Our traditional idea of what a career trajectory should look like has changed. While previous generations might have spent decades at one company, today’s workforce is increasingly switching jobs and roles all in an effort to gain new experiences.
According to a recent survey of millennials from Akumina (registration required), 75% of respondents believe frequently changing jobs helps advance their careers. As a result of this job-hopping, businesses are being left without the institutional knowledge and perspective that comes from long-tenured employees. How can human resources professionals work with organizational leaders to establish a culture and framework that values career development, while ultimately encouraging longer stays at organizations?
First and foremost, we need to start thinking of careers as “rock walls,” not “ladders.” If you’ve ever been rock climbing, you know that it’s not always a straight climb up. At many companies around the world, and especially startups, career growth no longer means a title progression or moving up a structured corporate ladder.
Rather, career progression is about increasing your employability by proactively growing your transferable skills, network and education. In order to accomplish these goals, sometimes you might need to go two steps to the side or even take a step back. There's no set path for career growth; rather, it's a truly unique experience for each individual. And just like rock climbing, we should expect to have others support us along the way.
At my company, we understand that career progression is a shared responsibility among employees, managers and the organization. As a result, we have a framework for how this partnership operates. Here's how leaders can begin implementing this framework, too:
1. Employees: Encourage employees to own their work story by identifying and communicating interests as well as the skills and behaviors they most want to develop. Remind them that it's OK to take risks and move beyond their comfort zone.
2. Managers: Ensure managers understand what’s going on in the business, and ask them to look for opportunities to help their employees match their skills with business needs. Along the way, coach employees as they practice and develop their skills.
3. Organization: Define your organization’s needs, whether it be objectives and key results, the business strategy or the company road map. Once completed, define the skills and behaviors expected within the organization. This will allow managers and employees to determine ways in which employee career progression can mutually benefit all.
Of course, it's also critical to establish checkpoints to make sure everyone's reaching goals, while not losing sight of roles and responsibilities. At my company, we encourage employees to take 15 minutes every week to check in on what's working and what's not in order to quickly assist and make changes that match the speed of how our business is changing and growing. These pulse check-ins allow managers to get a sense of team engagement and can quickly realign employees.
Additionally, the entire organization participates in a more robust feedback process where each employee receives a 360 review, which presents an opportunity for employees to reflect back and then look ahead at their careers. They have an opportunity to consider what excites them most and what they want to do in the future. I'd encourage organizations to set up moments to check in that match their business cadence.
Once organizations start thinking of an employee’s career progression like a rock wall and clearly define roles in this development, it is time to consider implementing a learning and development program focused not only on current work, but also on exposing employees to lateral job opportunities and continued education.
According to the popular 70-20-10 model for learning and development, individuals obtain 70% of knowledge from job-related experience; 20% comes from interactions with others and exposure to cross-functional work opportunities, and 10% comes from formal education. While most career development will be a result of real-world, on-the-job experience, HR professionals should still consider finding ways to expose employees to cross-functional work opportunities and introduce more opportunities for formal training sessions.
There are several steps to consider taking when exploring ways to expose employees to available opportunities:
• Post all roles publicly, and keep each role open for a period of time so that anyone in the organization can express interest. Although it might not be the right time for them to assume that role, it provides information to the managers on the person's interest, and they can build that into the career development plan.
• Publicly celebrate all career moves in an equal way. Don't limit celebrations to promotions; include those who take on a new assignment or move laterally. This shows employees they are valued by the organization.
• Host career sessions where employees can learn about their fellow employees' career journeys. Often, the journeys include the many ways to progress and gain skills that look like a rock-climbing wall.
Finally, HR professionals need to ensure their organizational leaders understand the business value of creating new roles for existing employees. As industries evolve, there is a competitive advantage in not only retaining employees, but also encouraging the formation of new roles. Here are a few helpful insights I've observed you can share with leaders in order to ensure they understand the value of creating new roles:
• Providing people with visibility and an opportunity to take on a new role internally can lead to higher engagement and retention of your best talent.
• Publicly sharing your company’s business needs supports alignment on what matters most. This ensures that employees remain focused on the needs and goals of the business.
• Openly sharing also helps support a healthy culture where opportunities are open and available to all, which helps organizations unleash talent in all areas, whether the hiring managers know the person or not.
Ensuring employees are happy with the trajectory of their careers in your company isn't a one-person job. By sharing the responsibility and having a rock-wall perspective, you'll be well on your way to creating satisfying, diverse experiences.
