After leaving the active duty military, I was used to a career experience which followed a linear and transparent “up or out” path. I was excited to have more ownership on my professional path as a civilian but unprepared to navigate its vagaries. My career development experiences fell into a few archetypes based on my manager: 

Manager A: Stay put – Defensive, focused on finding fulfillment in and maximizing my current role but wasn’t specific in terms of asking, “Why would you want to leave the team?” 

Manager B: Playing Chess – Directed me to various company sites that showed various job families and structure; asked me to pick a vertical path and roles two levels above my current role; helped build out a very specific development plan primarily focused on formal training programs and skill development. 

Manager C: On my own – Shared that every career path was unique, and they couldn’t guide or direct me, but rather recommended I set an alert on our company job board to keep abreast of current opportunities.  

Don’t Forget the Basics 

There’s always a lot of talk within the talent and development spaces now about “quiet quitting,” employee engagement and the importance of talent attraction and retention. And there is some very interesting work being explored about talent mobility, career paths versus lattice, and all the various information technology (IT) applications that can help enable growth.  

Right now, maybe even in your own organization, this type of work is consuming valuable resources. 

And while every organization is different and in a different place in their talent evolutions, don’t underestimate or ignore the value of a good old, low-tech conversation. 

A Talk That Changed the Way I Think 

Fast forward a few years.  After some time in the role, I was getting restless. I enjoyed my job, got along with my teammates and was performing well.  And yet, I was starting to feel a little bored and wanted to grow my compensation beyond meager annual increases. 

My manager noticed this and invited a conversation during a one on one to discuss my goals. 

They asked me strong opened-ended questions that forced me to think deeply about what I wanted out of my work and my career.     

Start With a Chart 

Draw a line vertically down the center of a page and fill the left column with the type of work you like to do. Do not focus on compensation and do not focus on specific roles. Imagine that your salary is $1 million per year. What type of work would get you out of bed every day? (Do you enjoy helping people grow? Is the perfect pivot table a thing of beauty to you?) Once you have your list, prioritize it from most important to least. 

In the right column, list the type of work you do not like to do. (Does working collaboratively drain your soul? Does the thought of leading people, and the drama that comes with it, send you running?) Once you have your list, prioritize it from most important to least. 

The goal is to find roles and career pathing that maximize what you like to do while minimizing what you do not. Discuss this list with your manager who can help guide you toward roles and functions that best meet your needs and ultimately can create a development path for you to get the skills and experiences necessary to be competitive should an opportunity arise. 

Sharing with your manager also gives them an opportunity to explore reengineering your current role to best intersect your needs with business needs. 

The Manager’s Role 

Here are some best practices that a manager can do to drive career development within their team: 

• Initiate the conversation. Open the door to a discussion about the kind of work that motivates your employee.  Don’t confuse their silence with satisfaction. 
• Create a safe space. This only works if the employee can be honest about the aspects of work they like and dislike. Don’t get defensive, aggressive or passive aggressive. The information will help you best guide them and can lead to higher levels of engagement and performance even in their current role. 
• Support, don’t drive. Resist any urge to control this process for your employee. They have to own their career development and do the hard work of thinking about their future and developing themselves to get from current state to future state. The manager’s job is to support, create structure and accountability, and to connect the employee with resources. 
• Explore regularly. Supporting employees’ career development isn’t a once-a-year, check-the-box activity during performance review season. Things change, people change, and opportunities and environments change. Regular career development check-ins let the employee know you care and are interested in them. 
• Share. Share your own career journey, including both positive and negative experiences, what worked and what didn’t, with your employees. This not only humanizes you but also creates additional context and perspective for the employee’s own journey.  

There is usually an opportunity to intersect employee needs with team/business needs. This activity helps clarify for the manager (and employee) those aspects of work that are most fulfilling to the employee. It creates the conditions for the employee to take greater control over their professional future while enabling their manager to support them. Proactive career development conversations are critical, because once you get to an exit interview, it’s too late.