If you are a service business (close to 90% are) and your business is growing -- promoting from within will improve moral, save time, and make you money.

People want to do a good job for employers and customers. They work hard and are loyal -- promoting them is a big boost in self confidence and a big reward.

So how do you go about getting the best result? Once you have made a decision to promote them, prepare:

• Make a list of your reasons to promote the staff member?
• Do a skills, strengths and areas of improvement inventory.
• Review the job responsibilities and compare the skills, abilities and expectations of the job to your answers to the first two questions. Where are the gaps? List them. If you still feel confident in promoting the staff member -- set up a meeting.

At the meeting be open and share your list of strengths, skills and questions.

Identify the reason for your decision, identify concerns and areas of improvement you expect. Then ask them what they think and if they want the job. This step is very important -- a genuine emotional buy in is essential. A reluctant employee will still have a hard time turning down a promotion due to the prestige, money and status that typically accompanies the promotion. I have seen internal promotions fail for this very reason.

Make sure that the persons personal life are in order and will be able to handle the extra responsibility and stress. Pushing a reluctant employee forward to solve a business problem is wrong and it will just end up costing you lost time, momentum and money!