Avoiding Career Development Mistakes
By Steve Arneson

Conventional wisdom suggests that employees are responsible for guiding their own careers. The most highly motivated individuals take this responsibility seriously and may choose to change companies in pursuit of career-building experiences and opportunities. This causes a dilemma for employers: They often lose their most ambitious, upwardly mobile career-seeking employees. Wouldn’t it make more sense to provide in-house opportunities for employees to advance their careers in order to realize a long-term return on the company’s HR investment?

This is a coming-of-age strategy whose time has come. As businesses recognize the value of finding and keeping talent, there are three common mistakes they will want to avoid. At the same time, they should utilize “best practice” principles to ensure they create a comprehensive blueprint for internal career growth.

Mistakes and Best Practices
“People stay with companies where they are getting a rich experience and the opportunity to use all of their skills and develop to their full potential,” said Jeff Smith, vice president of People Development for Time Warner. “When you create such an environment, you get the best performance from people.”

In attempting to create a culture that fosters career development, companies often fall short because they make the following basic mistakes:

· Poorly defining career development: Internal career development cannot be encouraged if it is not properly defined. What type of development is involved? Does it include promotions, lateral moves and rotational assignments, or just skill-building in current roles? The answers depend on the company.

· Not executing well: Some companies pay lip service to employee advancement, but have no systems or processes in place to facilitate internal career development. Others may have programs, systems or tools in place, but fail to follow through to ensure that employees use them or that those who do are actually rewarded with advancement.

· Not telling the story: Despite good processes and considerable success with internal career development, companies are sometimes surprised to learn through employee surveys that they offer insufficient advancement opportunities. The problem may not be that opportunities don’t exist, but rather that the organization is not telling the story. Employees don’t receive the news, and then assume nothing is happening.

To correct these common mistakes, here are some “best practice” suggestions:

· Carefully define internal career development: Getting internal career development off to a good start begins with a solid definition. It may be as simple as “helping people build skills so they can perform more effectively in their current jobs.” Or it may be a multi-pronged definition that addresses formal learning through workshops, courses and e-learning opportunities, lateral job movement to gain new experiences, rotational assignments and promotions. It’s important to spell out in detail the goals of the internal career development program, what is expected of employees and what support the company will provide.

· Build a robust proprietary career development process: Not every company is in a growth phase that presents a wealth of advancement opportunities. However, every company can implement systems, tools and processes to encourage employees to consider a long-term commitment to the organization. One such tool might be as simple as a career development Web site where associates can take skills assessment tests to evaluate their strengths and opportunities and match their capabilities to positions—currently open or not. The idea is to provide employees with accurate data on current skill levels and requirements of new positions so they can steer their own careers. Another is a Web-based mentoring tool, where mentors and associates can “find” each other through a comprehensive matching process. Finally, most organizations can develop or host state-of-the-art classroom and e-learning offerings that complement their strategy and values.

To complement tools and systems, Time Warner recognizes the importance of meaningful dialogue between the employee and the manager in the career development process. “We have a broad umbrella initiative called ‘Employees First’ designed to encourage our employees to grow and develop, as well as have a very productive, enjoyable time,” Smith explained. “Strong dialogue at both the individual and organizational level are key to making the right career decisions for the person and the business.” How beneficial is internal career movement to employees? “Multiple job experiences and multiple perspectives are always beneficial, but the appropriateness of moving talent across departments or divisions must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” Smith said. “It has to be beneficial for both the person and the business.”

A culture that values and encourages movement is absolutely essential to successful internal career development. Some companies, such as PepsiCo, strongly encourage movement of executives on the fast track, as well as welcoming the new ideas that associates bring when they arrive from other divisions and locales. It’s a cultural mentality that marries the benefits of movement—fresh perspective, motivation and ambition—with the individual’s desire to grow professionally.

· Communicate accomplishments, celebrate success: There is nothing wrong with shouting from the rooftops when associates earn promotions or move to new assignments. Here is what one CEO did when employees complained about the lack of internal career movement. At one of his regular “town hall” meetings with about 2,000 entry-level managers, he asked, “How many people here have moved to a new role or gained new responsibilities that significantly altered your role in the last year? Please stand up.” About three-quarters of the room stood up. He then had them sit down and asked, “How many of you believe that this was beneficial to your career? Please stand up.” And about the same number stood up again. That informal, public poll helped change the perceptions in the company about career opportunities.

Ultimately, if career development is not defined, there is little chance of coming out the gate. Without tools, systems and processes, the race cannot be won. And without taking stock and celebrating accomplishments, people won’t be much interested in winning.

Who Is Responsible?
Career development is a partnership between the individual and the company, with company accountability jointly owned by HR and the line managers. Line managers fulfill the role of coach, mentor, evaluator of performance and giver of candid feedback—both positive and negative. “Individual employees own their careers, but Time Warner and its managers are going to support it,” Smith said. “We emphasize the shared responsibility.”

Many companies are so focused on the bottom line that they forget their number-one asset—people. Others talk about valuing employees, but don’t treat them accordingly. The companies that really “get it” recognize that when their employees go home at the end of each day, the company’s intellectual capital goes with them. It’s just common sense that replacing that resource is far more costly than nurturing it.

Learn, Do, Reflect
Career development may be defined as providing intra-organizational opportunities to learn, do and reflect. Learning is defined as any type of formal education, such as classroom study. Doing means creating work experiences that put learning into practice, including movement to new roles and responsibilities. Reflection is the interaction with managers, mentors, coaches or co-workers to talk about and consider what is being learned and practiced. Companies that succeed in integrating this tripartite framework for career development with the best practices of definition, implementation and celebration will be able to retain the best employees and grow them into the leaders of the future.

Steve Arneson, Ph.D., is vice president of career development, Capital One Financial Corp., a Fortune 500 holding company whose subsidiaries offer consumer lending and auto loan products.

Team Builders Plus offers a full-range of services that benefit Individuals, Teams and Organizations. If you would like to learn more about them, email Jeff Backal or call 856.596.4196.