What are the best practices for career pathing non-managerial employees?

Don't stop at the gaps. For career pathing non-managerial roles: ??Skill Evaluation: Understand their present skills and areas for growth. ??Highlight Strengths: Recognize and build on what they do well. ??Gap Analysis: Identify areas needing development and tailor training. ??Mentorship: Connect them with peers or seniors to guide their progress. ??Opportunities: Offer projects that stretch their capabilities. By focusing on both strengths and gaps, you provide a balanced approach to their career development.

The first step is to build a capabilities taxonomy (skills, knowledge and experiences), and the second is to identify the capabilities required to perform each job. Most companies lack these first two steps and, therefore, even with good capabilities assessments, gaps are not well identified.

For non-managerial employees, it's vital to keep an open mind about career progression. Delving into career options within one's industry offers a clear path for growth. But it's equally valuable to peek beyond familiar boundaries. Exploring opportunities in adjacent industries or roles can unveil unexpected avenues for advancement. This broader perspective not only enhances adaptability but also equips one with a diverse skill set, making them invaluable in a rapidly evolving job market.

The reality is, technology is changing the world of work every day. The role you have 10 years from now may not even exist today. Take the time to get clear on your purpose and the type of impact you want to make instead of confining yourself to a specific title or function - this will make it easier for you to adapt and learn new skills. The worst thing to do is become stale. For me, I knew I wanted to support people. I started as an HR Manager. Now I’m the CEO of my own employee experience company.

A couple of key elements to consider that are often missed from my own experience are: 1- The timescale that the person looks to achieve a certain position/salary. All too often I’ve seen these conversations look to tick a box and say what’s the next position that makes sense from the managers perspective. Understanding if there’s alignment between the persons personal financial and professional goals on a realistic timeline can help both parties understand what’s actually going to be a worthwhile goal. 2- Finding their true drivers is key! Is it more time with their family? Paying off their house? To l start their own venture?Not all employees offer that information up freely. So building trust to learn that truth is massive. ??

Once assessed employee capabilities, and identified the capabilities required in each job, is quite easy to identify next roles, and which roles to move to get the capabilities required to finally access to a destination job. Even just taking into account the capabilities required in each job, and the job grading, is quite easy to identify feeder and next roles for each job.

No job is 100% fun. And so many people can name exactly what they don't like about their current job. But it's hard for them to name the parts they enjoy. Yet knowing exactly what those fun bits are is critically important to developing the right career path. ?? Over time, you can guide them in identifying what they want to do more of. And create a career path that increases that share. A great specialist path is not an optional feel-good factor. It is a concrete route with a goal. Without that goal, many are chasing the illusory 100% job. And burn out or leave the company in the process. P.S.: Not knowing the fun bits YET is a valid result, too. Then the career path should aim to offer more opportunities to try new things.

Once assessed employee capabilities, and identified the capabilities required in each job, is quite easy to identify next roles, and which roles to move to get the capabilities required to finally access to a destination job. It is not difficult to explore, with the capabilities of the employee, which roles would be capable to perform, meassuring it with a % of fitness to each role, and identifying the capabilities gaps. In order to fill those gaps, the 70:20:10 approach is powerful, providing to employees guides to about how to build a 70:20:10 individual development action plan.

For effective career progression as a non-managerial employee, it's essential to seek varied perspectives. Engaging with mentors from different backgrounds provides invaluable insights. Additionally, active participation in industry groups or events broadens one's network and knowledge base. Regularly soliciting feedback helps identify strengths and areas for growth, ensuring well-rounded professional development.

For an effective career pathing experience, it is critical to be able to "navigate" and explore job opportunities within the Company. That is, taking into account the capabilities of the employee, suggest him/her next potential roles, which path should have to access to a desired role, be offered internal vacancies in the job posting tool, etc.

As far as the capabilities required in each job can change from one year to another, feeder and next roles could change as well. In fact this is an agile way of managing career pathing.

In our fast-evolving professional world, I've realized static career paths are fading. Despite my two degrees and four certifications, the past year pushed me into the realm of online business. From tech nuances to deciphering social media algorithms, every day was a lesson. For me, learning isn't about climbing the corporate ladder but personal evolution. In a landscape where the only constant is change, continuous learning isn't just an asset; it's a necessity. Embracing it has reshaped my understanding, preparing me for life's unpredictable turns.