Are You Limiting Great Employees?

How many advancement opportunities do you offer employees at your company?  If the only one is a path to management, you are doing both them and your firm a disservice. 

Not every solid performer is a good candidate for management.  He/she may not yet have the skills to effectively supervise others and may never have the traits to become a true leader.  In many cases, employees would prefer to grow as individual contributors.  However, traditional company structures limit them to competing for jobs for which they are ill-suited, if they wish to advance.  It gives them the unintended message that they are not valuable assets unless they can manage.  In smaller businesses with relatively flat management structures, this often leads to frustrated excellent workers leaving to earn more money and experience growth challenges.

What are your alternatives?  Consider rewarding those who become more valuable to the company by cross-training in additional areas.  Think about the ways individuals enhance the bottom line via customer service, innovative processes which save time and money and reduce turnover.  Then recognize and compensate them for their contributions.