This article is part of a 4-part series on aligning employee career growth opportunities with organizational talent priorities. Check out the other articles here.
Many organizations are focused on solving the talent crisis by looking at what is needed for today. On the other hand, employees are looking at organizations to give them a vision of what their future may look like with the organization if they decide to join. Making career pathing part of your employer value proposition process will ensure that you are helping employees envision and plan for a future with your organization, giving them a reason to join – and stay.
Today’s workers are motivated to augment their abilities and find professional progress empowering. The pandemic reinforced the need for career growth and clarity, making it essential to place employee career pathing at the center of your employer value proposition. Here are the keys to doing so.
Provide personalized L&D opportunities and upskilling
Assess your company’s career advancement needs and combine them with personalized training and L&D opportunities that match employees’ aspirations, skills, potential and expertise. Offer upskilling and reskilling options to encourage people to explore their future in the company in different positions and departments. Unite efforts with your employees in creating career pathway plans, allowing them to visualize their possibilities and the professional direction they could take. Implement solid succession planning mechanisms to help workers imagine themselves in leadership positions and take practical steps to make it happen.
Prioritize experience-based learning
Leverage hands-on employee training instead of solely relying on theoretical concepts and e-learning. Encourage employees to perform novel tasks and take on exciting projects, similar to stretch assignments which place them in a realistic setting and give them an idea of how it would be to work in a specific role or position.
Align career pathing with your strategic goals
One of the best methods to foster a sustainable workplace and staff success is to tie employee career pathing into your overall strategic objectives. That will also help you bind career pathing and your EVP, ensuring consistency and effectiveness. Analyze your organizational goals, needs, strengths and bottlenecks to develop L&D programs and professional pathways that don’t contradict them. As a result, every initiative and strategy will have a purpose and employees’ development will be meaningful and relevant to your company’s continuity. Check out Agile Career Paths for Dynamic Organizations for more insight into establishing career paths.
Start helpful career conversations
Have open and constructive conversations with your employees about their career goals, ambitions and affinities. Help them pinpoint what aids their development and growth. Offer helpful advice and platforms to learn and adopt new skills. Be honest and ensure they have realistic and tangible objectives that align with your company’s opportunities and targets.
Offer mentoring and coaching
Mentors and coaches drive career pathing by helping to identify L&D program objectives, high-potential workers and skills gaps. They can support employees in finding their place in a company, setting up the future, leveraging their strengths and addressing their weaknesses. Coaching and mentoring can increase workers’ sense of belonging and security, as they can always turn to these professionals for help and advice. Conversely, mentors offer guidance in laying out career mapping and helping people find suitable roles, programs and tools.
