Is this *really* your understanding of the idea that great managers promote their people? If so, you have badly misunderstood it.

The idea isn't to keep some sort of scorecard and see if a particular manager is able to get members of their team promoted.

The idea is that a good manager is able to coach and mentor the people on their team, so that their skills grow and expand, and they are able to reach their maximum potential, until they grow to the point where they should be moved off the team to continue their growth.

That's it.

It's not some scoreboard on promotions, it was never supposed to treated this way, and NO ONE is sitting there saying "oh, yeah, Susan is a real rockstar manager, 15% of her team got a raise and a promotion last year".

Yes, a raise/promotion is the most visible sign that someone you manage has grown. But it's not the only sign that you've done your job as a coach and mentor. Indeed, depending on what level of people you are managing and the overall organization, there simply are no promotions to go around. I had a job where I was managing a large team of software architects. There was literally 1 position higher than them in the company on the tech track, and that was *me*, and I was reporting directly to the CEO. What exact promotion path could I advocate for them to have? Invent new VP and C-suite positions so the architects could get a "promotion". On top of that, you talked to them one on one, and only one or two of them had any interest in a leadership position, and were *grateful* that I was shielding them from the political silliness that goes on, the pain of budgeting, the headaches of performance reviews, and all of the other stuff they would have to deal with if they went up any higher in the org. No, I was able to keep them happy, continue to see them grow as architects, etc. and my 100% retention rate was the sign that I was successful.

J.Ja