Tag Archive: career

Help Me Help You! (A Manager’s Guide to Managing Employees’ Careers)

Season Three B, Episode One. Podcast recap! (And if you missed the podcast, you can find it here.)

Podcast Recap: Season 3b, Episode 1

In this week’s podcast recap we focus on helping managers navigate the tricky business of guiding their employees as they plan their careers. There’s a fine line between helping them and doing it all for them, and the first question is:

How much do I need to do?

Many managers ask us: “What’s my role in my employee’s career plan?” In our experience, the employee is 100% accountable for determining their goals, and the manager is responsible for helping them analyze and address the gaps or steps that are needed to get them to those goals.

Of course many people really struggle with telling you what their goals are, so there is a role for manager in helping them figure that out.

You’ve likely got some combination of employees in the following categories:

  1. “AAA Keeners”:  These are your superstar employees who always go above and beyond. They ask for extra experience, and they gobble up opportunities like leftover stuffing at Thanksgiving. They just know what to do and how to play the game.  While this category might seem easy, they can also be tough to help.
  2. Great Performers who are “Tentative”: These are great performers who seem to need a little extra boost. They may be a bit more hesitant to throw their name into the hat. They may even turn down opportunities because they think they aren’t ready (even if you think they are.)
  3. “Arm Crossers”: This cadre is a bit…..difficult to say the least.   They expect promotions, assistance, guidance, mentoring, job shadowing…you name it.  Unfortunately they’d like to be sitting back enjoying a coffee while you do all the legwork to get them there.  You are the manager after all.  It’s your JOB to promote them.

For all three types, the manager’s role in career planning starts out with asking questions and coaching people to come to their own conclusions.

Examples of Questions to Ask:

  • What are your goals?
  • What are you looking for?
  • What work are you doing right now that makes you happy?
  • When have you received great feedback on something you did?
  • What one thing that you did this {year, quarter, month} brought you joy?
  • What have you done that you have really enjoyed (inside or outside of work?)
  • What work are you doing right now that frustrates you?
  • What skillsets are you great at?
  • How would you rank yourself on those skills on a scale of 1-10?
  • For those skills that aren’t a 10, what do you need in order to get to a 10?

Your keeners and your tenantive performers will likely do well in this type of coaching.  Your Arm Crossers, on the other hand, may push back and demand that the manager do the work for them.  Or say “I dunno”.

Ruth and Nicole came to a “Both And” approach, with Nicole jumping to some “solution-ing” and Ruth advising you to put the power to change on the employee’s shoulders. At some point, after all, the ball has to be in their court.

Either way you want to try to reach the arm crossers and hope that you can either get them re-engaged in the work or engaged in work elsewhere that brings them joy.

When to have these conversations?

For new employees, this is something you’d want to start talking about during on-boarding or during a 30-day check-in.  For existing employees this should be a purposeful meeting once or twice a year (OUTSIDE of 1:1’s, Performance Management etc.).  It’s important to give this type of conversation a special time and place to make sure that it has impact.

Take some time with your team and help people think about “what they like to do” to help them really start reaching for their dream job.

Until Next Time,

Nicole

 

Help! I Hate My Job! Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Season Three A, Episode One. Podcast recap! (And if you missed the podcast, you can find it here.)

Podcast Recap: Season 3a, Episode 1

On Season 3 of the podcast we are tackling managing your own career, and our first discussion revolves around the question, “Should I stay, or should I go?”

Do you really need a new job, or are you just in a bit of a rut? Do you need to find something new, or are you just in conflict with another member of your team or your manager that is giving you grief?

While the job cycle is definitely shorter than it used to be, it’s still important to ask yourself a few questions before you make the decision to leave and find something new. First of all, why are you even thinking about a new job right now?

Why Leave Your Job?

We are asked all the time for advice on careers and job moves and changes, and there tend to be some pretty common themes during those conversations. Do any of these sound like you?

  1. Bad manager: You might experience signs and symptoms like poor work-life balance, stress, discomfort, or conflict.  How have you tried to work through the scenario? Do you have unrealistic expectations?
  2. Bad performance review/no promotion: You hear something in a performance review that you don’t want to hear and feel uncomfortable and want to leave. You didn’t get that last promotion and are feeling deflated.  Have you tried to work through this? Have you identified the gaps? Have you asked for work that helps you fill them? Is there opportunity to change and improve?
  3. Wanting a new challenge/more responsibility: You feel like you’ve mastered your role. You are bored and need to try something new. Have you asked for new responsibilities or offered to pitch in on different projects?
  4. Wanting a change: You just want a change for change sake. Some might even look for opportunities in a new city or country! What small changes are possible that would achieve the same result? Or is moving really what you want?
  5. Impending Doom. A re-org, merger etc. is making you fearful or not really keen on the changes that are ahead. Are you certain that the changes are coming? Are you certain they are going to play out the way you assume? Can you research a bit more?

What is Your Plan?

There is another common theme among people who are starting to get that feeling that they need a new job.

They don’t have a plan, or a goal, or a destination. If you do, then skip ahead to the next section. If not, then read on.

If you just desperately want to leave your job and scramble to something else, you can expect to be equally unsatisfied and unhappy where you land. Eventually.

In order to really address your discontent, you need to have a goal or destination, and you need to make decisions that will help you get there.

Where do you want to be in one year, three years, or even five? Make decisions today that help you reach your longer term goal.  Or more directly, find work/projects/courses that help you get to the next step.

The great part, is you are in charge of your goals. You can change them and they aren’t carved in stone. Don’t be afraid to chart out your path – you can change it!

Top Tips to Figure Out “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”

  1. Reflect: Reflect on the symptoms that you are experiencing and assess whether you’ve taken the steps to improve your current situation. (See above – is your job salvageable, or do you need to develop more skills before you move?)
  2. Have a Plan: Figure out your plan. Short term to long term. Have an idea of what you are going to so that you are happy when you get there and that this step makes sense in your bigger career plan. What are the stepping stones to get to the next big thing? Have an outcome statement. “I will know I am in the right job if____________.”
  3. Go Across to Go Up: Are you willing to take a lateral move in order to make a bigger change from there? Are you willing to take a pay cut to switch into a new career?
  4. Go “TO” something: Are you running away from your job and jumping to ANY job, or are you being selective and finding the right thing? Do you have passion for what you are applying for?

Take some time. Take a deep breath and put down the voodoo doll of your manager or most hated colleague.

Do some reflecting (use a @bestselfjournal if you can, we love them) and planning.

If you are convinced that you need a new job, stay tuned to the podcast and the blog to see how to start that job hunt.

We’ve got you covered.

Until Next Time,

Nicole