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Manage & Lead: Five Tips for Successful Career Conversations

November 25, 2015
Male and female colleagues in discussion

As a manager, the conversations and career coaching you provide to your team members has the potential to inspire, energize, and engage them toward career success.

There are many benefits of frequent and focused career conversations. Get prepared for those discussions by considering the Five As.

From the comfort and convenience of your own desk, you can explore these and other strategies for effective career coaching using the online Career Guidance tool available in the Learn and Grow subsite.

1.  Appreciate Uniqueness

Discover and recognize the unique talents of your people. Focus on their strengths. Help them uncover and leverage what makes each of them unique.

2. Assess Capability

Evaluate the performance of your employees and give them frequent feedback.

3. Anticipate the Future

Anticipate trends and changes and talk with your team about the implications of these trends for their careers. Use this information to determine skills to develop.

4. Align Aspirations

Understand the organization’s strategy and the talent required to reach organizational objectives. Align your employees’ goals and talents with the organization’s missions and goals.

5. Accelerate Learning

Help your employees achieve their goals through SMART planning.  Foster multiple ways of learning and make sure your employees’ skills are relevant.

Get Started

  1. Navigate to the Career Guidance page
  2. Click the red button to log into the Career Guidance portal (authentication is required for access, but usage is completely confidential)
  3. Once you’ve logged in, select “My Roadmap” from the options
  4. From the new screen, select the “Career Coaching Roadmap” tab and click “Start Roadmap” at the bottom of the page
  5. The first two modules give a brief overview of career coaching and explain why it is important
  6. At the end of this introduction, you can complete the Retention & Engagement Risk Assessment, TalentBuilder Assessment, or explore the A+ Manager Practices module to get started
  7. Now you can navigate through each of the Five As by clicking through the modules along the top of the page. Each module contains videos, worksheets and assessments to guide you. These can be completed bit by bit in a few short visits to the website.
  8. Once you have explored the Five As, the next step is to take action. The final module provides guidance on starting important career discussions with your direct reports

With a little preparation, and by exploring the Career Coaching Roadmap, you’ll go a long way in holding effective career conversations with your staff.

Questions? Feedback?

For more information about staff career development at Stanford, visit the Learn & Grow subsite of Cardinal at Work.

If you have questions or feedback about the Career Coaching Tool, or career development in general, please submit a web form.

 

Categories: 
Manage & Lead