A Monkey with a Dart Could Do Better?
A young leader recently shared an article with me and the title immediately caught my eye and my imagination. There in bold type was the statement, “Random promotion may be best, research suggests”. The sub title summed up the article, “Are traditional promotion methods as good as promoting people at random?”
The writer cited recent work done by three Italian researchers who were recently awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for being able to demonstrate mathematically that organizations would be better served if they promoted people randomly as opposed to traditional merit or seniority based methods. The journal Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Application highlighted the work of Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda and Cesare Garofalo from the University of Catania, Sicily in this regard, and also pointed out previous studies by researcher Steven Phelan and Zhiang Lin at the University of Texas who conducted similar studies earlier. Both came to the same conclusion.
To be fair, I have not read these research papers, and quite frankly I’m not sure that I would be qualified to wade through them with a critical eye toward the correctness, or shortcomings of their research. My gut instinct tells me that I should be skeptical of these conclusions, however that feeling is indeed balanced with many decades of observations that would support the fact that some people promoted to management positions quickly gravitate toward the Peter Principle and demonstrate that they are in over their head and struggle in their new positions.
Academic research aside, I can offer what I believe to be a contributing factor in this conundrum. It has been my observations that in corporate America, people are often promoted for the wrong reasons, or once they are promoted, they are not adequately trained in the area of their new responsibilities.
In a typical situation, a work group or team suddenly finds themselves in need of a new leader. The current leader is transferred or retires, and there is an opening for a new manager or supervisor of that function. If a promotion is to be made from within, the person with the most merit, or the one most skilled and experienced in this area is often given the job. The perspective is, “Hey Joe or Sally is the best worker in the group, and is considered the “Go to” point person. It only makes sense to give them the promotion to the new position, so that they can help spread their approach, talents and experiences with the rest of the team, and be able to elevate the performance of the entire team as a whole. It sounds like a great plan, but it seldom works out that way.
Herein lays the dilemma. The skills and talents that made one successful in their previous position are not the same skills and talents that will make them successful in their new position. This is especially true when the promotion is to a leadership or management position. The skills necessary to be a leader are much different than those required to execute technical or systematic tasks. These leadership skills are much more relational and people centered and revolve around vision casting, communicating, inspiring, motivating, equipping, training, accommodating, mending, and basically revolve around serving the team to make each and every member is successful in the execution of their missions. Absolutely it is most helpful to be intimately familiar with the ins and outs of a particular function one is given the responsibility to lead, but that is not imperative for success. Being able to lead a team to accomplish the goals set before it is much more dependent on the leadership skills of the one anointed with that responsibility. I believe that precious few are selected for promotional opportunities because of their demonstrated leadership traits, and even fewer are intentionally trained in the art and science of leadership once they are promoted. Whether or not a random selection process would yield a better crop of leaders and managers I cannot say. But the great importance of looking for these traits in those we do promote, and intentionally training newly appointed mangers in leadership, I can attest is the single most important factor in determining their success.
Stay Strong,
Terry
