On this week’s episode of Service Drive Revolution, Chris and Christian discussed the pros and cons of promoting from within in the service drive. Constantly recruiting definitely has its challenges: it takes a lot of time and energy, it requires frequent strategic changes, and it does entail a lot of delegation of responsibility which of course involves a lot of trust. But on the whole, the pros significantly outweigh the cons. The value in providing a career path for your employees just can’t be emphasized enough.

Promoting From Within: A Story

I learned a huge lesson about culture at a job fair. 

I don’t know why we were at a job fair…we were trying out some unique solutions back then. But next door to us at the job fair was Enterprise Rent-a-Car. 

I went over there and I listened to their whole spiel. I always wondered…how do they get their young employees to wear suits every day, even while washing cars, for $35K a year? 

As they were talking to these prospective employees, they showed a framed photo of Pamela Nicholson, the CEO of the company. And why did they do that?Because Pamela started out at the bottom of the company back in the day. And through the company’s excellent management trainee program, she was able to steadily work her way up the ladder. 

There’s a huge lesson in that story for every type of business. Promoting from within is the best way to create a culture of excellence. When you show your team that they have a career path, and that they can continue to improve their quality of life and opportunities by getting invested, you start to create a bench. You’ll start to see real commitment, emotional investment, and better results in turn.

Hard work has to lead to a better lifestyle down the road.

In the grand scheme of things, that’s really the secret to productivity and retention in your business. You need to show your employees that their career trajectory is determined by their commitment to the business. The harder they work, the more they’ll be rewarded. Show them that their ability to increase their quality of life is directly attached to their work ethic. 

Promoting From Within: 5 Benefits

1. COMMITMENT – Once your employees see a future with the company, they’ll commit harder to the work on a day-to-day basis. Productivity will go up almost automatically. 

2. BUILDING A BENCH – With this kind of culture in place, It’s way easier to bump up current employees than it is to bring in fresh faces and spend time getting them up to speed. 

3. EASY ON THE WALLET – Promoting from within doesn’t just save time, it saves money. And you’ve inspired loyalty along the way because you helped them advance in their career. 

4. LEVEL UP – When your employees understand that their future lifestyle is determined by their usefulness, they evolve and mature into creative, problem-solving professionals. 

5. MULTI-FUNCTIONAL – These kinds of team members will be willing to cross-train and learn how to tackle other parts of the business than they originally imagined they could. 

It’s not hard to make that connection for them.. All you have to do is promote from within. With technicians, we call it growing your own. You have to show all of your employees, not just your technicians, that they have a viable, lucrative career in their future if they work hard and commit to their goals. If you take this initiative seriously in your business, you’ll be absolutely amazed at how your team will grow. 

Little by little, you’ll establish a strong culture that will only continue to breed excellent leaders. You’re going to adapt quicker to the changing marketplace. 

Start building a bench tomorrow. 

Stop sitting on your hands and overpaying for people that are entitled and don’t care. 

Build your culture from the bottom up.