Today, I want to talk about internal promotions – both for you and for your team.

I personally spend a lot of time upskilling finance professionals both for my corporate clients, but also through my courses and for start-ups and fast-growth businesses, I honestly think this is the best way to get those more senior roles filled.

Particularly with fast-growth businesses, and I'll tell you why.

Both Start-ups and Fast Growth businesses have a unique culture. They're fast paced, constantly changing and in these kinds of environments, it's better to work fast and break some things and fix them later.

This doesn't suit everyone - it's a bit like Marmite (or Vegemite!), you either love it and thrive in it, or you hate it.

I love it, which is why I have stayed within this sector for over 15 years. 

So, if you have someone in your team who also loves it and they really fit in culturally (which you cannot teach!), then training them up to taking on a more senior role makes total sense.

Other reasons why you (and your founder!) should be upskilling existing staff are:

1. Hiring from within is a more cost-effective approach to hiring for Start-ups and Fast Growth businesses - you will save both in recruitment fees, but ALSO cost of resources (your time) hiring and on-boarding new team members.
2. If you support good employees and give them the skills to grow and get promoted within the company, they will stick around longer (as they won’t leave to step up the career ladder)
3. As mentioned above, great employees will also be on-boarded faster into new roles, as they already suit the culture, understand the company well and know how everything works.

So when you have a role available in your team - is there someone who can be upskilled to take this one?

Or can you prepare for a junior member in your team to be upskilled to take on a role that will one day be available to them?

How about yourself?

Is there a Head of Finance OR Finance Director / CFO role up for grabs? Can convince your Manager / CEO to give you a chance?  Can you give your more junior Finance leader a chance?

Links:

1. Get your FREE Guide: Stepping into the role of Finance Director or CFO
2. Register for the mini-course, Upgrade your Management Accounts and get noticed by the business 
3. Work with me in the Financial Leadership Foundations course  that includes monthly Q&A sessions where we can discuss all of your questions and how to apply your learnings to your current role. 
4. Work with me as a Founder needing guidance and support from experienced Finance leaders.