learn to personalize your leadership to each person. Just like people learn differently, people also respond to leadership styles differently. Adapt as necessary. Leaders must be nimble.

Take time outs.

You can disagree all you want but you are never too busy to take a time out. Time outs are for reflecting and re-energizing, Take time outs often to think about the things you can do differently to lead your team successfully and to get motivated to do them.

Use this LASH OUT model to ensure a successful transition from peer to leader. Ultimately, it’s your choice. Do you want to go from peer to fear or peer to pioneer? LASH OUT and pioneer change and great ideas!

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Fit for duty does not equal fit to lead

Just because you’re good at your job, it does not mean that you will be a good leader. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see organizations make when it comes to their human resources. While I believe strongly in succession planning and employee development, growth does not always equate to promotion into a leadership position.

To determine how to best recognize and reward your employees, speak with them about their career aspirations, build upon their strengths and move them into positions and environments where they’ll thrive. Don’t automatically assume that the next step for every star performer is management.

I’ve seen far too many organizations lose fantastic employees because they were forced into management positions they could not handle. Going from a staff position to managing a group of your peers is not an easy thing for anyone, let alone someone who does not have the right set of skills to take this on, or even the desire. Just because someone can manage a task, it does not mean they can manage people.

Here are some questions to ponder before promoting an employee(s) into a leadership position(s):

  1. Is management even what they want to do? Forget for a second if they would even be right for the job. If they have no passion for a leadership position and you force them into one, you’ve defeated the purpose of recognizing and rewarding them.
  2. Are they qualified? When I ask these questions, the response I often get is, “Well, if I don’t push them to take on a leadership position, I’ll never know if they’re a good fit or not.” However, people fail to realize that leaders often don’t carry titles. The people you should look to when filling leadership positions are those who are already leading your teams informally. You may have intelligent and hard workers on your team but who do they look to for direction, support, guidance, feedback and decisions?
  3. Is there another way to promote them? Promotion does not always mean taking on a management position and growth does not always happen through upward movement. If you have an outstanding employee who is not fit to lead, you may consider creating another promotional opportunity for that person. What about a new job with new or more responsibilities and meaningful benefits?
  4. How would the team feel if you promoted this person? It doesn’t just matter how the employee feels; don’t forget about the team you’re asking this employee to lead. I have met a lot of employees who are well-respected by their peers for their knowledge but despised for their lack of people skills. If you promote someone in this situation, you’re not just letting that person down but you’re letting the entire team down.

So, consider the implications of promoting employees into leadership positions before actually doing it.

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