Effective Career Discussions at Work Wendy Hirsh NICEC Fellow & Principal Associate, Institute for Employment Studies

Why career ‘discussions’ at work?  Specialist career support – ‘guidance’ – is not often available to employed adults  But people at work still need career support – they say they want “someone to talk to”  The idea of ‘discussions’ or conversations – formal or informal- is a tangible way in  We need to think about how employees gain access to career discussions and who with  We also need to understand what makes such discussions effective

Career development & performance ‘AMO’ model of organisational performance A= Ability. Careers are how skills are grown – not just through formal learning but experience as well M= Motivation. Career attention leads to engagement which leads to improved performance – the emotional power of career attention O= Opportunity. Careers get people into the jobs where they can make a difference Purcell et al. ‘Understanding the People and Performance Link’, CIPD, 2003

What were our questions?  What can we learn by studying people who have good experiences ? ‘ a discussion about their career which the individual finds of significant positive value’  Who are they talking to and where?  What is going on in an effective discussion?  What is the impact of positive discussions?  Also asked about bad discussions  Could good ones happen more often?

Your own experiences Think of an effective discussion you have had about your own career: Who was it with? How did it come about? What did the conversation cover? What happened as a result? (feelings, concrete actions, end result)

Who and where? In the NICEC research sample of 160 effective discussions reported by ‘receivers’:  Over half were with managers - a fifth with the boss  Relatively few (7%) of these conversations were in formal appraisal  HR professionals, specialist advisers, and mentors or coaches (37%)  Not that many with friends, family and peers (8%)  Mix of strangers and deep on-going relationships  Half not part of any formal process - but often planned in diaries  Another third in ‘semi-formal’ settings e.g. follow ups to training or job application, mentoring etc.  ‘Receivers’ initiated twice as many effective conversations as ‘givers’

What do people talk about? Everything you would expect, in no set order!  Where they are at, their feelings about work  Skills and performance  Job design and mix of work activities  Values and drivers, worklife issues  Potential and aspirations  Options in the business and outside  Processes and politics  Pros and cons of career and development choices – direction  Next steps, who to see, what to do May cover different agendas with different people

Wide range of ideas used  Where am I now? Where do I want to be? How do I get there?  5 and 10 year plans  Particular goals  Time lines  Paths and climbing frames  Moving towards and away from  Skill collection and learning episodes  Learning headroom within the job  On the lookout for….  Pros and cons of opportunities

Wide range of impacts  Better sense of own options/career direction  Self-insight: values, interests, feedback on skills  Information on company and full range of options  Self-confidence and career confidence: ‘Feel-good’  Contacts to follow up  Understanding of tactics, politics, processes  Job moves - secured by various means  Arranging development activities  Career planning outlook, frameworks, skills  Positive view of company/retention  Raised profile/putting own career on the agenda

Frequency of impacts

What Do Good Givers Do?  Show real interest in the person and insight  Are positive and enthusiastic  Offer constructive challenge and advice  Use facilitative interpersonal skills  Give information  Give honest feedback on skills and potential  Open doors when needed, share networks  Manage the session

Unhelpful Behaviors in Givers  Lack of interest or commitment to helping  Unwillingness to confront individual  Lack of awareness of where individual is at  Attending to own agenda, not individual’s  Lack of insight into person, company, processes or politics  Dealing with important issues ‘off the cuff’  Not following up on promised actions

What Do Good Receivers Do?  Proactive in seeking out people to talk to  Prepare by thinking about self and options  Willing to engage in self-disclosure  Open minded and able to look at self  Start talking well before a job move and flexible on timing and tactics of moves  Think about career as a business proposition  Take ownership and follow up

What Receivers Shouldn’t Do  Just wait for help  Fail to prepare the giver  Fail to listen  Reject advice out of hand  Appear interested only in self  Fail to communicate real career issues

Process of career conversation 2. Setting up the discussion 3. Establishing trust 4. Sharing information 5. Agreeing action 1. Creating the climate Model used as the basis for ‘practical tips’ framework of effective behaviours for both parties at each stage in the discussion. Used in the CIPD on-line ‘tool’.

Key behaviours and attributes  Motivation and trustworthiness of the ‘giver’ are key: desire may be as important as skill  ‘Giver’ needs to focus on ‘receiver’; ‘receiver’ needs to think about the business – role reversal?  Counselling behaviours are rarely sufficient: feedback and information very important  ‘Givers’ use simple frameworks to guide the discussion process but improvise around these  ‘Receivers’ have to be active in the process too

1. Which of the skills for ‘givers’ do you feel you need to develop further? 2. Which skills do you feel managers and/or HR/career professionals in your organisation need to develop? 3. Which skills do you feel the workforce needs to develop to be able to ask for and use career advice from others? Developing the capability

 Career support is about really engaging with people – not just about learning & development  Encourage appraisal but don’t rely on it  Tell managers to start the conversation & then help people through their networks  Encourage informal career discussions  Offer an off-line option: internal or external career coaches, mentors, workshops, HR  Mainstreaming career discussion skills Implications for organisations

Further information Hirsh W, Jackson C and Kidd J M. Straight talking: effective career discussions at work. and summary Practical tips for effective career discussions at work. NICEC/CRAC, Effective Career Discussions at Work: Practical Tools for HR, Managers and Employees, web-based toolkit for CIPD, Jennifer M. Kidd, Charles Jackson, Wendy Hirsh, 'The outcomes of effective career discussion at work', Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 62 (2003), pp Jennifer M. Kidd, Wendy Hirsh, Charles Jackson, 'Straight Talking: the nature of effective career discussion at work', Journal of Career Development. Spring 2004, vol 30, no.4 pp