Transcript: Had a client the other day asking about a team member that’s looking for a promotion from them and that was a good thought. They wanted to know, as their coach and consultant, what did they think about promoting the team member? And it really got us thinking philosophically about promotions and I’ve written about it already and it’s just an interesting topic to dive into. And the more I dove into it, the more I realized that promotions are not things that are dictated from team members to owners, that’s just a pure desire, right? From a team member to an owner to be promoted, the question is always, why? If somebody says, “Can I promote this person or should I promote somebody?” We should always ask why. And the why question we’re asking for your firm, is does your firm need somebody to be promoted? And that’s the only reason you do it.

There’s a lot of complexity when you promote people and if you’re promoting, that means you’re pushing them higher into some leadership layer. Leadership always creates more complexity in a service based company. So when you do that, you want to make sure the company needs the promotion. And how do you define the company needing the promotion? Well, it’s typically the owner, the owner who’s running the company, they can’t fulfill all of the owner duties anymore. So they start delegating owner related or owner-like tasks to a leadership team. And it’s forced upon you as an owner. It’s forced, it’s making you do it. It’s like you can’t get to everything until you go, “You know what, this business needs a leadership team.” And then when the business has dictated that you need a leadership team, then you start looking for the person to promote, whether to hire outside or to promote from within. Promoting from within is a lot easier because they already embody a lot of the beliefs of your firm.

So, just be careful when a team member is initiating a promotion, they don’t have the context to actually know if a promotion is needed or a leadership layers needed in a firm, they just have a personal desire. It’s not a bad desire, you want them to have that desire to grow. But the answer to that employee is always to say, “Let me see if we need it.” Or, “I’ll let you know when it’s time.” Because the business will dictate it. And it’s hard, you got to watch the business and know and when things become too complex for the owner to fulfill, then you start needing the leadership team, and when the business dictates that you need a leadership team to perform some of the owner duties, that’s when you start seeking a promotion.

So, I hope those little thoughts on promotion helps you in your firm, know how to promote people and grow your firm and delegate things from the owner to the leadership team and then from the leadership team down to the greater global team. Thanks so much for watching, We’ll see you.

Jason is the Founder of Thriveal and the Chief Innovative Officer of his CPA firm, Blumer & Associates. He is the co-host of the Thrivecast and The Businessology Show and speaks and writes frequently for CPAs and creatives, his firm’s chosen niche. Jason loves to watch documentaries on just about anything. He lives in Greenville, SC with his wife and their three children.