How Much to interfere in another person's promotion WWYD?

[sdlaura]

I don't manage anyone (by choice) but I work with several analysts on clients who are junior to me. One of them is ready for a promotion in terms of the work he does and connections he's made with clients. I made that clear on my evaluations and have been sending his manager good feedback randomly throughout the year. I think if he doesn't get promoted he may leave, and that would make my life much more difficult - he does a lot of the work on several of my largest clients.

He and his manager don't get along because he feels like she's been the reason for him being undertitled and undercompensated in the past - and I think he's right. She is a friend of mine, and told me that she doesn't plan to promote him until after another year. I think he'll leave if that's the case.

I work closely with our Co-CEO, who will make the final call on whether he gets promoted. Should I go over his manager's head and discuss my endorsement for promotion with the Co-CEO? If I do, should I talk to the analyst first and find out whether he's already planning on leaving regardless? I wouldn't want to make a big deal over getting him promoted just to have him leave anyway - though that could still be the outcome if he doesn't get a large enough compensation bump.

WWYD?

[k3am]

Is there a way you can work it into your conversation with the Co-CEO without inadvertently throwing his manager into mix?

I would not have a conversation with the analyst - if you find out his expectations, and they can't be met, he may view it as a "she knew this was my deadline/expectation, and they didn't meet it" type situation. If he's not making noise regarding it or drawing you in, I wouldn't address it with him specifically.

[traveltheworld]

I agree with k3am, could you mention it in a reasonably casual conversation with the Co-CEO? Fit it during some type of overall discussion about personnel levels.

[waverly]

Is there a reason she doesn’t plan to promote him? My structure is different but I think I would be upset as a manager if someone is trying to promote someone on my team to another position on my team. Not if they left for another department because I wish them the best but if I had a departmental plan for promotions and someone else came in because I know my people’s strengths and weaknesses and where they should go. Is she waiting for things for him to work on first? Is she open to talking about it with you? Does she not really like him and doesn’t care if he leaves? When she mentioned not promoting for a year did you mention well he might leave? What did she say?

I can’t see myself going to my director over someone in another department that I don’t manage, but again our structure is very different and likely we are more siloed.

[mustardseed2007]

So his manager is your friend? I would want to know why she's not promoting him for another year. Have you told her you think he will leave if that is the case? Why do you think her reasons for not promoting him until a later date are not valid?

You've given your feedback so your CEO has it, I think I would not go over her head. I would instead focus my efforts on advocating to your friend and make sure she understands that if he doesn't get promoted he may leave.

[sdlaura]

Thank you all for your feedback!

waverly , she will no longer be his boss if he gets promoted. She oversees the analysts and the office of the CEO oversees the consultants (the position he'd be promoted to). I did make my concerns known to her. I don't think she has the greatest grasp on how different skill sets are needed between the positions. He doesn't get as great marks as she wants on the skill sets that are good in his current position, but he doesn't really need those in the next position, if that makes sense. I think you hit the nail on the head that she doesn't like him (given their past differences) and wants him to leave. I expressed that I thought that would be a big loss and would cost us a lot more money to recruit and train a new person vs. just paying him more and promoting him.

mustardseed2007 , yes she and I have discussed it. We're just not seeing eye to eye. Unfortunately, our CEO doesn't have my feedback. The manager reads the analyst reviews, the CEO does not.

[mustardseed2007]

Why doesn't she want to promote him now? What's her reason? Does she think he doesn't deserve it? Or does she just not want to loose him and doesn't believe he will leave?

[librarychica]

I would have no problem going to the co-CEO since you work with them regularly and saying “I realize that analyst X is up for a promotion and I think he would do a great job for reasons 1,2,3.” I would not try and suss out analyst X’s motivations or career goals. I wouldn’t go into why his manager may or may not want to promote him. I would just comment on the talent you’ve seen. I think that’s totally fair.

I have seen companies lose a lot of good people lately for reasons like this so I would speak my mind.

[rere]

I don't think it is wrong to compliment him and express how helpful it would be to you and the company if he was promoted. That's not really going over someone's head. That is telling the CEO your opinion as it relates to your job. I wouldn't probably go to the mat, just state my opinion.

[sdlaura]

Nov 8, 2019 15:22:09 GMT -5 mustardseed2007 said:

Why doesn't she want to promote him now? What's her reason? Does she think he doesn't deserve it? Or does she just not want to loose him and doesn't believe he will leave?

She says it's because his reviews from peers aren't awesome, because he'd need to keep doing some analyst work anyway based on our staffing levels, and because she doesn't think he'd be happy with the comp increase she could give him and might leave anyway. 

I think what she's not saying is that she knows he doesn't respect her, and if he gets promoted he's closer to her level (she would have to provide staffing on his clients then). So if she doesn't promote him and he leaves, she gets rid of someone who doesn't respect her. But a lot of the rest of us have our lives made a lot more difficult. 

[sdlaura]

Update - I took much of the advice here and just said to Co-CEO "hey, I just wanted to express my support for analyst being promoted, because he's done awesome on x, y, and z."

He thanked me for the feedback and then ran through his understanding of the situation which was completely spot-on. I should have known he already had an accurate assessment, which he usually does, and is one reason I like working for him.

Thanks for all your feedback! I'm glad to be able to put this issue out of my head for the weekend  

[mustardseed2007]

sdlaura, I wish all bosses were like that. It's happened to me several times lately that I'm like...shit no one knows what I do.

[sdlaura]

mustardseed2007 it does make me a little nervous though that he is all-knowing - like k3am said in another thread, I don't feel on top of everything as much as I should, and I'm like "shoot, I wonder if he knows I've been slacking!"

[sunbutter]

I work in a leadership matrix where we are asked to give feedback for others direct reports including thoughts about promotions.

So personally, I would have no problem telling the head of our group that associate x should be considered for a promotion in my opinion. Especially if I even suspected he was a flight risk. I would also tell our HR rep as it is her job to make sure we retain high performers. The head and the HR rep would then do whatever they wanted with that info.