When you become a manager, you take on the responsibility of your direct reports’ career development in addition to your own. How can you demonstrate that their growth is a top priority? Start by having career-development conversations with your employees early and often. The dialogue should begin around a year into their tenure. You might send out a prompt in advance of the first conversation, with the goal of better understanding your employee and their aspirations. In the conversation itself, focus on asking questions and listening carefully. Find out what they enjoy working on most, what motivates them, and how they hope to grow. In the follow up, work with them to put together a customized development plan. Then run some small experiments—relatively simple changes to their responsibilities and workweek to point them in the right direction. For example, think about any classes, conferences, or training programs that might match their interests, and encourage them to come to you with ideas of their own. Finally, check in roughly once a month to make sure they’re on track. These conversations can be brief—a quick 15-minute chat is enough to remind your employee that you remain invested in their development.
This tip is adapted from “How to Talk to Your Team About Their Career Development,” by Rebecca Fraser-Thill and Shuba Gopal
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