What's Next? Help Shape the Right Career Path for Your Employees - PI Midlantic

What’s Next? Help Shape the Right Career Path for Your Employees

When employees feel that you are invested in their future, an increase in their loyalty, engagement, and production is evident. One way to ensure they feel that way is to take the time to get to know their career goals and help them map a solid path forward.

A pivotal step on that path is identifying behavioral-job alignment. Once you know your employee’s future career goals, you want to help him/her uncover the specifics of the job that lies ahead. You not only want to identify skill gaps, but potential behavioral gaps, too; what looks fun on TV may not be as enriching if it does not fill one’s behavioral needs.

It is incredibly important to support the employee’s career vision, but it’s just as important to help the employee understand the realities of the differences between his/her behavioral needs and motivators versus the demands of a job. Sometimes it is not a matter of IF we can do a job, but rather, will we be satisfied, fulfilled, and happy doing that job long-term? After all, it’s typically more rewarding and productive to do things that come naturally to us (although we can still continue to challenge ourselves and grow within those positions).

If the employee fully understands the realities of the position and still wants to move forward, a manager should then equip the employee with the most fitting training and eliminate future misalignments.

A cornerstone of addressing these potential job-fit behavioral gaps for an employee is to identify the behavioral demands of the desired position. PI Midlantic’s clients use the Predictive Index Job Assessment, which allows you to scientifically identify the behavioral job target. It uses input from top performers and “key stakeholders” who have a solid knowledge of the everyday demands of the position. Once you have the Job Assessment, you can compare it to the employee’s personal Behavioral Assessment to create a Coaching Guide, which identifies areas of opportunity and focus points related to any behavioral gaps.

The Coaching Guide provides specific coaching questions that offer a roadmap for development, one that will safeguard a smooth transition to the next step. You may make the time and monetary investments to take these steps for your employee’s success, but it will pay off: in the short-term with improved engagement and performance; in the long-term with a loyal, committed, and fully-prepared employee.

For context, in the example below, Sheldon Cooper, a heads-down, independent, direct and matter-of-fact problem-solver, is preparing for a role that will require a more empathetic, people-focused, and collaborative approach. Once he goes through with the Behavioral Assessment, Job Assessment, and Coaching Guide, he may decide that this is not the best road to go down. On the other hand, armed with this knowledge and a clear map to follow, he may decide that he feels up to the challenge!

 

 

Your employees are your organization’s most valuable asset. When you help them find out “what’s next,” everyone wins. You’re showing confidence in their futures and providing priceless, data-driven advice, and they’re showing you and the organization increased engagement and productivity.

Author: Melanie Wood

 

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