{"id":21903,"date":"2020-12-27T22:57:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T02:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=21903"},"modified":"2021-01-04T20:21:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T00:21:09","slug":"employee-growth-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/employee-growth-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Employee Growth Plans Can Meet Everyone’s Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are employee growth<\/a> plans and why do you need them? How should you work with your employees to create them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employee growth plans set up individual employees to progress on a trajectory of improvement. Also known as an employee professional development plan, they’re based on the individual’s own aspirations and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading for advice from Radical Candor<\/em> on how to create employee growth plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Creating Employee Growth Plans<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Understanding growth trajectories is a good first step to honoring the needs of your employees\u2014the next step is learning about their dreams and goals, and helping them recognize how their work can contribute to those dreams with employee growth plans.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Three Conversations You Should Be Having<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To create and achieve employee growth plans, have honest conversations<\/a> with all of your direct reports\u2014regardless of performance\u2014about who they are, what their goals are, and how you can help them reach those goals. There are three conversations vital to effective growth management: the life story conversation, the dreams conversation, and the planning conversation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Life Story Conversation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The life story conversation is essential to getting to know your employees\u2014if you want to care personally about them, you need to know them personally<\/strong>. Ask your employees about their life story, focusing on changes they made and why<\/em> these choices were made\u2014it\u2019s often here that you\u2019ll discover their values. For example, if your employee says, \u201cI dropped out of grad school because I was tired of talking about theory and not using any of the skills I was learning in a tangible way,\u201d you learn that one of her values is seeing tangible results of her work. These conversations also lend context to abstract values that can easily be misunderstood. While a focus on \u201cfinancial independence\u201d might make you think an employee is materialistic, knowing his life story might reveal that his mother was often absent because she was working two jobs to make ends meet, and he doesn\u2019t want the same experience for his children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approach this conversation with respect and care\u2014while most people will be comfortable with it, you might have someone who is significantly uncomfortable with the questions. In this case, drop the matter and move on quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, this first conversation should reveal what\u2019s truly<\/em> important to your employee, which helps contextualize your next conversation, in which you\u2019ll talk about their dreams and figure out what skills and opportunities will be most useful to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dreams Conversation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The dreams conversation helps you understand what your employees ultimately want out of their careers and their lives, and as their boss, how you can help them get there.<\/strong> This makes their work more meaningful and rewarding and they\u2019re assured that you truly care<\/em> about them as people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to frame this conversation around dreams<\/em>. Calling them \u201clong-term goals\u201d or \u201cplans\u201d usually invites professional, not personal answers that are often catered to what the employee thinks their boss wants to hear. It\u2019s possible that their dreams will <\/em>be work-related, such as, \u201cI want to retire at 50,\u201d but this reframe often pushes people to name their non-work goals such as, \u201cI want to own a dude ranch in Colorado.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In preparation for your next conversation, task them with figuring out the necessary skills to reach their dream. Then, they should consider the importance of each skill, and their competence. This step reveals where they need more experience and skills development, and gets you thinking about how you\u2019ll help them achieve that. Think about networking you could help them with, or new projects that you could put them on.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Planning Conversation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The last conversation, the planning conversation, is where you help your employee come up with a solid plan for achieving their dreams. <\/strong>This conversation shouldn\u2019t be focused on telling your employees how to move up in your organization. Rather, it should be focused on finding ways to make their current work clearly translate to preparation for their dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

List the ways their work can change to better support the direction they\u2019d like to move in\u2014such as working with mentors, taking on new projects to develop skills, or taking classes. Then, come up with action items for each idea listed, and a deadline. This provides tangible steps toward building their dream and demonstrates how their current work is important to getting there. This is what fills in the substance of your employee growth plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regularly Provide Opportunities <\/strong>Related to the Employee Growth Plans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alongside talking to your team members about their dreams and coming up with an employee professional development plan, you should check in once a year on their professional performance and growth trajectory.<\/strong> This tells you if their needs are being met, how their work affects the team, and what their plan should look like moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three parts to this exercise:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Draw five boxes and label them\u2014superstars, rock stars, mediocre, low performance with no growth, and low performance with expected rapid growth. Put your team members\u2019 names into their corresponding boxes. Don\u2019t hem and haw over this\u2014it shouldn\u2019t take more than 20 minutes. While doing so, keep an eye out for bias. Are your more senior members really superstars, or are they coasting on the work of the superstars under them? Ideally, your boxes will reflect excellent performance at all levels, with senior people showing more gradual growth and newer people showing rapid growth.<\/li>
  2. Come up with a short plan of opportunities and growth for each person\u2014if you\u2019ve been doing the work<\/a> of regularly checking in with them and thinking about their growth, this should only take about 20 minutes.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n