For U.S. Department of Defense employees, new hiring and promotion policies may be on the horizon. Up for consideration is a proposal named “Force of the Future” that would modify numerous government hiring practices, including the way federal workers are “hired, paid, promoted and fired,” according to a recent Washington Post report.
Though the proposal applies exclusively to the DOD, if implemented, it eventually may lead to changes in other areas of the government workforce—and could be a compelling model for private sector organizations, according to Gallup.
One aim of the proposal is to shift away from a promotion system primarily based on tenure. A change such as this would be significant for the federal government as well as for many private businesses.
Tenure-based advancement to management is the norm in many organizations. A recent Gallup report, State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders, reveals that the two most frequent reasons U.S. workers are named manager are tenure with their company and success in a nonmanagerial role. But neither necessarily indicates that a person has the right talent to succeed as a manager.
In fact, Gallup estimates that organizations get it wrong 82% of the time. This finding isn’t all that surprising given how rare highly talented managers are: Gallup finds that only about one in 10 people naturally possess high talent to manage.
After studying 2.5 million manager-led teams in 195 countries, Gallup discovered five attributes that predict managerial success. Highly talented managers excel at:
- Motivating every employee to take action and engaging employees with a compelling mission and vision
- Exhibiting assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance
- Creating a culture of clear accountability
- Building relationships that create trust, open dialogue and full transparency
- Making decisions based on productivity, not politics
Organizations that select these highly talented managers frequently realize 48% greater profitability, 22% greater productivity, 17% greater employee engagement, 5% greater customer engagement and 19% less turnover, Gallup says. Unfortunately, employees typically can’t learn or acquire high natural talent to manage; talent generally results from a natural disposition and early developmental experiences. These traits don’t change often or easily throughout a person’s lifetime.
