When you need to create career paths: 5 things organizations can implement
It is not uncommon for people to feel like they don’t have a clear career path at an organization. Career paths can be tricky. There are still linear paths where you start at an entry-level position and move up the ladder in your chosen field. But, more often than not, careers are not linear but more like spiderwebs crisscrossing up, over, down and back.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, people are in charge of their own careers. They are responsible for thinking about their current state and where they would like to be in their future state, but they should have help along the way from their manager, peers, mentor, coach, skip level manager, family, friends, etc.
I hear a lot on engagement surveys, exit interviews, and pulse checks that people are not happy with their career options. Some of this stems from not having explicit conversations with their managers about this topic, but it also results from people simply not knowing what a “path” looks like for them — linear or crisscross. Often, managers may not know of career possibilities either, which is a good opportunity for education and dialogue in an organization.
While career development is a very personalized process and conversation, there are some things we can do on an organizational level to help enable conversations and provide explicit options.
Look at skills, knowledge, and experiences.
One of the best “worth-it” efforts for an organization to undertake is to document the skills, knowledge and experiences your major roles need to be successful. You don’t need to document this for every job but you should for your major roles or disciplines in the organization. The easiest way to do this is to think about the work people do and what they need to successfully do that work. Asking top performers can be a way to discover this. Once you have skills, knowledge and experiences documented, then you can match training, mentors, shadowing opportunities, stretch assignments, conferences, special projects, and other means to learn and obtain these skills, knowledge and experiences.
Create spiderweb choices.
To create choices, or paths, base them on the skills, knowledge and experiences you documented. Instead of thinking solely about linear paths, create those crisscross career paths using skills, knowledge and experiences as the common elements. For example, a customer success role may have tons of overlap with a sales role with just a few gaps in skills or experiences that can be identified and documented. The two roles may both require relationship-building and problem-solving skills, client knowledge and competitive information, but to be a successful salesperson, you may also need prospecting skills. For those people who would like to transition from customer success to sales, a clear action plan can be created to help that person close their gaps.
Educate managers.
A step I see skipped often is not educating people managers on how to have career conversations and navigating a career framework like the one I shared above. Managers need to know that one of their expectations is to hold career conversations with their staff, how to do that, what the outcome is, and what the career options might be for their team members. This is something HR/People/Talent Development groups can take ownership for. Managers also need to understand they have a role as a talent broker so to speak helping people to find their next role within the company. This can prevent talent hoarding — where managers don’t want to let their team go even if it benefits their team member and the organization.
Offer career workshops.
Another solution/service People teams can offer is to host and facilitate career workshops. There are many self-reflection questions and exercises to pose and ways you can help people think through their career options. Not every People team has the capacity to do this, but offering up one-hour sessions with solid resources and assessments goes a long way to helping people think about their careers. My four go-to questions are 1) what are your values, 2) what are your strengths, 3) what gives you energy and drains it from you, and 4) what makes you feel confident in yourself. Reflecting and then discussing the answers can help reveal a good career direction.
Prioritize internal movement.
A huge effort organizations can make to enable career growth is to prioritize internal movement. Companies who do this well look internally for talent first before posting a job to the outside. They stay on top of business trends to see what new roles they should create and then give people internally a chance to throw their hat in the ring. They document skills needed today and in the future and provide opportunities for their people to develop those skills. Too often I see companies creating a role and going immediately to the outside to recruit. Maybe that is what you have to do but giving someone with potential a try will win you a little loyalty. Some companies even incentivize managers to promote or transfer people across departments to help create the behavior.
We don’t always think about the systems and processes we have in place that may set up barriers or accidentally disincentivize people from moving people around the organization. Focusing on career workshops, coaching, training managers and being transparent and committed to internal mobility go a long way. When people know this is a priority, they will feel more like they have future with the organization. In a tight talent market, this means everything.