The Manager’s Role in Employee Career Development
As a manager, have you asked yourself, “How do I set up a career development path for people on my team? What is my role in their career development?” If that sounds familiar, you’re on the right path…you recognize your responsibility as part of their career journey.
Career development is important to every employee – no matter where they sit in an organization or how much experience they have. Successful managers make career development a priority in their leadership responsibilities. Working with employees to foster their learning and career growth can be rewarding and fulfilling –when you are intentional. But, like so many things, if you leave it to the whims of the day, it will not happen.
According to recent Zavvy data, 34% of employees who left previous positions did so because of a lack of opportunities for career development.
As organizations recognize the value of investing in their people, managers play a crucial role in guiding, supporting, and empowering the team members that report to them. Here are six actions you can take to ensure you are partnering effectively with employees on the shared commitment of their career development:
Start or continue having discussions with each employee on your team about their career goals and aspirations. Managers are key to fostering a positive work environment where employees feel motivated, valued, and engaged. Employees are more engaged when they know their manager cares about their career.
Career development is the responsibility of the employee, but they need your help. If you’re having career conversations, keep doing it — and see what you can do to build a plan together for what’s next. If you haven’t had career conversations, it’s time to get started. Put aside your fear or concern of not being able to deliver on what they want and start the discussion. You’ll learn things that will help identify opportunities and support future team planning.
Work with employees on their Individual Development Plan (IDP). An IDP is a personalized roadmap that helps employees go from A to B in their development. It usually includes goals, skills, competencies, development areas, and action steps to achieve those goals. Effective career development starts with a clear understanding of each employee's goals, aspirations, and development needs.
Ask each employee to take responsibility for tracking their IDP. Request that they come prepared to the career discussion conversations. You also want to be prepared, and remember that this is a dialogue – you don’t have to have all the answers.
Consider discussing and including in an IDP:
Competencies: Knowledge + skills + abilities. What are their current competencies, and what do they need to work on to achieve their goals?
Passions: What do they love to do? Is there overlap with their competencies?
Short-term goals: What should be accomplished in the next three to six months?
Long-term goals: What should be accomplished in the next six months to two years?
For all goal planning, refer to the SMART formula: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound
Current skills: Specific learned activities that range in terms of complexity
What resources are available? Training, shadowing, budget for on-line courses, etc.
Action items/next steps: Examples include learning from a mentor, cross-training, joining a professional organization, being assigned to project outside of your primary area
Facilitate awareness and provide feedback. As a manager, you are responsible for identifying performance strengths and gaps for each employee on your team. You look for learning opportunities and identify areas to grow. It is your job to provide constructive feedback to each person, acknowledging accomplishments, offering guidance for improvement, and aligning feedback with individual development goals.
Pay attention to the opinions and insights about your employee that you receive from others. Providing timely and complete feedback will help the employee increase their awareness of their behaviors, opportunities, and impact in the organization. Your awareness and their self-awareness blend into how you both think about their career path options.
Provide skill development opportunities. There are many ways to support employees on their career path. As their manager, you can provide opportunities to learn or practice a new skill — or shadow someone that has a desired competency. By fostering a culture of continuous learning, managers can empower their team members to use new or developing skills, add to their competencies, and adapt to changing goals.
Determine whether you are managing or mentoring.
Managing is the action you take to ensure your team achieves the goals and outcomes agreed upon for the organization. A manager is focused on identifying the work, communicating expectations, and ensuring the entire team is performing well. If someone is a high performer, you are still providing guidance and support. If someone is not performing, you need to provide feedback and resources to help them be successful.
Mentoring - A mentor is someone that has an area of expertise or certain experiences that an employee wants to learn more about. They are available to guide, support, and answer questions. Mentors are invested in the employee’s success, but not required to get to a particular outcome.
As a manager, you may or may not be an employee’s mentor. It is important to know which role you are playing when having career development conversations – so the employee is clear and you both stay focused on what you want to achieve in each conversation.
Continue to prioritize career conversations. ClearCompany stated that 76% of employees are looking for opportunities to expand their careers. Lean into having career conversations on a regular basis. While career development is owned by the team member, they cannot do it alone. Ideally, a manager and employee are talking about career development every 2-3 months. Have the employee track progress on a shared document so you can both reference current information in your career conversations.
If you set up a meeting with your direct report to discuss their IDP, don’t cancel it. Prioritizing this time together sends a message to the employee that will impact their engagement.
The manager's role in employee career development is multifaceted and vital to organizational success. By prioritizing career discussions, facilitating awareness, providing timely feedback, constructing IDPs with the employee, managing, providing mentorship, and enabling skill development, managers can empower their team members to excel professionally and target their career aspirations. Embracing these responsibilities not only benefits individual employees but also contributes to a culture of engagement, retention, and success within the organization.
If you or someone in your network would like to learn more about building skills in people management — including communicating effectively, shaping and sharing a vision, and supporting team members on their career journey — please contact us.