A lesson learned from promoting within.

I founded one of two companies in 1993. When you see people come up through the ranks and continue to develop with your model in mind, it’s extremely rewarding. They grow and they help you become successful. You promote great employees and allow them to continue to advance up the ladder. You feel because they’re doing a great job for you in one position they can do it in another. Such was the case 23 years ago. I had a brick mason who was a tremendous craftsman. At that same time, the company was growing and I felt he’d make a great foreman. It was a disaster! I kept pushing him to achieve my expectations and it didn’t work out. He was miserable and so was I! Sadly, I lost this great employee. I had promoted him to a position that he’d never develop into and he was out of his comfort zone. I not only lost a foreman but also one of the best brick masons I’ve ever had. Here’s the lesson- every person has room to advance and you develop them to their fullest potential. You challenge them to be the best they can be but there comes a point where they’ve reached their maximum potential. If you promote and advance them above their potential you both will be miserable and it eventually hurts the team. So what do you do? They become close friends, their family is close to your family but it’s not working. Rather than lose a great worker and craftsman, sometimes it’s best to reel them back in the position where they excelled and where you still glean from their talent! They’ll be happy and so will you.

Go Tigers!

76er®

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A great post, and totally true. All are not born to lead, some are great

Oct 24, 2023, 8:33 AM

followers, and happy to be. Sometimes, you just love what you are doing, and don't WANT to do more. That was the case with me. Most of the young snipperwhappers who came into our chemical plant at production engineers could not wait to get out. Go into sales, marketing, get promoted to higher management, etc. I, too wanted to get promoted, to an extent, just for the financial rewards that brought.

But, I did NOT want to go into management. I did it for two years as an iterim, due to circumstances beyond my control. I was good enough at it, but it was not my cup of tea. My niche was logical problem solving, which was a never ending source of satisfaction. I loved figuring out what was causing us production problems, which was not nearly as easy as it sounds. When your process has literally thousands of moving parts, chemical reactions, PEOPLE interractions, the waters get muddy real quick.

Survival lesson for anyone in ANY job. Find out what your particular boss wants, values, and expects, and DO THAT. I worked for bosses that encouraged free thinking, and I also worked for bosses that wanted me to turn my brain off when I walked in for the day, and just be their robot. That was hard to do, but it made life easier in those circumstances. That's when you have to live by the mantra "This too, shall pass."

That is kind of where we are with Clemson football right now. It is certainly not what we want it to be, but, newsflash, as fans, WE DON"T CONTROL THE NARRATIVE. I know that is hard for a lot of the Tigernet Coaches to stomach, but it is true nonetheless. So, voice your complaints, which I, as well as a lot of others have done on here this year, A BUNCH. But, at the end of the day, the coaches have to coach, and the players have to play. And we as fans, hope that the coaches can find the players who can perform to the best of their ability, and put them in position to be successful, over and over again, until it becomes a habit again.