From a human-resources framework, managers are largely responsible for the well-being of their employees in regards to providing opportunities for career development and personal fulfillment.
Understanding an employee's needs and future objectives is critical in assigning them responsibilities that align with their goals and that will serve to develop their skill set in a desired direction. A manager is also a leader, and leadership is a complex facet of the managerial process. Leading employees in an empowering way and enabling career success and fulfillment are central tasks in improving employee outcomes and creating more value for the organization.
When assigning tasks, managers must keep career success and development in mind. A reasonable rule of thumb is the plan-implement-monitor-review model illustrated in the figure below. Planning (based on employee objectives) and implementing (based upon shared expertise) provide a framework to move the employee in the direction of success. Monitoring progress and reviewing it will allow the employee to remain meaningfully engaged, working towards the common goal of success while gaining experience and skills from managerial expertise.
Facilitating employee success
By employing these steps, a manager can help their employees be successful.
Combining this model for success with a working understanding of a given employee's objectives and fulfillment needs helps to ensure that employees remain motivated and satisfied with their current roles. Empowering employees in a developmental direction and providing them with challenges that stretch their abilities are substantial motivators. These are important developmental tools companies can use to obtain the highest possible value from their human resource investments.
Strategies for Promoting Employee Success
Promoting career success for employees and managers involves the creation of developmental goals that build stronger skills and aim toward fulfillment. Goal creation is generally achieved using varying approaches and experiences. These may include coaching, higher education, mentoring, reflective supervision, technical training, and consultation. When to apply which particular approach is the primary responsibility of a manager, as is assessing employees' progress and trajectory towards the completion of their personal career objectives. Following are a few tools managers may use to optimize returns on career development:
- Case Study Method – Case studies are an excellent way to drive employee experience in a realistic and meaningful way. These incorporate real-life situations that have happened in the past as a method for practicing decision making and assessing performance. Conclusions can then be applied by the employee or manager by assuming the role of the decision makers.
- Consultation – Consulting assesses employee abilities through observing performance, reflecting upon these observations, and suggesting methods for improvement. This process is an important responsibility of any manager.
- Mentoring – Mentoring is an excellent approach to enhance career success in which a manager matches two employees of different experience levels to learn from one another. Mentoring is usually accomplished by allowing an outside observer to evaluate and suggest improvements for newer employees who have had less time to develop in a particular role.
- Technical Assistance – Helping employees implement new technologies and acquire modern skill sets is a growing field in career development. Technical training is provided to enable employees to be more effective with newer methodologies, tools, and equipment. This approach can be of particularly high importance to career development for older demographics, who may have extensive experience in more traditional methods.