How Career Development Has Evolved And What It Means Today
What can individuals do today for career resilience?
Career conversations and experiences that move a career forward add value throughout the life cycle of the employee experience, from recruiting to retirement.
The Foundational Partnership Has Not Changed
Three stakeholders remain today as foundational partnership at the core of the most successful organizational career development efforts:
1) The Individual Stakeholder
Is the central player in the partnership, bringing the energy, motivation, aspirations, and determination to the experience. Unlike 20th-century perceptions of careers as predictable and frequently prescriptive, there is greater acceptance today of the fact that every career is unique - as unique as the individual experiencing it. No two people will follow the same route in exactly the same way. This brings with it the complexity of providing career-focused development to the many while tailoring development experiences to each individual’s needs and aspirations. That’s not an easy task - and one that puts increasing pressure on the other two partners to deliver what’s expected by today’s careerists.
Individuals need the encouragement, resources, tools, and support to envision their futures.
They don’t need every possible new app or program, but they do need conversations with managers, coaches, or mentors. They need to take action, be open to learning, be willing to change behaviors, and be introspective enough to clarify their career needs, wants, and aspirations.
2) The Manager
Matters now more than ever. Engagement survey results continue to show that the manager-employee relationship, when good, can make an enormous positive difference in how an employee perceives opportunities and engages with the work. The breakdown or absence of a good relationship can damage or destroy engagement and drive employees to seek careers elsewhere. As a result, more organizations are holding managers accountable for having career- and development-focused conversations on a regular basis and building relationships that stretch the managers’ role to listen more than tell and to advocate more than advise.
Managers need to know how and when to help employees navigate opportunities.
3) The Organization
Led by senior leaders, talent development, and HR - is still responsible for providing access to the systems, processes, and tools that the other two partners rely on to build career experiences. Organizations that have been paying attention have come to realize that they can build career development systems that live over time and through change. It’s also true that if attention wanes or focus is lost, even the most carefully designed processes will fail or fade away. Development professionals who discover the secrets to building something that lasts create cultures of growth and engagement.
Organizations own the messages and methods. The partnership will thrive when the organization integrates growth and development across core processes, instills accountability into the system for all three players, and celebrates those who keep the system alive.
What is Changing?
Four transformations are reframing career development and offer opportunities for talent development professionals.
Career development is a necessity now
Career audiences are deeper and wider and sometimes invisible
Career paths are transforming into patterns
Careers are built on capabilities and soft skills
To read the full article
Excerpts from Career Development's (R)Evolution.
- Beverly Kaye is the founder of Career Systems International (now doing business as Talent
Dimensions) and the author of multiple books on career development and engagement
- Lindy Williams is a consultant with Talent Dimensions. With Kaye, she is the co-author of Up Is Not the Only Way: Rethinking Career Mobility
"It was one of the bets in my life. I owe a lot to CareerPower. It opened my eyes. If I never went through that, I would have continued to disguise my short-term goals as my long-term vision. Now I feel like I'm living a dream." - CareerPower Graduate, Shipping and Receiving, Gaming Destination Resort
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