Who Should You Promote on Your Marketing Team?

As a marketing manager, you want your employees to be successful and satisfied in their careers—and that means promoting them when it’s appropriate. But how do you know which of your employees should be bumped up to higher positions? Employees who meet expectations are great, but you want to make sure you promote people who will perform well with more responsibility and more pressure, and that means looking for something more.

Here are some of the characteristics of promotable employees that you should look for on your marketing team.

They don’t rush out at the end of the day

Some employees will do what’s expected of them, and nothing more. Those who are willing to go the extra mile are worth watching and considering for a promotion.

This isn’t to say you should expect your marketing employees to skip breaks and lunches, come in early, or stay late in order to get a promotion. But be on the lookout for those who are always willing to pitch in when there’s an emergency or extra help is needed—who will either happily agree to skip a break or stay late in order to get things done when asked, or volunteer without having to be asked.

Employees like this typically have a sense of pride and ownership in the company, and want to see the organization as a whole succeed. This makes them great candidates for a promotion.

They solve instead of complaining

When faced with a problem at work, employees typically have two choices—they can complain about it to co-workers or management, or they can try to solve it. Promotable employees usually aren’t big complainers. Instead of voicing concerns and hoping someone does something to fix it, they’ll actively work to identify solutions. If they don’t have the authority or the resources to implement the solutions themselves, they’ll present their ideas in a constructive way and ask how they can help.

This approach to problem solving says that an employee is looking out for the whole team, and not just themselves. The solution-oriented employee is responsible, accountable, and prime promotion material.

They share what they know—and learn what they don’t

One of the primary characteristics of a great leader is the willingness and ability to help others succeed. Employees who take the initiative to share their knowledge and skills with their co-workers, and who step in to train team members who are new or struggling in some areas, are highly promotable. This trait demonstrates an employee’s investment in the overall success of the team and the company.

A related and complementary leadership skill is the ability to admit that you don’t know everything—and the willingness to learn something new, or to delegate (and give credit for) the work you don’t excel in to someone who does. Employees who can self-identify their weaknesses and show they’re willing to work on them should be considered for promotions.

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