Can Promotion Do More Harm Than Good
Yes it can, if it is untimely or undeserving
“Joe did a fabulous job on the last assignment, let’s promote him .“ This is a fairly common statement if you ignore the name. However, there is something fundamentally wrong with this statement that is often not clear in many of the technology companies today.
In my two decades of working with multiple companies across multiple countries, one specific experience stands out in terms of completely missing the mark with its rewards and recognition policies. Here I am talking about a software development company that saw massive growth in terms of revenue and company size in a short span of time. When I think about it, this may be the story of a lot of software product companies in the last two or three decades. Let’s talk a bit more about this specific example.
Background Context
When there is sudden growth or success in a company, everybody gains, and not only the star performers, but everybody who had joined in the initial days grows in one way or the other. In most founder-led technology companies, in the early stages of growth, there is less focus on people management or soft skills development. An increase in the number of clients or businesses means more rewards and more promotions. A lot of times, this promotion is…
