If you are striving to grow your business quickly, then you should know that promoting from within offers many benefits, including:

• A shorter learning curve, as your current employee will already know the ends and outs of the business. Similarly, you can be sure that the training and education investments you make in your workforce will pay off to the fullest potential.
• Payroll savings, as you won’t risk overpaying in a competitive market for a professional with impressive qualifications that ultimately mean less than your current employees real-world experience.
• Improved employee retention and morale, as every worker from the highest to the lowest will know that your company rewards loyalty, productivity, and hard work.

Clearly, promoting from within can be a fantastic choice — but only if your employees are truly prepared to grow with the business. Here are a few signs that this may be the case:

• They know how to manage themselves. “Do as I say not as I do” style leadership is ineffective and obnoxious — and as parents everywhere know, it doesn’t even work with small children. How could you possibly expect it to work with a talented professional workforce? If you expect an employee to take on a managerial role, then make them prove that they can manage themselves, first.

• They excell at everything. Business leaders must be jacks of all trades. After all, they must frequently adapt to new situations, build report with a diverse array of clients, and lead many different types of employees. Flexibility, open-mindedness, and a willingness to learn, therefore, are all musts.

• They appear eager for more. Someone who is always jumping at the opportunity to take on new challenges and responsibilities is someone who would likely thrive in a management role. Someone who seems more interested in clocking in, clocking out, and getting home, on the other hand, will only cause problems.

• They demonstrate leadership. Earlier in this article, we pointed out how managing oneself is a prerequisite to managing others. However, it is not the only requirement. There are plenty of dedicated, successful people who are not natural leaders, after all. The qualities of a good leader are sometimes intangible and tough to define — but when you see a leader, you usually realize it. Employees who have that special “leadership” factor are prime candidates for promotion.

• They show integrity. Last but not least, you should always keep in mind the old maxim that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Promote someone who you trust to keep a level head on their shoulders, even when trusted with power, money, and praise. As a general rule, people who are honest about small things will be honest about large things, as well — whereas people who are dishonest about small things will take similar liberty to deceive when given the opportunity in a more important situation.

Do you aim to lead your business to significant growth in 2018 and beyond? Here at Strat IQ, we can help! Visit us online today to learn more about our 90 day sales accelerator and other innovative coaching programs!