The Value of Internal Promotions

Certain leadership positions are critical for the health, well-being, and success of your business. These are the unit manager, assistant manager, shift manager, and district manager.

Especially if you have a growing multi-unit organization, those positions will open from time to time. Where will you look for talent to fulfill them?

• If you want to increase the probability of success of the new leaders in those positions, you should take a look inside your team to detect who’s ready to take over those responsibilities so you can allow them to grow. 

There’s great value in doing internal promotions instead of looking for an external collaborator because, when you promote from within, you increase your possibilities of success. 

There are more reasons why:

1. You know these people and their work ethic, so their performance is more predictable. They have been with you long enough for you to experience who they are as employees. When you hire externally though, you buy the promise of what you think they're going to do once they join your organization. 
2. They already know your operations and your culture, so the chances of them being a culture fit will be much higher. Unlike external hiring, in which you have to invest time and money in training so they know your operations and learn your business management systems.
3. Internal promotions have a proven track of success. If they aspire to have a higher position, they already have demonstrated they have the skills, abilities, or at least the potential to do a great job at that next level in your organization. 

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The benefits of internal promotions

If those reasons aren’t enough argument as to why you should consider promoting an employee, perhaps these benefits will convenience you:

• You’ll save money because you’ll skip the recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding processes. Any external promotion comes with a series of investments, first to find them and then to bring them on board to your organization. 
• The promotion will motivate and excite the whole team. They’ll recognize there's an opportunity for them to eventually grow within the organization. 
• It will show that your commitment to their growth is true. And, in consequence, their loyalty, commitment, and appreciation to you and your organization will increase, as well as their discretional effort in their job every day. 

Learn here what’s your employer brand and how to improve it

How to do internal promotions in 5 steps

The process of internal promotions is critical. If you do it the right way, you will increase your possibility for success. Follow these steps to make it happen.

Step #1: Identify potential leaders before you need them

This is why it's so important to do your annual staffing plan so you can predict how many leaders in what positions you're going to need. 

Once you have that information, search within your team and your existing leaders to identify who shows some potential to become those leaders of the future. 

Step #2: Create a development plan for them

Also, design the necessary processes so they can obtain that knowledge and preparation to be ready for their next position. 

Each one of those rising stars should have its development plan, and their direct supervisor should identify their strengths and opportunities, and ways to improve them so that when the time arises, they are ready.

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Step #3: Follow up on their progress

Defining and creating the plan is not enough. You have to follow up on the progress these employees have and how the plans are being executed so you can guarantee they are ready for when you need them.

Step #4: Consider them when openings happen

If a new unit opens, go to that list of your rising stars to see where they are in terms of knowledge and training, and see who among them could qualify for the new position. 

• It would be amazing if every time you have an opening you could simply go through that list and select the leaders you need!

Talk to your supervisors so they can share who they think might be ready, talk to them and, if they are suitable, add them to your list. Then, when that position arises, you can pick one of them. 

Step #5: Track internal vs. external success

I can tell you that the success rate is 2 to 1. It might be better than that. But the only way that you’ll know what your success rate is is by keeping track of your organization's results. 

When you see it with your own eyes, the commitment, time, and effort you'll put into developing your leaders of the future is going to be much higher. 

Perhaps in the past, you hired an external leadership position because, even though you have people within our organization, you lacked the ability, tools, resources, or time to train them for that new position. 

Here's where The American Franchise Academy comes in! 

If you're expanding your organization and need skillful future district managers, I invite you to explore our District Manager Training, where we teach them the seven responsibilities they’ll have and the tasks, activities, and routines they have to execute to be effective and successful.

• Go to DistrictManagerTraining.com and register for the next information session where we will teach and share with you what we have to offer.

If you want to promote people within your team into unit managers, shift leaders, or assistant managers, we can also help! This 2023 we are launching a Unit Manager Certification Program, where we’ll share, train and develop unit leaders in their leadership and business management skills. 

• Go to UnitManagerTraining.com and register for our upcoming information session, where you’ll learn more about this new program we are so excited about.

I hope that this was of value to you! Remember that The American Franchise Academy is here to be your partner and we can help you maximize all the value and benefits that internal promotions can bring to you.

Don’t forget to follow us on our social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get information like this that hopefully will help you be more successful in your business.

Reflections:

• How much money do you spend on external hiring processes? What is your success rate?
• Have you identified employees with leadership potential? How are you motivating them?
• Do you offer real growth opportunities for your team?
• What is preventing you from having internal promotions in your organization?

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