The Sweetie Jar Principle - The Most Effective Promotion Process You Will Ever Read

All newly appointed top bosses want to stamp their authority - some do it by making changes. 

My new boss wanted a revamped appraisal system. It wasn't a bad idea. Our process was open to human error. 

I say error; I mean incompetence and apathy. 

He discussed it with the Human Resource Department (HRD) and left them to get on with it.

HRD is supposed to embrace the latest tried and tested ideas for hiring, evaluating, training, and compensating employees.

So here is my problem - why do they have to be so bloody irritatingly stuck in the past?

You would think job performance has an eeny-weeny-tiny part to play in a promotion. It didn't and never has. There is little connection between performance and promotion.

Appraisals should contribute to the professional development of employees. It should be accurate and evidenced and retained as a historical record.

Everyone in our organisation was supposed to have an annual appraisal. Once a year, line managers were supposed to have a private chat with their staff and provide useful feedback about their job performance.

Did it happen? - Nope!

Few managers submitted appraisals on time - and nobody seemed to notice. 

What the furry hairball was the HRD doing?

In due course, HRD developed a new computerised system and put it in place. It wasn't what we were used to and they didn't provide any training.

On my dad's eighty-fifth birthday, we presented him with an iPad - his first tablet. He clicked away immediately. Within minutes he was absorbed in a game of Solitaire - and we got on with raiding his drinks cabinet and eating his cake.

But our new computerised appraisal system wasn't so intuitive, it was an almighty load of bollocks - if your barnet was full of lice it still wouldn't leave you scratching your head as much.

Our new boss was a personable fellow. He took an interest in what people thought. He visited me in my office.

The subject of the new appraisal system and promotion process cropped up. He had heard a few moans and groans about it and wondered what we could do to improve it. 

I voiced my concern.

"Okay, so what would you do?"

"I think we should roll out training for the new appraisal system."

"You don't think it is simple enough?"

"No, I don't. We wouldn't be having all the problems we are having with it if it was simple and intuitive to use, but it isn't. At the moment we are like dogs waiting for a treat. We can't understand the system, so we sit, beg, give a paw and wag our tails and hope we hit on the right thing HRD wants us to do."

"You think HRD are incompetent arseholes?"

"I didn't say that… but yes."

"It would be time-intensive to provide that training, and it is time we can little afford."

"It will be more expensive in the long run if we don't carry out training. Even if HRD were to cascade the training, it would be more sensible than doing nothing. If there is no training, then almost everyone will scratch their heads forevermore."

My boss contemplated what I had told him and nodded. 

"What about our promotion process?"

It is normal for moaners and naysayers to complain. They can be quick to criticise, but slow to come up with a better solution. In my case, I had given it some thought. 

I had researched the topic and concluded the Sweetie Jar Principle would be easy to adopt and implement. I was convinced it would give the best results. It had proven itself in businesses elsewhere.

"What is the Sweetie Jar Principle?" he asked.

"Oh, you probably don't want me to waste your time telling you about that. I once discussed this with your predecessor. He said it was interesting but told me, 'that will not be happening.'"

"I am interested. Tell me about it. That is why I am here. I want to know what people think. I like to hear good ideas and if they have merit, I am the type of person who will implement them." 

I explained the Sweetie Jar Principle.

Take a big jar of sweeties and guess how many sweets are in it. Then ask someone else to have a guess. Take the two answers add them together and then divide by two. Statistically, you will have a more accurate answer.

The more people involved in guessing the number of sweets in the jar, the more likely their mean answer will be closer to the actual number of sweets. Group intelligence.

People have known the benefits of collective wisdom for hundreds of years.

Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, went to a country fair. He asked the people to guess the weight of an ox. Most got it absurdly wrong, but the mean guess, the average, was just one pound off the correct weight. 

The 800-strong crowd got the 1198-pound weight of the ox almost exactly correct.

The same is true for promotion. If everyone in a company, from CEO to cleaner, votes. And each vote counts the same. The likelihood is you will end up promoting the right person.

Nobody can know everything about a person. But it is in everyone's interest to vote for competent candidates. 

Bosses only see what an employee want's them to see him. Those on the bottom rung of the ladder often have a much better idea of what the candidate is truly like. They vote for hard-working, competent people. 

People want to be led by inspirational leaders who are full of tact and consideration. They don't want to be led by incompetents, sycophants, or psychopaths. 

Out of loyalty, there might be some who would vote for a friend. These votes wouldn't count for much if the friend was an over-ambitious paranoid schizophrenic lunatic.

When you use the Sweetie Jar Principle, ambitious employees realise that to get on, they can't just suck up to their boss. Using the Sweetie Jar Principle means people work harder and more collaboratively. The best people rise to the top and the company thrives.

How do you tell how many sweeties are in a jar? - Count them. 

What if you can't count them? - Ask as many people as you can. Take the sum of all opinions and divide by the total number of observations.

Benefits of the Sweetie Jar Principle

• It does away with nepotism, discrimination, and incomplete knowledge of a candidate. 
• It is effective; it identifies the best candidates. 
• Businesses thrive with the best people in charge.
• Inspirational leaders, innovative thinkers, and competent communicators rise to the top. 
• It is simple and economical to operate.

I explained all this to my new boss, and he listened with his hands entwined, chin resting on his two index fingers, nodding appropriately, considering everything I said.

"What do you think?" 

My new boss looked at me while deliberating over his answer. After a large pause, his face creased into a treacherous grin, and he said: 

"Interesting… but that will not be happening!"

Final thoughts

I contemplated my bosses' reluctance to adopt the simple and effective Sweetie Jar Principle. The process made a lot of sense - to me at least. 

The reason why it wasn't adopted came to me one sleepless night. I'd been thinking about it all wrong. It is to do with the Peter Principle. 

It was kinda like an epiphany.

Both bosses had reached the top of the tree. They had firmly planted their flag at the summit of their careers. Neither had won a popularity contest. 

They had battled and scraped their way to the top using the traditional ropes, pick-axe, and pitons - metaphorically speaking. 

In their minds, it was the best system because it had got the best person to the top - them. I reckon they might have struggled to get there using the Sweetie Jar Principle.