1. HR/5510
Developing Careers
9-1

2. Challenges
Establish a sound process for helping employees develop their careers.
Understand how to develop your own career.
Identify three stages of career
Understand the importance of mentoring
Develop a skills inventory and a career path.
Understand career planning and EEO issues

3. Career Planning & Development
A career is the pattern of
work-related experiences (e.g., job
positions, job duties, decisions,
and subjective interpretations
about work-related events)
and activities over the span
of the person’s work life.

4. Career Phases
ESTABLISHMENT
ADVANCEMENT
MAINTENANCE
RETIREMENT

5. Career Development
An ongoing and formalized effort that focuses on developing enriched and more capable workers.

6. The Three Stages of Career Development30
years
old 40
years
old 50
years
old 60
years
old 20
years
old
younger
older
Early Career
Middle Career
Late Career
career planning
develop career
anchors
reach career plateau
career development
programs
succession planning
preparing for
retirement 4

7. Mentoring: A Four-Stage Process
REDEFINITION
STAGE
(mentors and
protégés
become friends,
treat each other
as equals)
SEPARATION
STAGE
(protégés go
out on their own)
CULTIVATION
STAGE
(mentor-protégé
bond develops)
INITIATION
STAGE
(relationship
gets started)
Beginning
of relationship
6 months
to 1 year
later
2 to 5
years
later
Beyond
5 years 3

8. Individual Career Needs
Career Development System: Linking Organizational Needs with Individual Career Needs
Organizational Needs
Individual Career Needs
What are the organization’s
major strategic issues over
the next two to three years?
What are the most critical
needs and challenges that
the organization will face
over the next years?
What critical skills, know-
ledge, and experience
will be needed to meet
these challenges?
What staffing levels will
be required?
Does the organization have
the strength necessary to
meet the critical challenges?
How do I find career
opportunities within the
organization that:
Use my strengths
Address my
developmental needs
Provide challenges
Match my interests
Match my values
Match my personal style
Issue:
Are employees developing
themselves in a way that
links personal effective-
ness and satisfaction
with the achievement of
the organization’s
strategic objectives?
In the 1970s, most organizations instituted career development programs to help meet organizational needs rather than to meet employees’ needs. Today, career development usually involves meeting employee and employer needs. This image shows how organizational and individual career needs can be linked to create a successful career development program.

9. The Career Development Process
Assessment
Phase
Direction
Phase
Creating a development program almost always consists of three phases: the assessment phase, the direction phase, and the development phase. Although these phases are presented separately in this illustration, the phases of development often blend together in an actual program.
Development
Phase

10. Career Planning and Development: EEO Implications
EEO legislation (e.g., Civil Rights Act)
Voluntary and involuntary Affirmative Action Plans
Presence of a glass ceiling
Officially recognized in 1991 by the federal government
Artificial barriers blocking upward career advancement
Obstacles based on attitudinal and organizational biases
White males are concerned about government and corporate orders, directives, and involvement in EEO

11. The Assessment Phase of Career Development
Self-Assessment
Self-assessment is increasingly important for companies that want to empower their employees to take control of their careers
Whether done through workbooks or workshops, self-assessment usually involves doing skills assessment exercises, completing an interests inventory, and clarifying values.
Organizational Assessment
Some of the tools traditionally used by organizations in selection are also valuable for career development. Among these are:
Assessment centers
Psychological testing
Performance appraisal
Promotability forecasts
Succession planning
The assessment phase of career development involves activities ranging from self-assessment to organizationally provided assessment. The goal of assessment, whether performed by employees themselves or by the organization, is to identify employees’ strengths and weaknesses.

12. Common Assessment Tools
Self-Assessment
Organizational Assessment
Career workbooks
Career-planning workshops
Assessment centers
Psychological testing
Performance appraisal
Promotability forecasts
Succession planning
There are a number of different tools that can be used for self-assessment and for organizational assessment. This graphic lists some of the more commonly used assessment tools.

13. Sample Skills Assessment Exercise
Use the scales below to rate yourself on each of the following skills.
Rate each skill area both for your level of proficiency and for your preference.
Proficiency: 1
Still
learning 2
OK —
competent 3
Proficient
Preference: 1
Don’t like to
use this
skill 2
OK —
Don’t particularly
like or dislike 3
Really
enjoy using
this skill
Skill Area Proficiency x Preference = Score
1. Problem solving _______ _______ _______
2. Team presentation _______ _______ _______
3. Leadership _______ _______ _______
4. Inventory _______ _______ _______
5. Negotiation _______ _______ _______
6. Conflict management _______ _______ _______
7. Scheduling _______ _______ _______
8. Delegation _______ _______ _______
9. Participative management_______ _______ _______
10. Feedback _______ _______ _______
11. Planning _______ _______ _______
12. Computer _______ _______ _______
Skills assessment exercises are designed to identify an employee’s skills. A workbook exercise might ask the employee to compile a brief list of his or her accomplishments, and then identify the skills involved in making each accomplishment a reality. Another skills assessment exercise presents employees with a list of skills they must rate on two dimensions: their level of proficiency at that skill and the degree to which they enjoy using it. A total score is then generated for each skill area. This illustration shows an example of this approach to skills assessment.
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14. The Direction Phase of Career Development
Individual Career Counseling
This refers to one-on-one sessions with the goal of helping employees examine their career aspirations.
Information Services
Information services provide career development information to employees.
Job-posting systems
Skills inventories
Career paths
Career resource center
The direction phase of career development involves determining the type of career that employees want and the steps they must take to realize their career goals. Unless the direction phase is based on a thorough assessment of the current situation, the goals and steps identified may be inappropriate. This illustration outlines the two major approaches to providing career direction.

15. A Competency Growth Model for Healthcare Financial Managers: Basis for Career Development Direction
Component 1:
Understanding the Business Environment
Competencies:
Strategic thinking—the ability to integrate knowledge of the industry with an understanding of the long range vision of an organization.
Systems thinking—an awareness of how one’s role fits within an organization and knowing when and how to take actions that support its effectiveness.
Component 2:
Making it Happen
A Healthcare Financial Management Association task force identified behavioral characteristics having to do with the skill, knowledge, social trait, or motive qualities needed to excel in the profession. These competencies were grouped into the three components shown in this illustration and the next.
Competencies:
Results orientation—the drive to achieve and the ability to diagnose inefficiencies and judge when to take entrepreneurial risks.
Collaborative decision making—actions that involve key stakeholders in the decision-making processes.
Action orientation—going beyond the minimum role requirements to boldly drive projects and lead the way to improved services, processes, and products.

16. A Competency Growth Model for Healthcare Financial Managers: Basis for Career Development Direction (cont.)
Component 3:
Leading Others
Competencies:
Championing business thinking—the ability to energize others to understand and achieve business-focused outcomes. Fostering an understanding of issues and challenges through clear articulation and agenda setting.
Coaching and mentoring—the ability to release the potential of others by actively promoting responsibility, trust, and recognition.
Influence—the ability to communicate a position in a persuasive manner, thus generating support, agreement, or commitment.

17. Career Path
A chart showing the possible directions and career opportunities available in an organization; it presents the steps in a possible career and a plausible timetable for accomplishing them.

18. Alternative Career Paths for a Hotel Employee
Waiter/
Waitress
Pantry
Worker
Pastry
Cook
Sauce
Cook
Short-
Order
Cook
Sous-
Chef
Bus-
person
Host/
Hostess
Store-
room
Clerk
Assistant
Steward
Liquor
Store-
room
Steward
Beverage
Manager
Asst.
Banquet
Manager
Banquet
Manager
Career paths provide valuable information regarding the possible directions and career opportunities available in an organization. A career path presents the steps in a possible career and a plausible timetable for accomplishing them. This illustration provides an example of alternative career paths that a bus person in the hotel business might follow.

19. The Development Phase of Career Development
Mentoring
Mentoring relationships generally involve advising, role modeling, sharing contacts, and giving general support.
Coaching
Employee coaching consists of ongoing, sometimes spontaneous, meetings between manages and their employees to discuss the employee’s career goals and development.
Job Rotation
Job rotation involves assigning employees to various jobs so that they acquire a wider base of skills.
Tuition Assistance Programs
Organizations offer tuition assistance programs to support their employees’ education and development.
Meeting the requirements necessary to move up in an organization can require a great deal of growth and self-improvement. The development phase, which involves taking actions to create and increase skills to prepare for future job opportunities, is meant to foster this growth and self-improvement. The most common development programs offered by organizations are outlined here.

20. Making Career Development an Organizational Priority
Stress commitment to career growth and development in formal communications with employees.
Make career development a priority at all levels of the organization, starting at the top.
Provide managers with the people skills they need to develop their subordinates.
Emphasize that career development is a collaborative effort and that the employee must take primary responsibility for his or her own career.
Require managers to meet with their subordinates regularly to review personal career goals and objectives.
Effective career development is beneficial for an organization and its employees. These next two illustrations highlight steps that can be taken to help make career development an organizational priority.

21. Making Career Development an Organizational Priority (cont.)
Ask managers to outline employee achievements and strengths when conducting an appraisal review session.
Encourage managers to collaborate with subordinates to develop a career vision.
Emphasize that part of the manager’s job is helping employees develop career action plans.
Encourage employees to take advantage of continuing education and other development activities.
Require managers to develop collaborative rather than top-down, control-oriented working relationships with their subordinates.

22. Effective Coaching Techniques
Create a Coaching Context
Identify your purpose in the coaching role
Set parameters
Actively Listen to the Person
Limit interruptions from others and from yourself
Reflect back to the person what you heard
Ask Questions
View the goal of the interaction as helping the employee to find answers that works best for him or her
Don’t give advice; ask questions that explore assumptions
Give Useful Feedback
Let the employee identify his or her difficulties to overcome. Your input should help clarify what needs to be done.
Finding the right time and the right way to be a helpful coach for someone is not easy, but this illustration gives some valuable tips on how to be a helpful coach.

23. Suggestions for Self-Development
Create your own personal mission statement.
Take responsibility for your own direction and growth.
Make enhancement your priority, rather than advancement.
Talk to people in positions to which you aspire and get suggestions on how to proceed.
Set reasonable goals.
Make investment in yourself a priority.
When an employer does not routinely offer development programs, it is essential that employees work out their own development plan. Employees who neglect to do this risk stagnation and obsolescence. Planning for your career should include a consideration of how you can demonstrate that you make a difference to the organization. Shown here are key suggestions for fostering an employee’s self-development.

24. Advancement Suggestions
Remember that performance in your function is important, but interpersonal performance is critical
Set the right values and priorities.
Provide solutions, not problems.
Be a team player.
Be customer oriented.
Act as if what you’re doing makes a difference.
Where self-development focuses on personal growth and direction, advancement focuses on the steps employees can take to improve their promotabiltity in the organization. The suggestions shown here are steps an employee can take to improve their chances of being considered for advancement.