According to fastcompany.com, you should know the following most common myths leading managers to promote the wrong people or the right people at the wrong times.
1. Nothing changes
Managers may think that a promotion is just a label because the employee often does the same things they did before the promotion. While this may be true, the problem is that the employee who got the promotion won't usually perceive it this way.
They will take their new role seriously and share the promotion with everyone around, including your clients. This can result in harming you all. So before you offer any of your subordinates a new job title, make sure they understand it properly.
2. They'll learn everything by themselves
The easiest thing to do is to promote employees who are doing well in their current work. However, if the person isn't ready for a leadership role, he'll fail very soon. Greater responsibility, pressure, and more criticism, instead of the praise that they've been used to, will easily break an employee.
3. Promotion is better than letting employees leave
Promotions may also be given due to managers' fear of losing employees. If you're going to promote someone capable, it can be the right solution, but if good people are leaving and only the average or below average remain, offering these people promotions to stay is a step in the wrong direction. Their performance won't improve with more responsibility.
If you've already made a mistake and promoted the wrong person, you can offer training. However, it must be based on a clearly defined profile of the job and defined assumptions of success in that role.
Feedback is also essential. The promoted employee must know what he or she is doing well and what's wrong. If both training or personal meetings to share feedback fail, you should move that person to another role.
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