A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

PEOPLE HAVE NO LIMITS, EVEN AFTER FAILURE ■ 171
candidate, and not the candidate who the staffing executive had earlier
recommended, should be promoted to the job.
(3) Discuss Your Choice <strong>with</strong> Colleagues First
Had the executive in the example above discussed the appointment <strong>with</strong>
his staff or colleagues, he wouldn’t have embarrassed himself in front of
his boss. I want to state emphatically that Peter was not saying that such
a promotion should be a group decision. It is not, and you must take
responsibility for the outcome, regardless if those you consult give you
erroneous information or possibly a poor recommendation. You are still
responsible. However, it makes sense to share your plans and get others’
opinions and ideas whenever it is possible to do so. Even if you decide to
promote someone who others don’t recommend, at least you’ll know the
pitfalls of your appointment. You’ll learn more about what others think
and know regarding the various candidates you are considering.
After the Promotion
Once you have made a promotion, your work is not done. You are responsible
for what happens next. There is always “care and feeding” that is
involved. New appointments do not automatically hit the ground running.
It would be well to prepare the way as much as possible, including
<strong>with</strong> specific job-related training. Sure, you can leave it to the new promotee
to work it out by his or herself. If it’s the right selection, the individual
will know in what areas he or she needs help or additional
training. But why wait? There is much that you know already that the
new appointee probably does not. Unless letting the individual struggle is
part of his or her development, why do it? You want your new promotee
to be successful and make you look good, don’t you?
Without doing everything for the promotee, you want to do everything
possible to ensure his or her success. As a retired CEO once told a group
of recently promoted vice presidents about leading their subordinates,
“Don’t you let them fail!”
<strong>Drucker</strong>’s Six-Year Principle
We can’t leave this discussion of <strong>Drucker</strong>’s obvious dislike for the Peter
Principle and its implications <strong>with</strong>out one final thought. There was one element
of top management departures that Peter felt should be encouraged.