A Career Path Not Taken?

Too many managers fail to discuss career-development options with their employees -- and HR is to blame. While tools and processes may be available, HR leaders haven't created a systematic approach or given support for managers to pursue such initiatives.

By Lin Grensing-Pophal

When is the last time your managers had career-planning discussions with their direct reports? When is the last time you had one with one of your direct reports?

According to employees surveyed recently by Philadelphia-based Right Management, chances are those conversations don't happen very often. Nearly four in 10 (37 percent) workers of nearly 700 polled said they have never had such a conversation with their managers.

One-third (30 percent) said once a year, nearly two in 10 (17 percent) said twice a year and three in 20 (15 percent) said every three months.

Yet, most managers believe they are having these discussions, says Kerry Patterson of VitalSmarts in Provo, Utah, and co-author of Crucial Conversations.

"Often these discussions are so informal the employee didn't even know they happened," says Patterson. "It might be a casual conversation in the hallway that [the manager] counted as a career discussion."

In some cases, he says, managers may simply be unaware of the need to hold these discussions, and for those who are aware of the need to be involved in career discussions, they may avoid them for other reasons including inexperience or inability to engage in these discussions; resistance to losing productive employees they have spent time grooming; or simply wishing to avoid what may be difficult conversations.

"If I have someone who's a top performer and they leave me, then I have to do more work," says Adam Alexander, vice president of sales and marketing for MasteryWorks, Inc., a career development firm in Falls Church, Va. "It may be a selfish concern, but it is a legitimate and common concern."

Most often, though, the issue is managers not knowing what to do or how to do it. Career-counseling skills are often lacking, experts say -- particularly when it gets down to discussions of specific behaviors that their workers need to change.

Melvin Scales, senior vice president of global solutions for Right Management, says managers have a key role to play in reaching out to employees for career-related discussions.

"Career planning can be a great first step in getting employees more broadly engaged," he says.

But, for this to happen, managers need to have the tools and skills required to feel confident in engaging employees in career-planning discussions, he says, noting that it is an area where HR can play a critical role.

Michael Warech, of Warech Associates, a performance-management firm in Morristown, N.J., and a former Watson Wyatt consultant, says HR can begin these discussions with organizational leaders by acknowledging the managerial and organizational barriers, and raising awareness of the need for career development from a bottom-line perspective, in terms of costs related to turnover, hiring, training, etc.

"HR can help move the deal and help get organizational leaders understand how important it is to identify the talent, develop it and retain it," says Warech.

Systematizing an Informal Process

Alexander says many organizations have a lot of "great resources that already exist, but they don't really have any framework or process to help the employees" because managers and employees are not adequately prepared for such discussions.

"HR can really help facilitate these conversations," he says, by identifying and facilitating the use of already available materials, such as assessments to help identify areas of interest or aptitude, discussion guides, training programs, etc.

But, first, says Patterson, HR needs to ensure that managers understand that working with employees on career progression is part of their role. It shouldn't be -- but often is -- simply assumed that managers know this.

Many don't, he says. HR leaders need to develop specific tools and outline clear processes for career-planning discussions to ensure that managers know what is expected of them -- and that employees recognize the organization's interest in their development.

A good time to require such conversations is during regular performance reviews, he says.

"These discussions would include everything from courses they should be taking, skills they should be developing and also deal with what they're interested in doing and work/life balance issues," Patterson says.

That's when Makovsky and Co., Inc., a PR agency in New York, holds such career-development conversations, says Steve Seeman, vice president of human resources.

"I think the best way that HR can change the woeful lack of career discussions between workers and managers is to systematize this process," he says. "Numerous studies in our industry have shown that employees leave jobs not for more money, but for greater challenges, responsibilities and opportunities."

During the first of two formal performance-evaluation sessions, supervisors "must have an interactive discussion with the employee that includes goal-setting for career growth in the coming year," says Seeman. During the second session, the supervisor and employee address progress made toward previously set goals and discuss how to improve.

To aid in the process, the company published The Makovsky Professional's Pathway to Growth, a booklet that details the specific skills required for each title/career level as well as growth goals for advancement to the next level.

"Supervisors and employees both review this book and base targets on the skills which will warrant advancement," says Seeman.

Dennis Berger, senior vice president and chief co-worker services officer at CDW, a provider of technology solutions based in Vernon Hills, Ill., says his company uses a career-progression process it calls Achieve It! @ CDW. The program is built to provide job aids and guidance for managers and mentors to use in the development of other employees.

The program includes four main elements:

* In Aspire!, workers are directed to resources for self-assessment of their values, skills and work motivators.

*In Acquire!, they are directed to internal job-movement tools. The internal job-search toolkit helps users establish a business case for why job movement is desired and develop a strategy to be prepared when a desired position is created, or becomes open.

*In Inspire!, workers are directed to resources for building their networks. An open-mentoring program allows both mentors and mentees to determine the topics they would like to discuss and it matches pairs based on those needs. The tool provides guidance for building the mentoring relationship and guidelines for managing the relationship.

*In Go Higher!, employees are directed to tools that help build mind, body and spirit -- taking into consideration how the development of the whole person impacts job satisfaction.

Thinking Differently About Careers

But, with today's economy, many employees and managers may believe talking about career development is sheer folly -- there are no jobs to move into as baby boomers decide to delay retirement and companies delay the creation of new jobs.

Warech says some "managers are reluctant [to have career discussions] for fear the employee is going to interpret as some sort of promise that they're going to get a promotion."

But, Alexander says organizations -- and employees -- need to shift their thinking away from promotion and think about what career development is all about.

"How can we think about career options differently? ... Maybe there are ways to gain different skills if you move from one business unit to another. Maybe you even have to move down a level to gain skills to grow in a faster-growing area of the company. Maybe you just love your job so let's help you get better at your job and develop in that role," he says.

Warech says some of that is occurring. "What we're seeing out there now is people getting a little bit more comfortable with the idea of a lateral move and moving outside of their comfort zone in terms of functional expertise," he says.

Of course, despite the best intentions of HR, employee development will not occur if the company's culture does not support it or reward it.

"There are plenty of managers who don't like to share talent," Warech says. "If those managers were incented to share, they probably wouldn't have a problem doing that. But, they're not getting anything for it. They need this employee on the team to make sure they're meeting their objectives -- why would they want to let go of the employee?"

Alexander agrees. "If I don't see the benefit in developing these people, why should I waste my time? It's the old 'what's in it for me.' "

Changing that dynamic can be extremely challenging.

In some cases it may mean providing incentives to managers based on their ability to develop their employees. It might also involve a philosophical shift, Alexander says, so that managers want "a reputation as a manager who grows and develops employees so that more employees will want to work on my team."