041: How to Manage a Promotion When It’s Too Soon with Kim Metcalf, Paul Catanzaro and Joe Schnebelen

Imagine the following: you have an employee looking to get promoted, but your manager or other decision-makers don’t think they are ready. What is the best way to deal with this challenging scenario?

Like in most tricky situations in life, the key lies in effective communication. It takes coordinated effort and honest conversation to determine if the employee truly meets the required skills for that promotion. 

You may have to tell your employee to pump the brakes and work towards getting in the right light to be promoted.

And as a manager, you have to make sure you’re providing the right opportunities for your employees to demonstrate that those changes are taking place. 

But your employee owns those action steps. You’re helping them to create it and providing them with the action steps, but they own executing that plan as well. That’s when actual growth as an employee happens.

I’m Rob Fonte, and today I’m joined by Kim Metcalf, Paul Catanzaro, and Joe Schnebelen to discuss the best ways to deal with a promotion when it’s too soon.

Key Takeaways:

  • Dealing with promotions when it’s too soon (00:00)
  • Keep it to the criteria you’re discussing (03:00)
  • Test the waters (04:00)
  • How to handle baggage and negative perceptions (06:05)
  • Is this the right role for the employee? (08:26)
  • Why teamwork is crucial during the hiring process (12:53)
  • Why it’s important to create a culture of redemption (15:55)
  • It’s all about coordinated effort (18:58)
  • Episode summary (21:33)

Leadership Resources:

How are the leaders at all levels of management tackling the toughest challenges each day? Learn more at: https://sartoleadershipgroup.com

Leadership Jam Sessions' Executive Producer, James Christie

When James is not busy leading commercial teams in the biopharmaceutical industry, you can find him behind the scenes orchestrating all that happens for his brainchild - The Leadership Jam Session Podcast. As our Executive Producer, James' background of more than 20 years in Marketing, Sales, and Training, combined with a passion for business and leadership education, have all inspired the very direction we take with delivering our content. James holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University.