A person in our organisation is up for a promotion. I am privy to some information about them that I believe makes them unsuitable for the position and that the company is unaware of. Is it appropriate for me to tell someone? If so, who should I tell and how do I go about it?
Not the competition
Tread carefully. Standing in the way of a colleague’s promotion is not on the checklist for how to win friends and influence people.
Jenny Durno, director of Phoenix Recruitment, suggests weighing your motives, checking your facts and considering your options before trotting out your co-worker’s history. Assuming you have cleared yourself of any self-interest, Durno points out that you need to be absolutely sure of your facts before even considering passing them on. In addition, you need to check whether your information is subject to any Privacy Act considerations. If it is, look at your legal position.
Next, consider the implications of passing the facts on. Durno proposes imagining potential outcomes and deciding whether you can live with them. For example, if your boss needs to divulge where the information came from to justify a change in the promotion, how will that affect your relationship with the subject of your information or with the rest of your colleagues?
If you decide to take the information to someone other than your boss, be aware that you are putting them in the same potentially difficult situation you face. You need to know whether they are prepared for the outcomes and how you will handle it if the information is traced back to you.
You might even consider the ubiquitous pros and cons list. "Think through all the possibilities, weigh up their importance to all the affected parties including yourself, and act accordingly," says Durno.
