From the course: Having Career Conversations with Your Team

Why career conversations matter

From the course: Having Career Conversations with Your Team

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Why career conversations matter

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- Before we jump in, let's address the big question here. Why do career conversations even matter? Career conversations are a must in any organization that wants to foster a culture of engagement and intrinsic motivation, where employees feel that they're doing their best work while contributing to the broader mission. Coaching is important for retention, morale, self-confidence, and to guard against burnout. Studies show that professionals that have received coaching report a 63% improvement in their overall wellness. CliftonStrengths reports that there may be many benefits for work groups that receive strengths-based development. These include a 14 to 29% increase in profit, 10 to 19% increase in sales, and three to 7% higher customer engagement. A 2017 study by Kronos found that employee burnout is responsible for 20 to 50% of annual workforce turnover. However, even with all these benefits, the average manager devotes only 20% of their time to coaching. So what gets in the way of holding career conversations? I found that it's usually one or more of five things. Fear. Managers sometimes hesitate to initiate career conversations because they're afraid of opening Pandora's box, even making a gamble that some of their people might leave. Similarly, individuals are often afraid to come to their managers for fear of being unsuccessful in their current role or seen as having one foot out the door. Time. Both may say, "I have too much on my plate," and these conversations get put on the back burner. Metrics. Sometimes career coaching isn't what's measured and rewarded. But even now, that's changing, as we move toward work cultures that emphasize employee feedback and development. Unsure. Sometimes there's still uncertainty about how to structure a conversation from both manager and employees. Role. Who's responsible for these conversations? And who should initiate them? It's easy to pass the buck here between employees, managers, and HR. We definitely want to encourage employees to own their career. We say that a lot. But what does it mean? It means that they need to carve out the time to reflect, and even managers aren't always very good at this. Pivot provides a shared language and simple framework to make these moments easier and more approachable for managers and team members alike not just before, after, or even during performance reviews, but in micro-coaching opportunities throughout the year.

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