In the current business climate where it feels like employees move around every few years, all managers want an employee who shows interest in growth and development in their company. While ambition is good, it’s important to manage expectations and provide an outline for development.
I have a direct report that has been in her position only three months. She stood out in the interview process because she seemed ambitious. She talked with me in the last few days about developing a career plan and her desire to be promoted. I spoke with my boss and we are not sure she is ready for a promotion. In fact, she’s not ready with only three months experience with our company. What should I do? It seems like I’m creating false hope to plan for a career that may never be realized.
– An excited yet cautious manager
The CrossGroup is committed to helping our clients excel with career path conversations. The primary reason we have this resolve is that career satisfaction is a huge contributor to employee engagement and retention. Employees want to know where they stand. They want their managers and supervisors to take a personal interest in them. And they want to measure progress. When you provide your employees with a roadmap and consistently show them where they are along the way, they’ll feel appreciated and encouraged.
Some employers feel, as you may, that this is like a contract that guarantees a position in a certain time frame. We contend that this does not have to be the case. First, the person must show progress toward the career goals that are outlined in the plan. If the path expectations and career goals are laid out carefully with objective measurables that fit future roles, then you would want them to be promoted. Second, it must be clearly stated that the next step position must be available before the promotion can be granted.
Here’s our outline for developing a career path. This is a process that will involve many conversations and homework for your direct report.
BUT FIRST, A CONVERSATION
Begin with a general conversation about career development. Remind your direct report that it is good to have concrete, specific career aspirations. As we develop, these can become less linear and can even expand to other departments. In the beginning, be as general as possible when asking these kinds of questions:
- What problems and solutions excite you?
- What strengths do you have that you can build on?
- What weaknesses do you need to bolster?
- What work do you want to do more of or less of?
- What do you want to be known for?
REVIEW THEIR CURRENT JOB ROLE
Look at the person’s current job responsibilities. Together develop two lists: areas where the person currently excels, and areas where mastery is needed in the current job. These will help you both identify career goals with today’s work. Where you can, identify transferable skills that will help the employee now and in future roles. Make sure the goals you develop have specific actions, behaviors, and results that are measurable with deadlines. The direct report should be able to measure his or her own career goals to see progress.
WALK THROUGH A POTENTIAL FUTURE ROLE
Identify a future tentative role where the person has interest. Look at the job description together. What skills, work experiences, training, certifications, or education are necessary to demonstrate readiness for this role? Highlight how development in these will help the person now and in the future. In a way, you are helping the person ready themselves for a variety of future roles with this approach. For example, you could show how developing specific personal ownership behaviors or one or more precise communication techniques will make the person even more employable in the future. You have identified a tentative future role, so the person is looking to many future opportunities as development progresses. Write at least one specific career goal that is future-oriented.
CREATE LONG AND SHORT-TERM GOALS
Create career goals that have short-term (3-6 months) and long-term measurables. The short-term approach creates an action plan that produces many opportunities for coaching and feedback. Because you’ve had a few conversations about your employee’s development, it’s much more natural to have regular conversations about progress or the lack of movement forward. As you move forward, be open to changing or editing the goals to make them more realistic. You may even find that their trajectory may change as they gain more experience and training. Your regular conversations will identify these areas. Document these conversations and keep adapting the plan.
Career development is worth the effort. When you consider yourself and your own development, you can identify people who have been helpful to you. Perhaps they were not as intentional as I have outlined, but they took an interest in you and assisted you in navigating your own career and/or the organization that you serve. This is what career development is all about. With this approach, you are demonstrating that you care and that you are investing extra effort to help your team members improve.
