I think there’s a difference between promotions for “first-line” leader vs. mid-management (here, I’m thinking leading a unit within a department) vs. executive leader positions (department head and above).
I know that not every company will have those three particular levels, but I would say that promotion from within is important for first-line leader positions. Mid-management would benefit from some mix of external, lateral (same company but a different yet related area), and internal hires.
I think that the executive level, there’s a similar hierarchy of roles with a similar set up as described above. For example, I see a department head being the “lowest” leadership position that, IMO, should be hired from within (for the most part). Other executive positions should be some mix of external and internal hires.
I’ve seen a case where the company was reluctant to promote from within, so an employee left the company for a management position at a smaller company, then came back for the management position at the bigger company 3 years later.
I would be weirded out if it wasn’t discussed in a team setting at some point. Like, hey what’s the status on replacing Joebob or whatever.
I don’t think the department head would be obligated to share, but it would feel weird to me to not know what was going on. If they are looking externally I would prefer for them to say so and most times this has happened in my experience management was upfront about it.
Yeah, the times I’ve had a boss leave voluntarily, I suspect that I found out within 24 hours of grandboss finding out.
Or in a re-org I think I found out pretty shortly after the decision was made.
I did have someone above me get fired once. That was probably in the works for a LONG time, and no one under the fired person had any idea. But that’s certainly a very different situation.
And after the firing I think updates on staffing plans were shared more or less as soon as they were known.