"Good for you." ~ HR professional, when I told them I was leaving the company for another opportunity.
A year and a half earlier, I'd taken a role outside of my home department. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it was the right move at the time. This not-quite-right role was an opportunity to wear the shoes of stakeholders that were impacted by work I did and decisions I made when I was working in my wheelhouse. Gaining that experience would make me better at what I did in the long run....and having me in that role was a band-aid that mutually benefitted the company and me. When I took it on, I estimated it would be about a year before I'd be able to move back into a more aligned role.
Sure enough, one year later, the perfect opportunity came available in my original department. It would get me back to doing what I enjoyed, in a growth role. I was excited, as was my former manager. This is the moment we'd been anticipating for a year.
It should have been a slam dunk.
Instead, my manager at the time decided that I was too valuable to their team and went into full-on turf war mode. He started by having a "conversation" with me. After asking me what I wanted and (not) hearing what I had to say, he took a father-knows-best approach (so insulting and infuriating!). Both roles were in Engineering, so I was a bit surprised when I got a visit from our sales and marketing leader, with whom I'd previously collaborated. They asked for my perspective on the two roles and which I preferred. Clearly there had been some conversations behind closed doors and they had been sent as neutral party to talk with me. They listened as I steadfastly shared my desire to move into the new position. They thanked me for sharing my perspective and said that they supported my desired move. Next, it was the finance leader, who also supported my move. Then HR called, I shared my desire again. and gained another supporter. I remained hopeful.
Then suddenly the position disappeared, only to be re-incarnated as a position just different enough that I no longer qualified - much to the hiring manager's consternation.
So, when I called HR to share the news that I was moving on, their response was, "Good for you."
Our team members are the most important voices in any conversation about their development and growth paths. Locking people out of conversations about their own path devalues their contributions, objectifies them and sends them running off to update their resumes. The more valuable the employee, the quicker their journey to greener pastures.
I've found that the best approach to employee development and growth is to make it an ongoing conversation. Keeping an open dialog encourages people to think about what they might want to do in the future and makes space for folks to change their minds as they gain clarity or learn about options they didn't realize existed.
As a leader, these discussions are an important tool for engaging with our team members. The knowledge gained in these conversations is also a valuable resource when unplanned work pops up, surge support is requested or when considering expanding the team's capabilities.
Ways to engage your team members in development discussions, provide opportunities to try new things and ultimately grow your team include:
- Development discussions at each check-in: Include development as a standing agenda item at your regular tag-ups with each team member. This normalizes development as an ongoing discussion and nudges people to spend time thinking about what might be next for them.
- Offer side-quests: As unplanned work or surge support requests arise, think back to the work folks are interested in exploring and offer them a side-quest that will give them an opportunity to see if they like the work.
- Share available opportunities: When new opportunities become available, be sure to share them with the people whose interests are aligned. It might mean that you'll need to backfill them if they are given the opportunity. I see these situations as a way to ensure good talent stays within the organization, with the added bonus of having an ally in another department.
- Make space for pivots: Sometimes people are afraid that what they say at any given time will commit them to a particular role down the road. It's good to remind them that it's just a conversation that carries no guarantees of new opportunities and no commitments from them to fill a specific role in the future.
Employee development is a partnership between leader and employee. An ongoing discussion encourages people to put some time and energy into refining their longer-term career goals. Through these conversations, leaders gain insight into what excites people and what demoralizes them, allowing us to present options and opportunities that our people may not have otherwise considered. Most importantly, you're acknowledging each person as a human with agency, an important fact that all too frequently gets lost in the noise.
Do you approach development discussions as a partnership? How often do you think about employee development? When's the last time you asked your team members about their interests and aspirations?
I'd love to hear from you. Please comment below or send me a note via the Connect section of the home page.
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