Also I am attaching a file I came across interesting on retention; more so in today's context where this is a big challenge considering the growth in local scenario....
Karthik.
A reader asks:
I work at a small start-up developing enterprise software products for global markets (< 200 people) as a Director of Engineering. I have been knocking on the door of a VP level position for about 8 months now, but those plans were put on the back burner by my manager when the downturn hit us and we went into a consolidation phase. Now, after about 9 months of hard work, things started turning around for us and I once again opened up the topic with my manager. He expressed his appreciation of the work I've done and agreed that I should be made a VP. But then, he asked me to lay out a set of goals and a roadmap for making me a VP.
My question to you is: how should I approach this rather crucial communication with my manager, where I myself have to set goals for promotion?
A promotion plan for an employee is usually the responsibility of the promoter, not the promotee. That's because a promotion means a role with greater responsibility — managing a new project, replacing someone who has left, or expanding a current job with more staff or tasks. The need for that new or bigger role is decided by the higher-ups as part of solving a business problem in line with the company's goals.
Since it's not typical for the goals of the organization to be set by an employee, we know your boss is playing some kind of game by making you guess what it will take to get promoted.
I see three possibilities here:
A. Your boss does want to promote you, and has some ideas, but no specific bigger role for you. He therefore is looking to you to help him make a case to convince other executives, and his boss, to agree on a VP job for you.
B. Your boss doesn't really want you promoted because it isn't going to do anything useful for him or his career. As far as he's concerned, he's better off with you remaining right where you are.
C. I'm a completely jaded old man and the boss isn't being sly, he simply wants you to show some initiative and suggest how you would help the company if you were promoted.
In all the cases, your boss hasn't been 100% honest with you. He hasn't let you know why you need to come up with "goals" and a "roadmap." How you should respond now depends on which of these three situations you're facing, and whether or not your boss's interest aligns with yours. You'll need more information to move ahead.
Option A
To find out if you boss is in situation "A," ask him who else will see your goals and roadmap document. Tell him you need to know because writing for him will be different than writing for a larger group, and you want to be sure to add enough context for them to understand your proposal.
If you boss says yes, others may review your plan, then ask him what those people might be looking for in a roadmap. Are there business goals that they feel are important and that, as a VP, you could address?
It's not the ideal way to get promoted, and your boss's inability to tell you in the first place what the firm needs and how you might get promoted shows he is either a poor manager or in a weak position in the organization himself (or both). However, he's trying to help, and that's not all bad. What's bad is option B.
Option B
If your boss says that he alone will review your plans, then what you suspect in your heart is likely true — there will be no promotion now or anytime soon. In option B, the boss sees no political advantage for himself in your becoming a VP, and thus, you will not become a VP. The work he's assigned you is just to keep you occupied and out of his office for a few days.
You'll know you're facing option B if you deliver a short list of a few potential goals as bullet points and he finds issues with them. "I'm not sure this is really in keeping with what the company needs." "Why do you feel that you could achieve these goals?" "How will you handle the extra work?"
All those are questions the boss should be, in this case, answering with your help, not demanding you solve on your own.
If you want to get to the next rung of the company ladder, you're going to need more than a roadmap document. You're going to need a real sponsor.
No one gets promoted as a reward for what they've done — they get promoted for what someone hopes they will do. (That's why doing a good job can result in the opposite of promotion. If you're valuable where you are, a bad boss will not want you to move up and away.)
That someone is your sponsor. If it isn't your boss, you need to find someone else in the organization. Look for a person with a new problem to tackle, and you will find your him or her.
Option C
Perhaps your boss genuinely wants to help you but is relying on you to suggest how he do that. As with option B, I would seek a sponsor in the organization to tell you what things the company values, and put those on your roadmap.
I am curmudgeon and jaded by many years of witnessing bosses and employees place trust in people who didn't deserve to be trusted. But maybe, this time, I'm wrong. The only way to find out is to make your list of things you can do for the company, give them to the boss, and then listen carefully to the message for signs that he can (or can't) be trusted.
What do you think? A, B, or C, or is there a D? Kobayashi Maru, anyone?
--
B Karthik &Lalitha Karthik
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