How to take the confusion out of your people’s career development

There is a simple way to sort out the career development of your own direct reports – stop doing it!

Asking a manager to take accountability for both the output and behaviour of their people as well as considering their future aspirations is asking a lot.   But….people knowing that the organisation has someone concerned with their future beyond their current role (even if it means not leaving the current role)  is a key part of creating the trust that ultimately sees people being willing to provide their full commitment.

So who is that someone?  We use the Manager-once-Removed, put forward by Elliott Jaques in a number of his works.   The Manager-once-Removed, or MoR is your boss’s boss.  Your skip-level manager.  We make each MoR accountable for building the pool of talent that sits below their own people,  that is their skip-level reports.  

The Manager retains their accountability for the output and behaviour of their direct reports and their collaborative working together, but the future of their people beyond their current roles is not their direct concern.

By ‘building the pool of talent’, we mean making sure that there is sufficient talent, both specialist and leadership, to deliver the work currently planned, and to be able to deliver what’s required in the future.  This doesn’t just mean identifying stars, it also means ensuring there is sufficient continuity through having some long-termers who enjoy the work and want to keep doing it long into the future.

Taking this accountability seriously requires each MoR at a minimum to find out the aspirations of their skip-level reports and form a view on their potential.   Many organisations arrange a formal annual discussion to make sure this takes place  (in the larger operational areas, this may be done through ‘invitation and identification’ rather than everybody due to sheer numbers).  Either way, the MoR can form a picture of their talent pool and make decisions around what development  is required to ensure current and future needs are met.

And this is where it comes together.  The MoR and Manager can discuss how this development can be put into place.  If doing the development will compromise the ability of the Manager to deliver (such as moving a person onto a project for 3 months), we can adjust and make sure it is as fair as possible for all.

Think of yourself – if you’ve got a manager who adds value to your work, and their manager talks to you about your future in the organisation….would you think that’s a good thing?

DO IT NOW:  Do you have skip-level reports?  List them, and write out next to each name what you know about their career aspirations.  How confident are you that you are correct?  How many blanks do you have?  This will start to get your mind moving in the direction of building your talent pool.