Sharing a story which is quite fresh in my head and heart. I received an email from one of the senior managers about a team member being upset about not getting promoted after the annual cycle being concluded.
I decided to meet the employee to understand directly what is causing the discomfort, in my experience, the internal parity/reference is usually the biggest cause of discomfort in these situations.
In the meeting could establish the below three key pain points:
People joined after him/trained under him have grown faster than him
People who joined later to this person are now at his grade or some of them are handling larger responsibility than him
The person believed he/she has worked hard and with commitment, but he never had a steady manager he had 7 of them in 3 years. He felt that he did not get the due credits in terms of promotions and responsibilities largely because of this
Quite a common problem but never has easy solutions. Have off lately started to ask the following four questions and must say they do have a deep impact :
Who does he/she think is accountable for where he/she is in his life and career?
For how long is he/she willing to wait for a manager who is going to stick around to ensure that his/her promotion is pushed?
What is still holding him back in the organisation with such difficulties?
Does he/she believe that the value being created by him/her is “worth” the grade/promotion the person desires?
In this case, I could drive home the message well, the person started with owning up to the situation and willing to come out of this “Perfect Manager” syndrome. He knows he has to be so good at what he does that his work should speak for him and not overly dependent on the boss.
Do you believe in the value you create?