Who would know the employee's work better, her manager or the promotion committee? This reminds me of an interview process that does not include checking references.
A system like you describe would seem to favour the employee who is adept at promoting her work. It also might disadvantage employees who are better performers than promoters. It would fail to detect employees who are poor or average performers but adept at covering that up.
Does the promotion committee consult with the manager?
A system like this suggests the company is concerned about favouritism and may not trust managers. It also suggests they may be willing to blindly trust self-promoting employees without knowing much about them.
How does the system account for high-performing employees that are too busy working to prepare presentations for promotion committees? Is there no such thing as an unsolicited promotion based on performance under this system?
Surely managers are reporting on the employees they manage. Assuming that includes any information on performance, then a system like this could allow the company to ignore the issue of rewarding high-performers with promotions, unless and until those employees came forward and presented to a promotion committee.
However a system like this does seem potentially beneficial for employees who feel they are undervalued by their manager.
"How does the system account for high-performing employees that are too busy working to prepare presentations for promotion committees? Is there no such thing as an unsolicited promotion based on performance under this system?"
I think maybe "high-performing employee", in this system, is simply defined at least in part as "one who prepares excellent presentations for promotion committees."
In any system based on individual inequality a high-performing employee is whoever is appreciated by the central authority. If you actually want to award performance you need collective inequality. That is, you need differences between successful and unsuccessful projects rather than between employees deemed successful or unsuccessful in those projects.
In a few ways, the hurdles you outline are a helpful filter management skills. Presenting and promoting your team's work will become just as important as doing the work. Providing context for failures, which could be seen as covering up, is critical. If you are too busy working to prepare an important presentation, you are not ready to be a manager.
Even if the promotion keeps you at an IC, your responsibilities are still increasing, so I think most of those points stand.
Is that what is being promoted in a presentation to a promotion committee arguing that you individually should be promoted within the organization?
"... too busy to prepare an important presentation..."
Important to whom? You or the people you are working for?
I agree a system like this could filter for what we commonly recognise as "management qualities".
Although I am not sure they would be qualities such as selflessness and putting the needs of their reports and the organization ahead of their own aspirations.
If you can't advocate for yourself, how are you going to advocate for anybody else? A promotion process, if there is one, is an important time for you and the organization. Lots of people's time is being spent to figure out whether to elevate an individual towards a position of company leadership. In the long run, it's far, far more important than any individual project you might be working on (and if it isn't, show that you can get yourself out of the front lines, or you are destined to fail at management).
My brother is an Xoogler, who told me a few years ago there was a de facto 3-year "up or out" policy. That is, if you go 3 years and haven't been promoted, you should probably expect to need to find work at another company.
It’s L4 as of like a year ago; also going up to L5 no longer has promo committee per-se, but instead is a PA meeting between leads who hash it out, and the manager is much more involved.
with that kind of policy, it's no wonder they can't retain talent. Since most people can't be promoted, then they have no choice but to leave or get laid off.
A system like you describe would seem to favour the employee who is adept at promoting her work. It also might disadvantage employees who are better performers than promoters. It would fail to detect employees who are poor or average performers but adept at covering that up.
Does the promotion committee consult with the manager?
A system like this suggests the company is concerned about favouritism and may not trust managers. It also suggests they may be willing to blindly trust self-promoting employees without knowing much about them.
How does the system account for high-performing employees that are too busy working to prepare presentations for promotion committees? Is there no such thing as an unsolicited promotion based on performance under this system?
Surely managers are reporting on the employees they manage. Assuming that includes any information on performance, then a system like this could allow the company to ignore the issue of rewarding high-performers with promotions, unless and until those employees came forward and presented to a promotion committee.
However a system like this does seem potentially beneficial for employees who feel they are undervalued by their manager.