Tristan discusses how you, as a manager, can help early-career professionals advance. Nearly a third of people quit their previous jobs due to bad management. Your direct reports are less likely to jump ship if they see you are just as invested in their growth as they are!
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This tip was adapted from a Forbes article titled “Three Tips for Cultivating Early-Career Professionals” by Jaime Hunt.
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TRANSCRIPT
Tristan: What’s going on, Living Corporate? It’s Tristan, and I want to thank you for tapping back in with me as I provide some tips and advice for professionals. Today, I want to discuss how you, as a manager, can help early-career professionals advance.
Many of you may already hold management or senior leadership roles, which means you get the pleasure of working with people who hope to take your job one day. While many leaders are threatened by this and find it counterintuitive to provide support and guidance, developing these early-career professionals is not only a part of your job, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Here are a few tips on how to help them grow.
First, provide opportunities to upskill and gain new experience. Being a leader means you’re probably responsible for tons of things like managing budgets, hiring people, improving processes, and implementing new things. Early or mid-career professionals need to gain those executive-level skills, and you can help by identifying challenges outside of their areas of expertise. Give them projects that push them or introduce them to another aspect of the business. Provide them with the opportunity to help manage the budget or lead the team. Remember to start small and work your way up. You don’t want to overload them.
Second, give them space to tackle complex management challenges. All too often, as leaders, when we see members of our team in conflict, we want to jump in and help them out. I get it; you’re responsible for the culture of your team. But instead, I suggest sitting with those team members to discuss potential paths for navigating the conflict and for resolution, then try to let them address it themselves. Now this doesn’t mean turning a blind eye, but taking this route will help them develop the conflict resolution skills needed to become a leader.
Lastly, be candid and share honest feedback. Sometimes once we’ve developed relationships with employees, we try to sugarcoat our feedback, but the best growth comes from honest critiques. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t be encouraging, but it is just as important to be upfront.
The moral of the story is don’t be the asshole who neglects to develop their people because you’re afraid they may leave your organization or take your job. It’s a lose-lose situation. Nearly a third of people quit their previous jobs due to bad management. Your direct reports are less likely to jump ship if they see you are just as invested in their growth as they are.
This tip was adapted from a Forbes article titled “Three Tips for Cultivating Early-Career Professionals” by Jaime Hunt and brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @layfieldresume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.
