Page 91 - How to Drive the Bottom Line with People

Making Winners Fail

opening. The market supervisors get together and dis-
cuss the matter. Understandably, they start with a

short list of candidates known for their beef-cutting
skills.
Following a series of interviews, the successful can-

didate is assigned to the new store. Sometime after the
grand opening, feedback from the store suggests we
may have a problem with our new market manager.
The team investigates and determines the new market
manager schedules poorly and struggles with people

issues. Sadly, the team thinks it best to make a change;
the new market manager is demoted. He leaves
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demoralized, feeling as though his career is over. =

So, by now you may be asking the question, “Did
anyone assess whether the market manager had the
skills necessary to serve in a management role or teach
him those skills?” After all, managing people requires
a set of skills vastly different from those needed to cut

beef. The answers are self-critiquing.
People are promoted not for what they have done
but for what they can do. When promoting someone

to a new position, do so with the confidence that the
person has the skills to succeed in that position. It is
not enough to say someone was good in the past; the
person has to be good in the future.