Promoting from Within

Jenna said something in class the other day that made me stop and think. She said: "the first is that, bureaucracy maximizes vocational security in the form of life-long tenure." 

Life long tenure is not a concept that I'm use to. In fact everyday that I go to work I wonder and somewhat expect that it might be my last day. If you go to work expecting to be fired, then it's a good day when you're not, and if you are fired, then you won't be surprised. 

When I thought of that I discussion with Jenna I thought about the departments within my own organization, not a school or university, but a non-profit training community that supports refineries. In our organization we do a very good job of promoting from within the ranks to higher positions and even crossing departments. People will go from one department to another and learn as many trades and skills as they can along the way. Ellie began as a proctor, then worked in our training group, and now runs our premier training area and leads about 20 proctors. Then there is Kayla who also started as proctor and is now developing courses in our training development department. Kimberly is in accounting and gave a presentation to our COO and CEO today, she started as a proctor as well. There are so many instances of this in our organization and I think it makes the organization stronger and healthier. 

I think that this tendency actually reflects the community we service. The contractor and sub-contracting community that we train do the same thing. A field technician can become a recruiter, a supervisor, a salesman or an operations manager within that same company. I think you've identified a real challenge with organizations and departments that don't take on this tendency.