Manager Promotion Criteria Template: Clear Requirements from Team Lead to Director

Unclear manager promotion criteria fuel frustration, politics and bias. This manager promotion criteria template gives Führungskräfte and HR a shared, observable standard from Team Lead to Director. You gain fairer promotion decisions, clearer expectations for every Führungskraft and concrete development paths that connect to performance, feedback and succession planning.

Skill area	Team Lead	Manager	Senior Manager / Head of	Director
Performance & Delivery	Delivers team goals reliably, manages day-to-day priorities and removes blockers for a small team.	Owns delivery for a function or product area, balances capacity and demand and hits agreed OKRs.	Shapes portfolio priorities across teams, manages trade-offs and consistently delivers on multi-quarter outcomes.	Sets direction for a business area, steers investments and ensures performance supports company strategy.
People Leadership	Runs consistent, useful 1:1s and feedback, builds basic coaching habits and addresses issues quickly.	Builds strong people practices (Mitarbeitergespräche, goals, feedback) and grows solid mid-level talent.	Creates a leadership bench, coaches Managers, runs calibrations and manages tough performance cases.	Defines leadership standards, sponsors manager development and ensures leadership quality across the organisation.
Team & Culture	Builds psychological safety in the own team, resolves conflicts early and models company values.	Drives engagement across multiple teams, addresses collaboration issues and supports culture initiatives.	Shapes cross-team ways of working, improves engagement scores and scales healthy culture practices.	Links culture to strategy, sponsors major change programmes and steers culture KPIs at area level.
Talent & Succession	Hires well for the team, onboards effectively and spots basic strengths and gaps.	Builds a pipeline of strong ICs and potential Teamleiter, owns promotion cases and succession for key roles.	Designs succession plans for critical roles, moves people across teams and grows future leaders.	Owns talent strategy for a business area, aligns succession with company plans and diversity goals.
Strategic Impact & Cross-Functional Collaboration	Translates goals into clear team plans and collaborates smoothly with 1–2 partner teams.	Leads cross-functional initiatives, aligns plans with peers and escalates trade-offs constructively.	Owns a cross-functional roadmap, anticipates dependencies and influences other leaders’ priorities.	Shapes strategy across functions, sponsors strategic programmes and manages complex stakeholder landscapes.
Communication & Stakeholder Management	Communicates clearly in team meetings, shares decisions and manages expectations of direct stakeholders.	Runs effective rituals, tailors messages to different audiences and keeps stakeholders informed on risks.	Represents area in leadership forums, simplifies complexity and navigates conflict with senior stakeholders.	Communicates direction company-wide, handles crisis communication and influences external stakeholders when needed.
Data, Decisions & AI in Leadership	Uses basic metrics and simple AI tools to prioritise work and prepare feedback.	Combines data, qualitative input and AI support for decisions; documents reasoning transparently.	Builds data-informed routines, challenges biased data and sets guardrails for AI use in the area.	Defines leadership dashboards, governs responsible AI use with HR/Betriebsrat and links insights to strategy.

Key takeaways

Use the table as a shared language in promotion and calibration rounds.
Anchor promotion cases in concrete evidence, not gut feeling or politics.
Turn gaps per domain into focused development plans and manager academies.
Align 1:1s, feedback and goals with the same leadership expectations.
Document decisions cleanly for GDPR, Betriebsrat and future talent reviews.

What this framework is used for

This skill framework describes observable behaviours and promotion criteria for people managers from Team Lead to Director. HR, Führungskräfte and promotion committees use it to prepare cases, run calibration (Kalibrierungsrunden), structure performance and Mitarbeitergespräche, design manager development programmes and align succession planning with transparent, skills-based expectations.

How to use this manager promotion criteria template

This manager promotion criteria template is a practical backbone for all manager-focused processes. You connect it to your existing performance review forms, manager 360 feedback and career paths instead of creating a separate universe of criteria.

Many DACH organisations already run skill frameworks or career paths for IC roles. You can link this template to your broader skill management approach, for example by connecting leadership skills to role profiles or a skills matrix as described in Sprad’s skill management guide.

Example (hypothetical): A SaaS company with 60 Führungskräfte uses the template to pre-structure all promotion dossiers. Each candidate’s evidence is mapped to the seven domains, which cuts debate time in the promotion committee by 30% and raises perceived fairness in a follow-up pulse survey.

Decide which manager levels you use (e.g. Team Lead, Manager, Head of, Director).
Map existing expectations and KPIs to the seven domains in the framework.
Align HR, Betriebsrat and business leaders on the promotion process using this template.
Use the same domains in performance reviews, 1:1 agendas and manager training.
Review language with local works councils to ensure clarity and acceptance.

Skill levels & scope

Clear level definitions avoid “title inflation” and endless debates around scope. Each step up should bring a wider span of control, more complex decisions and a stronger impact on culture and strategy.

Example (hypothetical): Two Teamleiter both lead eight people, but only one shapes cross-functional priorities and runs hiring for two roles. With this framework, you can show why that person is closer to Manager scope while the other remains a Team Lead.

Level	Typical scope	Decision rights & contribution
Team Lead	5–10 FTEs, one team, limited budget influence.	Executes plans, manages daily work, escalates bigger trade-offs, ensures reliable delivery.
Manager	10–20 FTEs, 2–3 teams or a full function, budget for own area.	Owns roadmap and staffing, makes prioritisation decisions, shapes processes and standards.
Senior Manager / Head of	20–60 FTEs, multiple teams or locations, significant budget.	Sets direction for an area, aligns several managers, drives cross-functional initiatives.
Director	60–150+ FTEs, multi-country or multi-product scope, large P&L impact.	Defines strategy, allocates budgets, sponsors major change and owns people leadership quality.

Document typical team size, budget and decision scope for each level in your company.
Use these descriptions when writing job ads and internal role profiles for Führungskräfte.
Check that compensation bands and level descriptions tell a consistent story.
Clarify which decisions each level owns vs. advises on vs. is informed about (RACI).
Include scope expectations in promotion templates and calibration materials.

Skill areas, rating & evidence

Core skill areas

The seven domains in this manager promotion criteria template cover both hard outcomes and leadership behaviour. They are designed to plug into existing People Manager and Performance Management competency frameworks without rewriting everything.

Example (hypothetical): Your People Manager Framework already includes “Coaching & Feedback”. You can map that competency into the domains “People Leadership” and “Team & Culture” to reuse wording and training content instead of starting from zero.

Confirm which of the seven domains you adopt, merge or park for later.
Link each domain to existing competencies, KPIs and survey items (e.g. manager NPS).
Limit domains to seven or fewer to keep reviews and workshops practical.
Explain domains with 1–2 sentences in manager handbooks and promotion guides.
Use the same domains in your manager 360 and engagement surveys for consistency.

Rating scale & evidence sources

Use a simple, behaviourally anchored scale. Ratings without evidence create noise and legal risk. Combine this template with structured performance reviews, 360 degree feedback and business outcomes for a complete picture, as described in Sprad’s performance management guide.

Rating	Label	Short definition
1	Below level	Key behaviours often missing; impact or reliability clearly below current level expectations.
2	At level	Delivers solid results and shows most behaviours for current level in this domain.
3	Strong at level	Consistently strong examples, role model in this domain for peers at the same level.
4	Ready for next level	Already operating with scope and behaviours of the next level in this domain.

Evidence should come from several sources: performance review summaries, OKR/goal results, 360 feedback, manager/employee survey data, hiring and promotion outcomes, and concrete business metrics. Tools like Sprad Growth with Atlas AI can summarise feedback, pull historic notes and pre-fill evidence fields so Führungskräfte spend more time discussing, less time copying data.

Promotion criteria by domain & level

The table below gives concrete, observable examples that can appear in promotion dossiers or calibration packs. You rarely need all criteria in a single case, but you should see consistent patterns across domains at the target level.

Domain	Team Lead → Manager	Manager → Senior Manager / Head of	Senior Manager / Head of → Director
Performance & Delivery	- Leads at least two full planning and review cycles with reliable delivery. - Demonstrates stable team performance across four quarters. - Proactively re-prioritises backlog when capacity or strategy shifts.	- Delivers multi-team initiatives on time and within budget twice. - Manages portfolio trade-offs with clear written rationales. - Improves key KPIs (e.g. margin, uptime, NPS) for their area.	- Owns performance of a full business area over 6–8 quarters. - Shifts investment across teams based on data and strategy. - Steers crisis or turnaround situations to stable performance.
People Leadership	- Runs regular, documented 1:1s with >80% completion over a year. - Gives documented, actionable feedback in at least two tough cases. - Supports at least one team member through a promotion or role change.	- Builds at least one strong Teamleiter who is ready for promotion. - Handles performance improvement plans (PIP) fairly and on time. - Facilitates at least two Kalibrierungsrunden for their teams.	- Develops a pipeline of 3–5 ready-now managers for critical teams. - Sponsors a manager academy or structured leadership programme. - Manages complex separations with HR while protecting culture and legality.
Team & Culture	- Team engagement or manager-NPS improves or stays high for two cycles. - Demonstrates concrete actions that increase psychological safety. - Resolves at least two team conflicts constructively.	- Raises engagement across several teams; no chronic “problem team”. - Implements rituals that improve collaboration with other functions. - Leads culture initiatives (e.g. feedback training, values workshops).	- Owns culture metrics for the area and responds with visible action plans. - Steers complex change (reorg, merger) with minimal loss of key talent. - Demonstrates role-modelling of company values under pressure.
Talent & Succession	- Hires at least three team members with strong probation outcomes. - Creates simple skill matrix and development plans for the team. - Identifies at least one potential successor for their role.	- Builds explicit succession plans for key roles with clear readiness ratings. - Moves people across teams to grow skills, not only to fix emergencies. - Presents talent insights in at least one formal talent review.	- Owns a documented succession plan for all critical roles in the area. - Increases internal fill rate for key roles over two cycles. - Links succession decisions to diversity and mobility goals.
Strategic Impact & Cross-Functional Collaboration	- Co-leads at least one cross-functional project with clear outcomes. - Represents the team in planning sessions with adjacent functions. - Anticipates key dependencies and manages them proactively.	- Owns a cross-functional roadmap for their domain for at least one year. - Aligns with peers on trade-offs without recurring escalation. - Represents area in strategic forums with VP-level stakeholders.	- Shapes or co-creates area strategy with the C-level. - Sponsors strategic initiatives that cut across multiple business units. - Navigates conflicting interests between functions to sustainable compromises.
Communication & Stakeholder Management	- Presents team plans and results to senior stakeholders clearly. - Delivers difficult messages (e.g. re-prioritisations) transparently. - Adapts communication style for at least two different audiences.	- Manages expectations of several senior stakeholders with minimal escalations. - Communicates change with clear narratives and FAQs. - Coaches reports on stakeholder management skills.	- Owns communication for major changes affecting 100+ employees. - Represents the company or area externally when needed. - Balances transparency, legal constraints and psychological safety in messaging.
Data, Decisions & AI in Leadership	- Uses dashboards to track team performance and course-corrects monthly. - Uses AI tools responsibly to prepare reviews and feedback drafts. - Documents decision rationales in at least three significant cases.	- Sets data routines (weekly review, monthly deep-dive) for their area. - Challenges biased or incomplete data before deciding. - Trains their teams on safe, compliant AI use in day-to-day work.	- Defines leadership metrics and AI guardrails together with HR, Legal and Betriebsrat. - Uses analytics to identify promotion, pay and attrition patterns. - Sponsors AI coaching programmes for managers and tracks impact.

Case A vs. Case B: Two Managers both deliver strong team results. Case A has no documented successors, weak collaboration and ad-hoc hiring. Case B shows successors, cross-team initiatives and structured reviews. With this framework, Case B is clearly closer to Senior Manager readiness.

Adapt promotion criteria to your context but keep them observable and concrete.
Ask for 3–5 strong examples per domain in promotion dossiers, not long essays.
Use the 1–4 rating scale to summarise evidence, not replace it.
Calibrate interpretations of the scale with examples before each promotion cycle.
Store evidence and decisions in a GDPR-compliant system with clear access rights.

Growth signals & warning signs

Promotion decisions should follow patterns over time, not one “hero project”. Look for sustained performance, wider scope and a multiplier effect on others. At the same time, name behaviours that block promotions, even when business results look good.

Laut einer Gallup-Studie fühlen sich weltweit nur rund ein Fünftel der Mitarbeitenden engagiert. Intransparent promotions and perceived unfairness are frequent drivers of disengagement, so explicit signals and red flags help.

Growth signals: takes on cross-team work without dropping core responsibilities.
Growth signals: develops others, delegates well and documents processes proactively.
Warning signs: strong results but recurring collaboration conflicts and high regretted attrition.
Warning signs: ignores feedback from peers, HR or direct reports over several cycles.
Warning signs: weak documentation, missing Mitarbeitergespräche or poor review quality.

Example (hypothetical): A Manager delivers every project on time but loses three key people in a year and avoids difficult feedback. Promotion is paused; the development plan focuses on People Leadership and Team & Culture. The message is clear: “How” counts as much as “what”.

Define 5–7 growth signals and 5–7 warning signs for all managers company-wide.
Include these lists in calibration decks and promotion committee pre-reads.
Discuss warning signs transparently with candidates, not only in closed rooms.
Track manager-level metrics (attrition, engagement, internal moves) per quarter.
Use signals and warnings as input for manager coaching and AI coaching tools.

Team check-ins & review sessions

Structured Check-ins and Kalibrierungsrunden make this manager promotion criteria template part of daily work, not a yearly ritual. You want teams to talk about good leadership examples regularly and compare them with the framework.

Example (hypothetical): Once per quarter, all Bereichsleiter run a 90-minute talent review using a 9-box grid and this framework. They bring short evidence packets, discuss ratings, apply bias checks and leave with clear promotion and development actions, supported by guidance similar to Sprad’s talent calibration guide.

Run quarterly team reviews where managers share concrete examples per domain.
Use simple templates for evidence packets with links to reviews, OKRs and feedback.
Nominate facilitators for each Kalibrierungsrunde to keep discussions structured and on time.
Include a short bias checklist (recency, halo, similar-to-me) in every session agenda.
Document final ratings, rationales and agreed follow-ups in a central, secure tracker.

To stay GDPR-compliant, define who sees which notes, how long you retain them and how employees can access their own data. Coordinate this with HR, Legal and Betriebsrat and mirror the approach from your performance review or 360 feedback processes.

Interview questions by competency

Use the same domains from this manager promotion criteria template in manager hiring interviews. Behavioural questions that start with “Tell me about a time when…” reveal real patterns far better than hypothetical scenarios.

For senior roles you can combine interviews with structured 360 feedback or role plays. Sprad’s resources on 360 degree feedback questions for managers provide additional inspiration for probes per competency.

Performance & Delivery

Tell me about a time you had to re-prioritise mid-quarter. What changed and what was the impact?
Describe a project where you missed a target. How did you respond and what changed afterwards?
How do you balance urgent requests with strategic work for your team?
Give an example of a metric you improved over several quarters. What did you do specifically?

People Leadership

Tell me about a difficult feedback conversation you led. How did you prepare and what was the outcome?
Describe how you run 1:1s. What does a great 1:1 look like for you?
Share an example of someone you helped grow into a bigger role.
Tell me about a time you had to manage underperformance. What steps did you take?

Team & Culture

Describe a conflict in your team. How did you handle it and what changed?
Tell me about a time you improved engagement or morale in a difficult period.
How do you create psychological safety, especially for quieter colleagues?
Give an example where you stood up for company values under pressure.

Talent & Succession

Tell me about a successful hire you made. How did you evaluate them, and how did it turn out?
Describe a time you identified and developed a successor for a key role.
How do you decide whether to promote internally or hire from outside?
Share an example where you moved someone to a different team for development.

Strategic Impact & Cross-Functional Collaboration

Describe a cross-functional project you led. What made it complex and what was the outcome?
Tell me about a time you disagreed strongly with a peer. How did you resolve it?
How do you ensure your team’s work aligns with company strategy?
Share an example of influencing a decision without direct authority.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

Tell me about a time you had to communicate a difficult decision to your team.
Describe how you keep stakeholders informed without overwhelming them.
Give an example of adjusting your communication style for a specific audience.
Share a situation where poor communication caused issues. What did you learn?

Data, Decisions & AI in Leadership

Tell me about a decision where data changed your original view. What did you do differently?
How do you handle decisions when data is incomplete or conflicting?
Describe how you use AI tools in your leadership work today. What guardrails do you apply?
Give an example of challenging biased or misleading data in a meeting.

Implementation & updates in DACH context

Rolling out a manager promotion criteria template touches sensitive topics: careers, pay and status. In the DACH context you need a transparent process, agreements with Betriebsräte and GDPR-clean handling of all evidence and decisions.

Example (hypothetical): A manufacturing group co-creates the framework with HR, Betriebsrat and 15 Teamleiter. They pilot it in one business unit, run a retrospective after the first promotion cycle and adjust two domains. Only then do they scale the framework to all locations, supported by a simple digital skill management tool such as Sprad’s skill management software.

Start with a pilot area (e.g. Product & Tech, Operations) and 20–50 Führungskräfte.
Discuss purpose, process, evidence sources and data access rules with Betriebsrat early.
Train managers on using the framework in reviews, 1:1s and promotion discussions.
Review criteria annually with HR, business leaders and works council; keep a version history.
Check criteria for indirect bias against part-time leaders, parents or caregivers.

For GDPR, define retention periods for promotion packets, who can view raw feedback and how employees can request access or corrections. Align tools and workflows across performance reviews, talent reviews and succession planning; resources like Sprad’s succession planning templates help keep data structures compatible.

Keep updates light but regular. Once per year, run a short survey with managers and HR asking which parts of the framework help most, where wording is unclear and which domains feel outdated. Use the answers to adjust anchors, not to change the overall logic every year.

Conclusion

A clear, skills-based manager promotion criteria template reduces politics, improves fairness and strengthens trust in your leadership pipeline. You give every Führungskraft the same transparent expectations and connect promotions directly to performance, people leadership and culture outcomes. At the same time, you build a shared language that links promotion, feedback, 1:1s, manager academies and AI coaching into one coherent system.

To get started, pick one area of the business and run a three-month pilot: define levels and domains, collect promotion evidence using the tables above and hold a first calibrated promotion round. In parallel, align HR and Betriebsrat on GDPR, documentation and communication rules. After the first cycle, adjust criteria based on feedback, then scale to more teams and connect the framework with your performance reviews and talent reviews over the next 6–12 months.

Handled this way, promotions stop being mysterious one-off events and become visible milestones on a structured leadership journey. Managers know what “ready” looks like, employees see real career paths and HR can steer talent and succession decisions with confidence and data.

FAQ

1. How often should we review manager promotion cases with this framework?

Most DACH companies do one or two formal promotion rounds per year for managers. Use the framework in those rounds and in quarterly talent reviews to track progress. Between cycles, managers and HR should use the same domains in 1:1s and development plans, so promotion discussions build on ongoing feedback, not surprises.

2. How do we avoid bias when applying the manager promotion criteria template?

Bias risk never disappears, but structure helps. Use multi-source evidence (reviews, 360 feedback, business results), standardised rating scales and shared examples. Run Kalibrierungsrunden with a facilitator and a short bias checklist. Track promotion outcomes by gender, age, contract type and working time to spot patterns early and address them transparently with Betriebsrat and leadership.

3. How does this framework connect to career paths and salary bands?

Ideally, your leadership career framework, salary bands and this template describe the same levels and scope. The framework defines observable behaviours and impact. Career paths explain progression options, and compensation bands show market-aligned ranges per level. Together they create a coherent story: what each Führungskraft is expected to do, how they grow and how pay evolves with scope and responsibility.

4. Can we use the same criteria for part-time managers or parents returning from leave?

Yes, but check for indirect bias. Focus criteria on behaviours and outcomes per unit of scope, not on hours spent in meetings or travel. Explicitly state that part-time work and parental leave do not slow down progression by definition. When in doubt, discuss edge cases in calibration and promotion committees to ensure consistent, fair interpretation across teams and locations.

5. Which tools support working with this manager promotion criteria template?

You can start in Excel or Google Sheets and later move to talent platforms. Look for systems that connect performance reviews, 1:1s, 360 feedback, succession planning and skills, so you reuse data across processes. Solutions like Sprad Growth with Atlas AI, for example, help managers prepare reviews, summarise evidence and keep promotion-relevant notes structured and GDPR-compliant.

Jürgen Ulbrich

CEO & Co-Founder of Sprad

Jürgen Ulbrich has more than a decade of experience in developing and leading high-performing teams and companies. As an expert in employee referral programs as well as feedback and performance processes, Jürgen has helped over 100 organizations optimize their talent acquisition and development strategies.