Career Development & Advancement
Debunking Myths and Developing Leaders
The majority of companies I have worked for have a career path framework, in various levels of detail, to reassure employees that they are on one of many stepping stones to move forward in their career. This helps employees feel that their day-to-day work is meaningful — and have some direction as they sometimes slog through the sea of same work, different day.
In early 2017, I was managing a team made up of a mix of entry-level associates all the way up to Associate Directors. I had a moment of realization that while I had one of those career frameworks that highlighted what the next level required, I had no tangible way to help my team members gauge and develop the skills most important to career development and typically not listed in any career framework: soft skills.
This brings me to the first myth:
“Hard work will be rewarded and help you get promoted.”
The hard fact is that doing your job and doing it well is normally required to keep your job. Typically, if working hard is your only value add, promotion will not be in the cards.
The more I researched this, the more obvious it became to me that what I needed was something universal, regardless of seniority. That something turned out to be what I had been learning about for my own personal development: Emotional Intelligence, the real key to success and advancement vs. your IQ or keeping your head down and working extra hard.
In Psychology Today, Ronald E Riggio, PhD, wrote about the top 10 leadership skills and provided the starting point I needed to develop a framework for my employees that complemented the company career framework.
I recommend the full article, but for the scope of this article, I highlight below specific focus areas of each of the skills.
1. Social Intelligence
Understanding of social situations and dynamics, and ability to operate effectively in a variety of social situations.
2. Interpersonal Skills
The more relationship-oriented aspects of social effectiveness. The “soft skills.”
3. Emotional Skills/Intelligence
Our ability to communicate at the emotional level, understand emotions and emotional situations, and be in tune with our own emotions.
4. Prudence
Being able to see others’ perspectives and being open to and considering others’ points of view.
5. Courage
Having the courage to take calculated risks and the courage to: (a) stand up for what you believe; (b) do the right thing.
6. Conflict Management
Helping colleagues to avoid or resolve interpersonal conflicts. Having the ability to either avoid or resolve your own conflict situations.
7. Decision-Making
Make good decisions or lead a good decision-making process.
8. Political Skills
An effective leader is a good political player, who knows how the game is played, but can also manage political behavior, so it does not lead to group or organizational dysfunction.
9. Influencer Skills
A great leader is a master of social influence.
10. Area of Expertise/Competence
Your specific role in the company.
Focusing on these 10 skills, I developed a matrix to provide talking points in explaining each and how they were applicable; guidance on sources of information for developing that skill; and a place for each employee to grade themselves and put notes as they focused on developing each area.
Which brings me to the second myth:
“Being good at your job will get you promoted.”
Much of the research into Emotional Intelligence shows that employees who have developed their “soft skills” are promoted before those who have not. So, in this case, being more intelligent (IQ) or being good at your job are secondary to the top nine skills in the 10 skills listed above.
The Four Stages of Competence
The piece that I was still missing was how to provide guidance for self-assessment of each skill in a way that is tangible, positive, encouraging to development, and could be useful in conversation when coaching.
This is when I discovered the brilliant four stages of competence;
0%–25% Unconscious Incompetence
Where everyone starts, regardless of what skill they are learning. The associate is not aware of the existence or relevance of the skill area.
25%–50% Conscious Incompetence
Where the associate begins to really learn the skill that is being taught. The associate becomes aware of the existence and relevance of the skill.
50%–75% Conscious Competence
The associate can reliably perform the skill, but requires a great deal of focus and concentration in order to perform.
75% — 100% Unconscious Competence
Where the associate has practiced and applied the skill so much that it has now become “second nature.”
In Practice
The matrix of the components I mentioned above provided that complementary framework to leverage as a conversation and coaching tool, to help focus my employees on the skills that would contribute to their success — regardless of where they worked or what field they were in.
When I initially rolled out the tool, we talked through each skill and how the four stages of competence worked. I then had them focus on someone we both knew that they admired, and we talked through which of the four stages that person was at with each skill. This exercise provided grounding and often a North Star before they went off and thought through where they felt they were in the four stages.
Each month we revisited the matrix, discussed progress on the specific skills they wanted to focus on, talked through any situations where they believed they had a big win or that could have gone better, and also set action items, such as setting up time to role-play a specific type of difficult conversation or a meeting that was coming up where specific soft skills would be critical to success.
Give it a try with your employees and let me know how it goes.
