Are you Stifling a Subordinate’s Career?

In the last two weeks I have talked with former leaders that I used to work with. It had been years since we talked and after the initial catching up, I was shocked to find out that after all this time  they were significantly behind their peers in terms of promotion. Both individuals had skill sets and specialties that they were passionate about and considered experts. 

When speaking with one peer, I asked him what his plan was when selected for promotion to the rank of Sergeant Major and if he planned to attend the Academy. He scoffed and told me that was a long way from that right now and that he was just trying to make Sergeant First Class. I was baffled. How could that be when almost 12 years ago he was a newly promoted Sergeant? He had only advanced one rank, when most of his peers had attended or were getting ready to attend the Academy. 

Both individuals told me stories about how they had been offered positions above their pay grade and promised promotions. Then deployments, injuries, or some other set back and told that they needed to delay developmental schools because of the need for their specialty and the organization couldn’t afford to be without them. That explains a year, maybe two, but almost a decade? I recognize that there are probably some factors the soldier isn’t fully disclosing, there is always more to the story. 

However, I’ve seen this a lot in my career, which is worth writing and talking about. We’ve all had those “go-to” employees that in a pinch you can count on to make it happen and trust implicitly. As you move up in positions it trends toward individuals that are one of kind or hold a pivotal position within the organization. With a deadline or deployment approaching the thought of being without that individual is one that makes you grimace. 

The problem is two-fold, the leader that comes behind you will face the same dilemmas and think the same thing. The individual will trend towards wanting to continue the grind because the thought of attending some training for promotion means that work will have to be taken over by someone else or lag. We are after all creatures of habit and prefer comfort over change. 

As leaders we can’t be so short sided, we need to think long term for the individual and the organization. If one individual is the lynchpin then we have set everyone up for failure. They could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Does that mean that the whole thing comes crashing down? No. However, there will be some glitches, but things will continue. More importantly our job is to create depth and some redundancies in the day to day. In the event something like that happens. 

Back to these individuals, we have hampered their entire lives in these extreme situations. We have allowed them to get comfortable and stifled real growth. I know some of these ties back to self-motivation, but some people just don’t understand how badly they are limiting themselves. That is why performance/life coaches are a rapidly growing field. We all need a nudge sometimes; we need someone that ensures we aren’t growing comfortable and challenging ourselves. 

Find someone that pushes you and holds you accountable, ensure that you are that for others as well. Remaining stagnant cripples to many people! 

Live Life on the Offense!!