The Opportunity
An executive committee sits around a boardroom table, reviewing the last agenda item- replacing a member of the committee that is retiring.
“Sharon is the obvious internal choice.” One member indicates a mid-level manager. “She has quite a bit of experience with the company, she has the requisite education, and a very respectable record of success with her department.”
“Yes, but if we promote Sharon, there is no one to take her place. Nobody knows her department as well as she does, and the performance of that department is especially critical.” Another member says.
“I’m afraid we can’t afford to free her up from her present duties. There is too great a risk if that department slips. Our systems are just too specific to train from ground up. It’s easier to recruit externally for the higher-level position than it would be to back-fill Sharon’s job.” The CEO voices, regretfully. “We might as well get started. Let’s inform HR and get the process moving.”
Sharon may never know about the conversation in the board room, but she’ll undoubtedly be puzzled and frustrated at the outcome. Many people never grasp the fact that it’s not just their own performance in their job that counts, it’s also their promotability- which includes having a way to ensure that their job will get done if they’re promoted.
The Solution
Grooming a replacement runs counter to common sense for some people. The workplace has changed drastically in recent years because of the shortage of workers, and also because of the booming economy. In many cases, it’s not so much many pee ople competing for the few jobs at the top, but many jobs at the top competing for people- be they internal or external folks. And unfortunately, it’s almost always easier to recruit higher-level managers than to move someone up and fill the vacancy they leave behind.
In Lessons from the Top, Thomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin outline some of the challenges faced by corporations and recruiters in keeping the top management positions in companies filled. It used to be that you had to wait for someone to die or retire before you could move up. Now, as new companies are formed, old ones are expanded and reorganized, and people are retiring or semi-retiring younger than ever, management talent is in more demand than ever before. And your company can find it one of two places- internally, by moving someone up; or externally, by recruiting someone from outside.
This article assumes that you want to move up within the company that you’re currently with. It also assumes that you’re ambitious and motivated, but these tactics work for anyone whether they’re starting at the mailroom or whether their next jump is to CEO.
The Trap of Exclusive Knowledge
I’ve heard a woman brag about how valuable she is to the company because “I’m the only one who really knows the payroll system inside and out.” The possible outcomes to that type of exclusivity are:
- She’ll be stuck running the payroll system the rest of her life and be passed over for opportunities for promotion, like Sharon in our example above, or
- Her manager will get nervous about the apparent bottleneck of information, and either prescribe cross-training (forcing our payroll specialist out of her exclusive position) or else replace the payroll system with something more generic, where the skill set to run it is not so rare.
The Wisdom of Replacing Oneself
“I’ve made myself obsolete four times since I’ve been with this company.” Greg, a call center project manager told me. “I started out answering phones. I learned everything I could, as quickly as I could, and was always willing to teach new people. They always had new people sit near me so I could help them.” he said. “At the time, it was just a way to make my job more interesting.”
He was naturally promoted to the Training department the first time an opportunity was available. He found he had extra time between classes, so he started learning HTML. With some help from the IS department he developed a reusable curriculum he could deploy on the company Intranet that other trainers could use. He adapted it based on their suggestions. The web-based curriculum was much more efficient than the ol curriculum, and fewer trainers were needed to teach it.
Greg was promoted to “specialist.” Part of his duties included handling calls that were outside certain call center staff’s ability to handle. He did some research and found a company that handled complex call tracking. He put a proposal together to buy and implement the software.
When the proposal was accepted, Greg was promoted to Project Manager to oversee the contractors’ work on the implementation.
Of course, some education has been required in the process, but his company has happily sent him to classes and workshops. “My boss would rather train me. She knows I’ll get the job done. She could hire somebody who already knows the skills but they don’t know the company, and may not have the track record I’ve got.”
How To Make It Work for You
Start with your written job description, if you have one. These are almost never the “whole story” of what you do, especially if you’ve been in your job for any length of time. Modify and add to it to include everything you do. Automate, or at least document, everything you do on a regular basis to make it easier for someone else to follow.
Look around your deparrtment for people who are interested in what you do, or interested in moving up. Suggest “walking them through” some of the things you do. Ask them to cover for you when you’re on vacation, or if you’re busy with other responsibilities.
Don’t get too hung up on finding a specific “protege’,” you will help the company, and yourself, more by raising the level of knowledge and proficiency in your department than by finding a specific person to replace you. This way, if that person’s plans change (or the company changes them for him or her) you’re still covered.
Let your higher-ups know of the arrangement. Let them know of your “protege’s” interests and aptitudes. Suggest some training for them if appropriate. Help them any way you can.
Now that you have some free time (from automating your tasks, and from having some help) focus your time on your next target- look for other ways to use your skills to help the company. This takes some insight, creativity, and some knowledge of your company and your industry.
- Talk to your co-workers (and your superiors) and find out what their particularly hairy operational headaches are. See if you can find a way to automate the tedius ones or simplify the complicated ones.
- Do some research on what your competitors are doing, and devote some creative energy into developing a proposal for a response or counter.
- Spend some time communicating with customers – find out what they want and develop a proposal to improve a product or service to better meet the “real” customer needs. (Sometimes things are missed in the market analysis, or the consumer group ends up being different than what you thought it would be.
Conclusion
It takes some courage to walk into your boss’ office and say “You don’t need me to do what I’ve been doing anymore.” But we’ve found if you do just that, prefacing a proposal of what you intend to do next, you’re likely to get what you ask for. Even if you don’t get promoted right away, at least you’ll draw attention to your interest, ambition and insight. You’ll get a chance to prove yourself on some new responsiblities. Helping people and taking chances are two sure ways to make your work life much more rewarding, and much more successful.
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