Great managers have to survive in a hostile world. Most companies do not value excellence in every role. They do not provide alternative career paths for their employees. And they do not give their managers the leeway to design graded levels of achievement or broadbanded pay plans. If you find yourself living in this restricted world, what can you do?
Brian J. can tell you. His advice: Revolt, quietly and creatively. Brian manages artists in a large media company. His company has seen fit to construct an intricate hierarchy comprising over thirty distinct pay grades, each with clearly defined benefits and perks. One of the rules within this elaborate structure is that you cannot be promoted to a director-level position unless you manage other people. Another rule is that only directors are granted such perks as stock options and first-class seating when traveling.
“I was caught between a rock and a hard place,” Brian says. “I wanted to show some of my best graphic artists how valuable they were, but rules are rules. I couldn’t reward them with a director-level promotion without promoting them to a manager role. But I didn’t want to promote them to a manager role because that’s not their talent. So instead I asked each of them to become mentors for junior graphic artists—they wouldn’t manage these people, they would just be expected to pass on their expertise. I then went to Human Resources and said that, as far as I was concerned, a mentor was the equivalent of a manager and so I had a right to promote them to a director-level position. HR took some convincing, but I got my way in the end.”
Garth P. tells a similar story. Garth runs an applied technology division in an aeronautics company. In his production facilities he employs hundreds of technical specialists
“The best engineer I had was a guy called Michael B. We’ve got a pretty rigid structure here, so whenever we wanted to reward Michael we had to promote him up the ladder. After ten years of promotions, he found himself doing less and less of the engineering he loved and more and more people management, which, to be frank, he struggled at. So together we decided to create a new position: master engineer. Michael would be a roving genius, getting involved in only the most complex projects. He would also be the main resource, and the last word, on all engineering problems any of the other teams faced. And he would be freed from any manager responsibilities at all. I decreed that this was a vice president–level job, got the okay from personnel, and then promoted him. I can’t think of when I’ve made an employee happier.”
Laura T., an executive in a Texas-based petrochemical company, faced a similar situation but solved it in a slightly different way:
“I have lots of people who want to grow and who deserve to be recognized, but since we aren’t growing right now, new positions aren’t opening up. So I take my top performers and assign them to special projects. These projects are ad hoc. They have a specific objective, with a specific timeline. Once the objective is met, the project team disbands. Special projects like this work really well for me, because they give my talented employees a chance to grow, and at the same time they give me a chance to recognize each of them for excellent work—I got permission from HR to reward each successful team member with a gift certificate for a weekend in Dallas and seats to a Cowboys game. Recognition like that might not sound like a big deal to you, but for a traditional petro-chemical company like ours, it’s a whole new way of thinking.”
Each of these managers, in his or her own way, is providing alternative routes toward growth and prestige. Each of them, maneuvering within a restricted world, is devising innovative ways to reward employees for excellent performance, without necessarily promoting these employees out of their current role. Each of them is trying to create heroes in every role.
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