SUMMARY POINTS
You see him from the other end of the aisle or hallway and you both are walking toward one another. You know that you’re gonna have to say something that you absolutely don’t want to say. But, it’s unavoidable.
You muster up some artificial joy and say, “Hey, congratulations on your promotion! I’m so happy for you!”
With a condescending tone he replies, “Yeah thanks. It would’ve happened sooner if it wasn’t for budget constraints.”
What a fucking cocky asshole.
This guy is the prototypical office asshole that everybody hates.
While he is very good at what he does, he does things without any regard, consideration or care for others. He is a straight-up rude shithead that just pushes people around and has no problem with backstabbing fellow coworkers or throwing them under the bus. For him, the means justify his end goal of getting promoted for more ego-boosting power and control.
This happens at so many companies and it’s happened at yours too. It drives us crazy. We all ask ourselves, why do assholes get promoted so often over nicer people that are just as capable?
The answer is simple - because they get shit done loudly and brashly more than anyone else and they do it no matter how it may hurt others.
It’s bullshit and it's time to make a change for the better and get the good guys and gals promoted.
You muster up some artificial joy and say, “Hey, congratulations on your promotion! I’m so happy for you!”
With a condescending tone he replies, “Yeah thanks. It would’ve happened sooner if it wasn’t for budget constraints.”
What a fucking cocky asshole.
This guy is the prototypical office asshole that everybody hates.
While he is very good at what he does, he does things without any regard, consideration or care for others. He is a straight-up rude shithead that just pushes people around and has no problem with backstabbing fellow coworkers or throwing them under the bus. For him, the means justify his end goal of getting promoted for more ego-boosting power and control.
This happens at so many companies and it’s happened at yours too. It drives us crazy. We all ask ourselves, why do assholes get promoted so often over nicer people that are just as capable?
The answer is simple - because they get shit done loudly and brashly more than anyone else and they do it no matter how it may hurt others.
It’s bullshit and it's time to make a change for the better and get the good guys and gals promoted.
Why It’s Important To Stop Assholes From Being Promoted
We've all been there, an office asshole is wreaking havoc in the office, yet they are never reprimanded for their behavior. The folks higher up in the organization just turn the other way. And if that’s not bad enough, upper management always seems to promote these work jerks.
You just wanna bang your head against the wall when see someone gets away with bad conduct and receive accolades for it. What clueless executives rarely understand is that their actions of not only permitting this kind of behavior, but also incentivizing it ultimately create a really shitty work environment. And, it’s this shitty work environment that creates all sorts of negative consequences.
The most obvious and most immediate negative impact is what assholes do to everyone’s work morale. They can take a highly productive group that not only kicks ass but also has fun at work and they can destroy it in a matter of minutes with long-term implications.
Assholes can often bring some immediate positive impact to the bottom line, but in many cases, it’s short-lived and usually not sustainable from an organizational standpoint. They create a toxic work environment that simply destroys an organization's heart and soul.
When people can’t work together effectively, efficiently and with some joy, it makes all the grunt work even more unbearable. Inevitably, this makes managing work stress that much more difficult.
As you endure more work stress, your mind and body start to take a toll from all the abuse. This often leads to physiological impacts like high blood pressure, cardiovascular risk, weight gain or loss, poor diet, increase susceptibility to sickness, etc. The list goes on.
In the end, it’s you and the organization that ends up paying for it. You get physically and mentally unhealthy. And ultimately, the company loses productivity, output and eventually profits.
You just wanna bang your head against the wall when see someone gets away with bad conduct and receive accolades for it. What clueless executives rarely understand is that their actions of not only permitting this kind of behavior, but also incentivizing it ultimately create a really shitty work environment. And, it’s this shitty work environment that creates all sorts of negative consequences.
The most obvious and most immediate negative impact is what assholes do to everyone’s work morale. They can take a highly productive group that not only kicks ass but also has fun at work and they can destroy it in a matter of minutes with long-term implications.
Assholes can often bring some immediate positive impact to the bottom line, but in many cases, it’s short-lived and usually not sustainable from an organizational standpoint. They create a toxic work environment that simply destroys an organization's heart and soul.
When people can’t work together effectively, efficiently and with some joy, it makes all the grunt work even more unbearable. Inevitably, this makes managing work stress that much more difficult.
As you endure more work stress, your mind and body start to take a toll from all the abuse. This often leads to physiological impacts like high blood pressure, cardiovascular risk, weight gain or loss, poor diet, increase susceptibility to sickness, etc. The list goes on.
In the end, it’s you and the organization that ends up paying for it. You get physically and mentally unhealthy. And ultimately, the company loses productivity, output and eventually profits.
Current Promotion Processes Are Flawed
Traditionally, promotions are pretty much a top down affair. Meaning, anybody who is up for promotion or considering posting for a job that is higher up in the organization will be evaluated by their boss or the hiring manager for that position. It’s purely top-down.
Because the candidate is really only judged by their boss or the hiring manager for that promotion opportunity, there’s really only one person that the candidate needs to pay attention to.
This makes it super easy for assholes to target their schmoozing and ass-kissing to the decision maker. And of course, the asshole will always play the right part by acting like a team player and only showing their fake good side, never their true personality.
With only one primary decision maker in the process, it’s easy for assholes to work the system to move up in the organization. This is one of the major flaws of today’s promotion processes. Traditional methods can’t filter for assholes that well and so they easily move up in the organization.
Because the candidate is really only judged by their boss or the hiring manager for that promotion opportunity, there’s really only one person that the candidate needs to pay attention to.
This makes it super easy for assholes to target their schmoozing and ass-kissing to the decision maker. And of course, the asshole will always play the right part by acting like a team player and only showing their fake good side, never their true personality.
With only one primary decision maker in the process, it’s easy for assholes to work the system to move up in the organization. This is one of the major flaws of today’s promotion processes. Traditional methods can’t filter for assholes that well and so they easily move up in the organization.
Promotion Reviews Need To Be 360 To Filter Out Assholes
When assholes move up the corporate ladder, it feeds their huge egos and they often become even bigger assholes with even more power and influence to do more damage to the company. They become the source and driver of toxic work environments.
One possible way to prevent this from ever happening is to update the archaic promotion process with a more holistic approach that includes not only the hiring manager but also peers at the lateral levels and direct reports from lower levels.
In other words, the promotion should be decided by group consensus rather than just one person’s opinion and/or decision. It needs to be a 360-degree evaluation.
The reason why this is such a great way to ensure that assholes don’t get promoted is that those who are victims of the assholes will never provide a high rating or evaluation for their promotion.
Furthermore, it incentivizes servant-based leadership, teamwork, cooperation, being nice, etc. All the traits that assholes don’t have but great true leaders do.
So long as the 360-degree weighting is equally distributed, no one person will have an overpowering influence over the decision at the annual review. And as such, assholes will never be able to work the system to move up in the organization. The only ones that would get promoted are those that are not only top achievers, but also honest team players that build positive office karma by helping out others in meaningful ways.
Now, the 360 review should only include those that work most often with the candidate so as to ensure that it can’t be rigged to introduce nepotism into the process. This could include the current manager, a couple of lateral peers or cross-functional project managers and direct reports.
One key aspect that should be considered is to maintain the anonymity of the reviewers. This is to ensure that there won’t be any retribution if the candidate didn’t get the promotion.
Of course, this is all in addition to any core metrics that the company would normally use for evaluations. This 360 evaluation is that magic filter that will help to ensure that only the best candidates get promoted. It’s not going to be 100% accurate, but it’s definitely much better than how it’s being done today.
One possible way to prevent this from ever happening is to update the archaic promotion process with a more holistic approach that includes not only the hiring manager but also peers at the lateral levels and direct reports from lower levels.
In other words, the promotion should be decided by group consensus rather than just one person’s opinion and/or decision. It needs to be a 360-degree evaluation.
The reason why this is such a great way to ensure that assholes don’t get promoted is that those who are victims of the assholes will never provide a high rating or evaluation for their promotion.
Furthermore, it incentivizes servant-based leadership, teamwork, cooperation, being nice, etc. All the traits that assholes don’t have but great true leaders do.
So long as the 360-degree weighting is equally distributed, no one person will have an overpowering influence over the decision at the annual review. And as such, assholes will never be able to work the system to move up in the organization. The only ones that would get promoted are those that are not only top achievers, but also honest team players that build positive office karma by helping out others in meaningful ways.
Now, the 360 review should only include those that work most often with the candidate so as to ensure that it can’t be rigged to introduce nepotism into the process. This could include the current manager, a couple of lateral peers or cross-functional project managers and direct reports.
One key aspect that should be considered is to maintain the anonymity of the reviewers. This is to ensure that there won’t be any retribution if the candidate didn’t get the promotion.
Of course, this is all in addition to any core metrics that the company would normally use for evaluations. This 360 evaluation is that magic filter that will help to ensure that only the best candidates get promoted. It’s not going to be 100% accurate, but it’s definitely much better than how it’s being done today.
Only The Best & Brightest Team Players Should Get Promoted
Today’s conventional process of promotion evaluations isn’t cutting it anymore. If we want to ensure the long-term success of a company and the happy productivity and welfare of its employees, then we need to update the process of how an organization grows and evolves.
There’s no single process, model or solution to making this work. However, we can make small changes that can have positive lasting effects. And, one of these small changes is to figure out a way to prevent assholes from moving up the corporate ladder or more ideally, push them out of the organization.
With some thoughtful consideration and careful planning, it's possible to create a promotion process that weeds out assholes from promotions and allows only the best and brightest team players to move up.
When this happens, it’ll create an environment where employees with real integrity and positive impact can rise up to positions of greater responsibility without being pushed aside by aggressive assholes.
Let’s hope this happens soon ‘cause the working world needs it desperately.
Feel Better,
[Cubicle|Therapy]
There’s no single process, model or solution to making this work. However, we can make small changes that can have positive lasting effects. And, one of these small changes is to figure out a way to prevent assholes from moving up the corporate ladder or more ideally, push them out of the organization.
With some thoughtful consideration and careful planning, it's possible to create a promotion process that weeds out assholes from promotions and allows only the best and brightest team players to move up.
When this happens, it’ll create an environment where employees with real integrity and positive impact can rise up to positions of greater responsibility without being pushed aside by aggressive assholes.
Let’s hope this happens soon ‘cause the working world needs it desperately.
Feel Better,
[Cubicle|Therapy]