This was both a promotion and a succession decision, and it was a tough one for Tony because of his obvious affection for Christopher and Christopher’s obvious flaws. Christopher had been complaining that he should have been "made" since his work on the Triborough Towers job. Tony responded with feed-back to Christopher that he did not take accountability for his actions (there were always excuses) and he still needed to develop his leadership skills (remember the hijacking of Junior’s trucks).
This is a common leadership decision-making point. You have an ambitious high potential that thinks she is ready to take on more responsibility and be promoted to the next level, but you don’t feel she is quite ready yet. You don’t want to lose her, but you don’t want to throw her in over her head. Tony did exactly the right thing by providing Christopher with objective feedback and telling him what he needs to do to deserve made-man status. Still, it’s a problem when someone like Christopher is chomping at the bit to move up. I’ve seen people talk their bosses into promoting them, using everything from veiled threats to leave to guilt-inducing pleas to convince their bosses to give them what they want. In some instances, this decision needs to be made intuitively. Some direct reports are on the cusp, and no pen-and-paper assessment tool will tell you if they’re ready. At times, this decision has to be made by instinct. Tony seemed to have sensed that Christopher needed more time, and in retrospect, this was the right decision.
What we can learn from this decision:
- Rely on your gut regarding certain people decisions (especially when you know the people well). While overly relying on intuition can get you in trouble, here it makes sense. There are times when you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, and besides tossing a coin in the air, your gut is your best guide. When the decision involves someone you know really well, your instincts come in handy. Based on your knowledge of this person and your awareness of what a particular job entails, you can pretty accurately guess whether he can handle it. This is a good barometer, as opposed to allowing your direct report to talk you into the promotion. It’s easy to feel guilty when your direct report comes to you with a sad, disappointed look and implies that you let him down. It’s also easy to imagine scenarios where your failure to promote someone pushes him to take another job offer and you lose a budding star. As easy as it is to give in to this feeling of guilt and this fear, you should realize that resisting it is often a better option.