Benefits of a Career Pathways Tool
Last updated: August 29, 2021
Estimated reading time: 4 min
At The Management Center, we often coach clients through decisions about internal promotions, staff retention, and hiring that maximize equity, sustainability, and great results. Here are some of the questions we hear most often:
- “I have a staff member who has been here for a while and wants a promotion. I don’t think they’re ready. How do I tell them that”
- “I have a staff member who is doing really well and I would like to promote her. But promotion means she will be in a managerial role, and she doesn’t want to be a manager of people. I’m stuck.”
- “One of my lead team members wants to leave because he doesn’t feel he can grow here. I think I can get him to stay if I offer him a ‘Senior Director’ title—is that a good idea?”
- “We’re hiring for a Deputy Director and I need to do external recruitment because I’m not confident we’d have a strong internal pool. How do I explain that to my three department heads without killing morale?”
At first glance, it might seem like each manager is dealing with a different challenge, but one tool can help leaders make each of these decisions—a career pathways tool.
What is a “career pathways tool”?
A career pathways tool defines and delineates competencies for each position across a range of roles.Sometimes called a “competency model” in HR circles, each role has its ownmust-haves*—the required skills, knowledge, or mindsets to succeed in the role—while the career pathways tool goes a little further by naming each level and showing the distinct (often increasing) responsibilities. This may include:
- scopeof what they’re responsible for
- complexityof activities, partnerships, or campaigns they handle
- volumeof work or level ofefficiencyneeded
- ability todrive the workin their area or for the organization
- positional power and influenceinside/outside the organization
*不确定你的必需品是什么?Use ourFiguring Out the Role Worksheet.
例如，假设您正在明确运营和财务团队的职业发展道路——您将从定义每个职位所需的能力开始，然后定义这些能力在责任级别的增加中如何演变(例如，从助理到副主管再到总监)。有了这个框架，你就能清楚地说明一个人需要做什么才能在工作中取得成功，在组织中取得进步，以及他们的职业目标。
为什么我们需要一个?
A good career pathways tool will operationalize your commitment to equity and inclusion.
For managers: a career pathways tool is a compass.When created with equity in mind, the tool brings consistency to the rubrics managers use toeliminate bias in hiringandperformance management, while guiding managers to think through opportunities or training that helps staff achieve their career goals. It guides staff development and retention conversations, informs promotion and hiring decisions, and anchors performance evaluations.
For staff: a career pathways tool is like a road atlas.It can help staff understand how to get from point A to B (or C), which onramps are available, and what bridges they need to build. A pathways tool empowers staff to take charge of their growth and think ahead about their trajectory in the following ways:
- Short-term:What do I need to be successful in my current job?
- Medium-term:What do I need to do to get to the next level?
- Long-term:What options might I have to shape my career in line with the organization’s plans and strategy?
这样，路径工具就不用再去猜测了。它可以揭示“曲折的职业道路”，而不是假设“直线上升”是他们成长的唯一选择，它可以让员工了解经理在晋升和绩效评估方面所寻求的技能和素质——在这些方面我们总是建议“不要意外”。”
For the organization: the process can help the organization spot roadblocks or construction zonesin its leadership pipeline. Your goal is to ensure each pathway strengthens the leadership bench and reflects equitable opportunities for staff at all levels. This means each decision you make in developing your career pathway tool is a criticalchoice pointwhere you can pause, spot, and address inequities in particular job roles. For example, you might acknowledge that your operations team includes the most new staff members, many of whom are BIPOC and work part-time roles. In putting together your career pathways, you would gather input from staff and deliberately build in opportunities or new levels that could enable a part-time associate to eventually advance to coordinator, then manager, etc.
我们要开始做什么?
Decide on the roles you want to develop career pathways for, starting with the most prevalent roles in your organization. As you think through each role and pathway, make sure you seek input and provide opportunities for staff members and managers to fully understand what the tool is and how it’ll be used in your organization.
Ready to get started?Follow the step-by-step guide in ourCareer Pathways Toolkitand find templates and examples.