People need to feel they are moving forwards in their job and gaining career growth. They need to feel a sense of meaning and purpose in their role. But how do you retain, support and give your team members the progression and growth they are looking for, all while delivering the work that needs to get done?
This isn’t a new trend, but one that’s definitely exacerbated since the pandemic.
Organisations feel they are doing the right things in this space but there is a gap as individuals aren’t recognising it or feeling it.
According to our research only 16% of people have ongoing career conversations and yet, the number one focus area off the back of engagement surveys is career growth.
We know that 8 out of 10 people would be more engaged in their work if they have regular career conversations and that 43% are more likely to leave if a manager doesn’t show interest in their career.
A Big Four accounting firm conducted some research recently; it followed up with all of those people who had been highly rated in their role but had resigned and gone elsewhere.
The number one reason was that they didn’t see or know about any future growth opportunities.
That same organisation said they would have welcomed them into teams across the organisation, but they didn’t have those conversations until it was too late.
So what can be done? Organisations can’t offer a promotion every 2 years, not when they are becoming flatter and leaner.
Our answer is to have ongoing, honest, connecting conversations.
What if they want to be the next CEO?
The number one reason these conversations don’t happen is fear. Fear about the questions that may come from the employee as a result of the process. Fear about not being empowered. Fear about being caught out.
Managers seldom enjoy the prospect of being faced with questions they can’t answer, or show their lack of empowerment. The human reaction from the manager is to shy away and avoid the conversation with their team member – whether they want to be the next CEO, or just have unrealistic expectations about themselves.
With our roots in psychology and leadership consulting, Mindbeat is able to get under the skin of how to manage these difficult conversations, prevent the blocks and give your managers the equipment to deal with the array of answers that can come up.
We’ve come up with these rules for how to instill career conversations into the regular behaviour of your teams:
The 5 rules of career growth
1. Career conversations need to be ongoing – This takes the scariness away
2. Be honest – I may not have all the answers but let’s figure this out together
3. Connect the dots to find the energy – Help people to find their source of energy and motivation
4. Uncover the super power – Share feedback, help them to build insight into distinctive strengths
5. Think inside and outside the box – Be creative and resourceful in how you come up with solutions
