The "Dangle"
My brother was an All American volleyball player in college and competed for the national championship. He was on a club team once that often won matches with scores like 15-2, 15-4, 15-3.
Sometimes, though, match scores looked like this: 15-7, 8-15, 10-15, 15-5, 15-2.
What happened there?
The "dangle."
They KNEW they could beat the other team... so they took it easy for awhile, and lost a couple of games. They thought of this as "dangling" a possible win in front of their opponent... only to win easily in the end.
This is a technique similar to a recruitment technique used by companies, and you should know about it.
Say you're a manager. You dream of being a VP someday. (You are not alone). You meet a customer COO, and she is impressed by your presentation. She calls you the next day, after the meeting, and says, "I'd like to talk business over dinner."
Over dinner, you hear, "I was impressed by what I saw yesterday. I'm building a new team, and we need sharp professionals like you. You have all the skills to become a VP for us. I can see you being a manager for about 6 months, and then when your director leaves, that slot will be yours, provided you perform, and there's no doubt in MY mind you will. A year or so after that, our succession planning will leave you in the perfect position to take over the Ops VP role, reporting to me."
Do you see the dangle?
That VP role is a complete and total dangle.... and it's probably all you heard in her pitch.
(By the way, you know how you can tell she earned her COO title? She's smart enough to have mentioned the VP title FIRST of all the jobs she discussed. She knows that once you hear THAT, the rest is just white noise.)
I'm not saying you're not VP material. And she would NOT say it if she didn't believe you were capable of it. But being capable of something and actually earning it are two different things. You must, as a professional manager, learn how to separate the pitch from the offer.
In this case, the pitch is VP. The offer is manager.
There's lots more to recruiting. But I've had three conversations this week with folks who never thought anyone had ever dangled them. And they were wrong.
Thank you Mark.
Thank you Mark. Understood.
-Sylvester
Sylvester- We do have a cast, but it
Sylvester-
We do have a cast, but it hasn't been published yet. Sorry - sometimes I get confused about what I've written, what we've done and what we've published.
Mark
Mark mentions... "We have a cast to
Mark mentions...
"We have a cast to address this. It’s not simple, as you suggest… and one answer is NOT to negotiate for an early title. Any time you put titles before performance, you run a grave risk."
If anyone knows, could they refer me to the podcast that goes into how to best handle the dangle. I tried searching on "dangle" but only found this original blog post and something from the interview series on earrings ;) I know the "dangle" has been mentioned several times in the podcasts i have listened to, but I am not recalling a specific way to best handle it suggested.
I imagine this could also be part of the interview series.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Sylvester
Dan- There's not a podcast that
Dan-
There's not a podcast that addresses it.
Let's start at home. How hard have you worked to get performance feedback? I'm not talking about the model, and I'm not talking about praise. I'm talking about specific questions about how you are doing versus whatever thoughts they had when they offered you about what constituted "proving yourself." If all you've heard is, "doing a great job," then that probably means they've had issues and haven't told you. Yes, that's their fault, but they will likely neither admit it nor attempt to correct it with a promotion.
What I would do is make a case yourself for the promotion. The purpose of the meeting ought not to be to ask them why they haven't done what they said they would, but you reminding them/laying out the facts and accomplishments and performance that you believe warrants their keeping their word. It takes the tone of, "hey, I wanted to make sure we were clear about my performance - here's the data - and ask what has changed from our original discussions."
I would add that if you don't hear what you need to hear, whatever form that might take, it would not be ineffective to say something along the lines of, "I feel misled" or "It feels as if I was brought here under false pretenses", or, "This really changes my relationship with the firm." If you wanted to go further, you could even say - this decision is probably best left to the moment - "I'm not looking, but this pushes me in that direction." Be careful of angry ultimatums.
Hope this helps. Keep us posted!
Mark
Mark, First post, and I've got to
Mark,
First post, and I've got to tell you I love these podcasts. Thank you so much for what you're doing. You've opened up a whole new world to me!
I've been dangled big time. Why is it that management will say anything to get you to accept an offer, and then do only what's absolutely necessary to get you to stay. A year ago I accepted a lateral move to a high tech mid-sized company, with the promise that if I proved myself, I could get a big promotion in 5 months. I've worked tirelessly to prove that I can handle the job, and the initial "let's talk in 5 months" has become "let's wait until..." fill in ambiguous description of future state...
Since I started listening to Manager-Tools, I've become increasingly annoyed by this. I've been contacted by 3 recruiters in 2 weeks, and they like my resume for the job title I want, and for positions that are very appealing to me. I will sit down with my boss within a couple weeks and again ask for the promotion. I'm planning on reinforcing that "this is very important to me." But I really don't think I need to sell myself. He knows my accomplishments, and that I've been do a great job.
I'd prefer to be taken care of and stay, but right now I feel like I've been played, and I won't get what I want until I tender my resignation. But if it comes to that, I don't want to work in an organization that only rewards disloyalty. So if I don't get what I deserve, I'll have to brush up on the "how to resign" podcast series.
What other advice do you have for that conversation? What podcast covers this topic? What is appropriate to tell him without coming across as disloyal or threatening him?
Thanks again for your help and insights.
Dan
Anirudhlohia- We have a cast to
Anirudhlohia-
We have a cast to address this. It's not simple, as you suggest... and one answer is NOT to negotiate for an early title. Any time you put titles before performance, you run a grave risk.
Mark
An interestingly tricky situation but
An interestingly tricky situation but whats the way to deal with it? (the way to approach, cause I believe there is no fixed solution)
Lets say you are manager who is expecting a promotion (to director) in 6-8 months in his group. Now comes this "Dangle". Situation is a little tricky cause you are very confident of a promotion in existing group but in new place 6 months is the testing time and the new boss feels more time needed for promotion.
Should one attempt to negotiate i.e 6 month early director position which acts as a base for becoming VP and in turn giving more time to prove his worth and in a more relaxed way
4 years later I am still on the hook of
4 years later I am still on the hook of a dangle. Your blog REALLY helped me break through. Hallelujah! So I listened to "your resume stinks" again and am making some changes... My husband thanks you.
GREAT perspective - it's easy to get
GREAT perspective - it's easy to get swayed by the pitch and lose sight of the actual offer. Alex, thanks also for sharing your experience - sometimes promises evaporate not because of ill-intent but circumstances beyond control.
dbeene - Interesting that they used
dbeene -
Interesting that they used downsizing as a potential selling point. That is devious in a way that I couldn't pretend to understand!
Craig.
Here's a slight twist on the dangle. I
Here's a slight twist on the dangle. I was interviewing for several positions at a company . . . a company that I knew quite a bit about. I also knew that there was considerable inertia to moving around. In other words, once in, it was very difficult to move to another position in the company (lateral or vertical movement.
In one of the interviews, a manager told me that they were closing that particular plant down within the next two years (in fact it had already started winding down). He said something like: "You'll hear some people complain about not being able to move around once you get into this company. In this role, you'll be guaranteed to move around within two years because we're shutting this plant down." It was one of several different plants at that campus --- as opposed to a widespread closure of the entire campus.
It was very, very tempting -- because of the pitch, not necessarily the offer.
This is sooo true. Actually I've been
This is sooo true. Actually I've been dangled 2 years ago and got stuck for that 2 years in a position that was suppose to evolve after 6 months and guess what? It never did.
The reason was simple.
First, the VP that hired me and promised me the director's position got fired.
Then, after a discussion with HR, I learned that even if he had in mind to promote me as a director, HR and the COO could overule him easily and that they would have because they didn't like him.
The only reason why I accepted the job initially was for the futur job that was suppose to be for me.
My point is, it is not always done "on purpose".
aL.