Worker refuses promotion to supervisory post

Johnny is a loyal, hardworking and consistent high performer. He has been with us for the past five years. When we offered to promote him to a supervisory post, he declined as he admitted to lacking the confidence to manage people and their complex issues. We told him he can be in a leadership program simultaneously with his promotion. Just the same, he refuses to accept the proposal. What can we do to recognize his efforts? What if we charge him with insubordination? — Over the Rainbow.

There’s more to this issue than meets the eye. You must take many things into consideration, including the possibility of sending the wrong signal to other like-minded employees.

Assuming you have a robust salary structure that is regularly updated to ensure its competitiveness within the industry, a promotion from within policy, and everything in between, you must consider what he wants in the first place. Dig deeper into the root causes of Johnny’s refusal. You must understand where the refusal is coming from by asking a lot of probing questions.

Then, map out his answers against what you can offer. Do not force the issue here; you can come to an agreement by exploring a good number of options.

Whatever happens, don’t hire outside supervisors unless extremely necessary. This creates more problems than you can prepare for. Supervisors who are pirated from another company may bring in new ideas but they may not jell with the company’s culture. Sometimes, current employees may also not like the idea of being supervised by outsiders.

Another important issue is how Johnny’s salary will look like in the years to come. I’m assuming that your organization gives out annual merit pay increases to deserving employees. I’m referring to Johnny’s salary moving into red circle territory, which means his pay exceeds the upper bounds of a person in his position should get under your salary structure.

TWO-TRACK SYSTEM
Dig the well before everyone gets thirsty. This means a lot of preparation in order to arrive at a holistic solution. If you don’t have much time, you may focus on revising your promotion from within policy to ensure that you offer a two-track system that offers both line and staff opportunities to qualified people.

Let me explain. A line supervisor requires an incumbent to manage workers and see to it that they perform according to standards and meet department goals. A line supervisor does a lot of administrative work like creating schedules, inspecting the work output for quality, managing internal issues, and ensuring teamwork, among others.

On the other hand, a staff position has nothing to do with the direct management of workers. People who hold these jobs are treated as internal experts or consultants who specialize in certain special advisory functions like public relations, government relations, legal, marketing research, accounting, training, or business development.

A staff supervisor need not manage a group of workers except one or two executive assistants to manage paperwork, depending on the size of the organization and the complexity of the business.

Therefore, any worker who refuses to be promoted out of a reluctance to manage people and solve their issues may be offered the staff supervisory track. However, this needs a lot of preparation as well. The sooner that you identify a candidate for either line or staff tracks, you must put them in a long-term Management Development Program (MDP).

An MDP will help you develop leaders and give them the confidence to perform their jobs long before a need arises to promote them.

OTHER OPTIONS
As to your second question, promoting someone from within need not result in disciplining them for insubordination if they refuse. Confidence levels vary, and if the worker admits to lacking the qualities to become a line or staff supervisor, then you must believe him.

It is better that way, rather than forcing the issue, which management may regret later on.

If Johnny insists that he cannot be promoted, then explain that you can’t continue to give him an annual merit increase because you wish to avoid creating a red circle situation in which a person becomes overpaid for his job description.

Whatever happens, don’t browbeat him. Explain all the possible consequences if he continues to reject the promotion. Then document everything. Documentation will guide other managers in dealing with him in the future. Just the same, allow him to join the MDP when the time comes. Continue to encourage Johnny. Nothing is permanent in this world. There’s always a chance he may change his mind in due time.

In the meantime, look for another person that you can promote as the next supervisor.

Have a chat with Rey Elbo via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter or send your workplace questions to elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.consulting