Career Development at Center Stage | The Shaping of Career Development

By Dr. Beverly Kaye and Lindy Williams

Career development emerged as a practice in the last half of the 20th century. The early focus was primarily assessment-driven and vocational with practitioners counseling individuals in the selection of a field of work. Fast forward to the first decades of the 21st century and it’s apparent that a combination of big, bold sweeping changes and more subtle but significant shifts in the work, the workplace and the expectations and needs of the individuals who make up that workplace, have shaped and reshaped what the term career development means today. From its original role as a method of finding the right job, career development has evolved to a process for professional growth that encompasses the wide range of experiences that ultimately form an individual’s life’s work. Along the way career development, with its power to maximize engagement has taken center stage in the war for talent and become a C-Suite agenda item.?

Whether this transformation is viewed as a gradual evolution or a more disruptive revolution depends upon your vantage point. If you’ve played a role inside the career development space during the last decade and have navigated some of the changes brought about by the trends outlined in the sidebar, you are more likely to use the term revolution to describe the experience. And even those who see the changes as evolutionary, it's time to buckle up. Change isn’t finished with the career development space!?

First, what hasn’t changed?

Three stakeholders emerged early as a foundational partnership that remains today at the very core of the most successful organizational career development efforts. The partnership consists of individuals navigating careers, managers of those individuals and the organizations in which they work. Stakeholders’ roles, expectations and responsibilities have evolved with the changes and shifts mentioned above and will likely continue to adjust and adapt; however, this threesome remains essential to building and maintaining a development culture regardless how small or large the effort.???

The individual stakeholder is the central player in the partnership – bringing the energy, motivation, aspirations and determination to the experience. Unlike last century perceptions of careers as predictable and frequently prescriptive, there is greater acceptance today of the fact that every career is unique – as unique as the individual experiencing it. No two people will follow the same route in exactly the same way. This brings with it the complexity of providing career-focused development to the many while tailoring development experiences to needs and aspirations of each individual. Not an easy task!? And one that puts increasing pressure on the other two partners to deliver what’s expected by today’s careerists.

The second player in the partnership, the manager, matters now more than ever. Engagement survey results continue to show that the manager-employee relationship, when good, can make an enormous positive difference in how the employee perceives opportunities and engages with the work. The breakdown or absence of a good relationship can damage or destroy engagement and drive employees to seek careers elsewhere. As a result more organizations are holding managers accountable for having career and development focused conversations on a regular basis and building relationships that stretch the manager’s role to listen more than tell and advocate more than advise.?

The third partner – the organization – led by senior leaders and HR - is still responsible for providing access to systems, processes and tools the other two partners rely on to build career experiences. Organizations that have been paying attention have come to realize that they can build career development systems that live over time and through change. It’s also true that if attention wanes or focus is lost even the most carefully designed processes will fail or fade away. Development professionals who discover the secrets to building something that lasts create cultures of growth and engagement.?

This partnership of stakeholders emerged in the early years, continues to evolve as the roles are clarified and remains a significant foundational element of effective and sustainable career development efforts.?

So, what IS changing?

The four transformations that follow are reframing career development and offer opportunities for Talent Development pros to perform well on that center stage.

Career development is a necessity now!

No longer a side conversation, discussion of why and how to enable it has found its way onto C-Suite agendas with good reason. It’s a bottom-line issue and as report after report shows, an engagement and retention opportunity. Employees who can’t see a future within the organization will find a future elsewhere. The cost of losing talent has been calculated over and over again, so that isn’t new. What is new is the recognition of how powerful a genuine effort to enable career growth can be in the engagement equation and the employee value proposition. ?

The reach of career development efforts has expanded beyond targeting primarily employees identified as high potentials considered promotable now or ready soon. Development of that talent is still critical; however, providing career development to the broader population is essential to maximizing performance and engagement. Forward thinking organizations are using cost effective techniques, creative technologies, improved career portals, communities of practice and web-based delivery methods to provide development that is accessible and adaptable to individual needs and aspirations.?

Organizations’ futures may depend on their solutions and their ability to offer career development to everyone.?

Career audiences are deeper and wider – and sometimes invisible!

Career audiences – people who influence the opportunities that come our way – have changed. Today’s career audience is no longer an easily identified tidy little circle of individuals who might weigh in. The usual suspects are still there – immediate managers, teammates, direct customers and clients, maybe a previous boss. But the audience has grown to include a constellation of players – some an individual may not even know personally. Social media, matrixed structures, and project-based work have produced broader networks and added multiple dimensions to the pool of people who potentially have input into how a person is seen not just within the organization, but also in the industry and possibly even the world of work depending upon the extent of the individual’s exposure. Managing a personal professional brand has become essential to maneuvering and thriving in this more open landscape of connections.

As the band of observers grows, particular care must be placed on managing perceptions. Stories of ill-advised social media posts of a photograph or joke that impacted a job opportunity illustrate how widely an individual’s reputation is available and the effect it can have on a career. Learning how to manage this broader brand reach is central to managing a career today.?

Organizations are acknowledging and leveraging the power of social media and proactively engaging employees in building and managing their reputations.?

Career paths are transforming into patterns

Predictable career paths are rare these days. The very definition of a career has changed. Career ladders lost rungs or disappeared. Pursuing one dream job risks frustration and disengagement if that job is downsized or outsourced. The Oxford English Dictionary used to define career as “progress through life.” Maybe today’s careers are closer to that definition. Contingent workers move into and out of roles and organizations as work and assignments come and go. Careers have moved away from prescriptive paths to more personalized patterns of experiences as individuals today focus on balancing money and meaning when making next step choices. Careers today are a series of sprints versus a marathon – giving advantage to the agile, flexible careerist.

The fluid and changing workplace demands a fresh look at what is meant by the term career. Savvy talent developers are taking the lead in changing the organizational mindset to one that values and facilitates flexible, self-defined career patterns – traditional and not so traditional – and opens more doors for talent to choose to stay and grow.

Careers are built on capabilities and capacity

Expertise in a role, a field or a profession has always been and always will be important. Add to that the fact that the ever-changing world of work has begun to stretch the scope of what someone needs to succeed in a career. A greater emphasis is now placed on factors often called “soft” skills in the past. Areas such as emotional intelligence, curiosity, resilience, and creativity are now recognized as critical to staying ahead of the competition. These factors are more difficult to evaluate and measure. They’re not finite skillsets on a mastery checklist. Instead individuals must continue to build competence and capability in a constantly evolving mix of areas. And as the call to ‘do more with less’ continues, capacity to take on more is tested repeatedly.

Basic skillsets are not enough anymore. Organizations are taking what we used to call “soft skills” seriously. They are investing in building and creating learning experiences that provide opportunities to practice these skills and evaluation methods that ensure accountability. Talent development professionals are perfectly positioned to guide the identification, application and measurement of these crucial abilities.?

So what’s next?

The landscape of possibilities for Talent Development professionals specializing in career development is exciting. Opportunities to grow are being untangled from prescribed paths steps. Technology is opening more doors to learn in ways that tap into how learning happens and what makes it stick. There’s more than just a seat at the table for TD professionals. There is the potential to create cultures of continuous growth for individuals and for the organizations they form.

Here’s a key to making certain what you build rests on a solid foundation.?

Individuals need the encouragement, resources, tools and support to envision their futures. They don’t need every possible new app or program, but they do need conversations with managers or coaches or mentors. The need to take action, to be open to learning, to be willing to change behaviors, to be introspective enough to clarify their needs – what they must get – their wants – what they would like to get – and their aspirations – what they hope to get – from their career patterns.?

Managers need to know how and when to help employees navigate opportunities. In organizations where development resources are plentiful, managers who step in as curators and guides will assist in the selection of the best choices of learning experiences. Where resources are limited, managers who find creative methods of learning that cost little or nothing will provide meaningful growth opportunities.? Managers must be ready to identify talent and to share it – even when it’s painful.?

Organizations own the messages and methods. The partnership will thrive when the organization integrates growth and development across core processes - instills accountability into the system for all three players - and celebrates those who keep the system alive.?

Career development plays a pivotal role in the ecosystem of development-related processes within organizations. Career conversations and experiences that move a career forward add value throughout the life cycle of the employee experience from recruiting to retirement.

Yes, career development is center stage!

Adapted with permission from "Up is Not the Only Way: Rethinking Career Mobility" (2017) by Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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