EMPOWERED

CHAPTER 35Promoting

While terminations might be my least‐favorite aspect of staffing, there's no question that promotions are my favorite.

When I first became a people manager, I was taught that the most visible and tangible sign of success as a manager was when your people were promoted.

Nearly every company has career ladders, where people can progress in their careers from junior to more‐senior roles. Most promotions happen within a job class (e.g., from an engineer to a senior engineer to a tech lead to a principal engineer).

But promotions can also cross job classes (e.g., from a senior product designer to a manager of product design).

This, of course, begins with understanding the career aspirations of your employees.

Some people want to continue as an individual contributor yet rise to very senior and well‐respected levels of capability and responsibility. Others aspire to leadership positions, or in some cases, to one day start their own companies. And yet others aren't sure, so they want to be exposed to different options.

I have always truly enjoyed these career discussions, and once I know the person—and what she likes doing and what she's good at—I'm not shy about sharing what I think the various different opportunities are for her.

But whatever her career goals, I promise her that if she's willing to put in the effort, I'm willing to do my best to help her reach those goals. And, furthermore, it's my job to do that.

I like to give each person a clear path to her ...