Having worked at corporate for quite some years I have come across different characters. I have had female and male managers. I have reported to black, white, Indian, you name it. I have reported to people with over 5, 10, or even 20 years of experience. Some managers have continued to acquire qualifications over the years, while others have not. Nice bosses, mean bosses, emotional bosses, and uncaring bosses. You name it.
One thing I have noticed is that the unqualified always get promoted to high manager positions. Now I mean technically, skill-wise, and interpersonal skills. Somehow the people who cannot do their jobs always strive around promotion season. So I thought I would write this piece to mention a few reasons why the unqualified/undeserving always get promoted first.
1) Big talkers
I don’t care which company you work for, one thing is always true. You work with humans. Some people are good at talking, making jokes, and being group speakers. These people will find it easy to chat with their bosses and cultivate relationships. I was in a tea meeting one time. While we were waiting for the meeting to start a conversation broke out between two team members. It was between the boss and junior staff. The junior staff asked the boss how the kids are because they had not visited the boss's house in a while. Imagine the surprise on my face, there was one person who had seen the boss's house. Might I add that the individual was not good at their job, but they were good at making conversation. Might I add that today that junior staff is part of management? Get my point.
2) Familiarity is key
Let me start by saying I do not think that race should be used as an argument for everything, but it does feed into familiarity. In the workplace, some managers prefer to work with people they have something in common with. The same race, same family lifestyle, same backgrounds, or just similar interests. If the manager has to fight for someone to promote they will use this as a good reason. Something like “Outside technical skills, this person is also an all-rounder. They are personable and therefore will be able to manage a new role”. I know this sounds far-fetched.
3) Less of a threat
Here is a scenario for you. Two employees are competing to get a promotion, one is very qualified skills and experience-wise, and the other is not so. A boss who is insecure as he may also not be very qualified for his position is likely to promote the less qualified employee. What most people do not know is that bosses do not want their positions threatened. It may be best to keep the very qualified employee in their position so they can continue to produce the work. If you are more qualified than your boss and in a higher position you may become a threat to their job.
I will stop right there, there are many more reasons. This is just scratching the surface. If you are currently employed you might have noticed some of these, where you are staff or management. I just thought this would be nice to share.
