Why (and How) Great Leaders Help Develop Careers

The Link Between Engagement and Career Development

Whilst salary (a lure to another job for 48% of workers) may attract people to new roles, it doesn’t necessarily keep them in their jobs. Opportunity for progression does.

According to a survey conducted by Adecco, 44% of respondents who expressed a desire to stay with their current company stated that they would only do so if they were provided with reskilling and progression opportunities in their role. Studies also show that employees in organisations with opportunities for both horizontal and vertical mobility stick around almost twice as long as those in organisations without.

People leave roles for many inevitable reasons, but deep down we all need to know and feel that who we are, what we do and how we’re growing, matters to our employers. This translates into current skills being recognised and utilised, and new ones being invested in. According to LinkedIn, 7 in 10 people say learning improves their sense of connection to their organisation.

‘Quiet Hiring’: A Symptom of Good Intentions Falling Short

Under pressure to deliver results in good times and bad (often even better results in the bad), leaders are facing a variety of obstacles:

• We can’t hire, but we need to grow.
• We need everyone’s best, but people are burned out.
• We’re okay today, but we’re not ready to compete tomorrow.
• We have the best talent, but they’re not engaged.

In this climate, leaders can’t afford to waste talent. However, we also live in a world where stress levels are at an all time high. Therein lies the conundrum: there’s far more latent energy and potential inside organisations than we realise, but many leaders are unable to untap it in a way which engages and retains, rather than drains and alienates, their people. 

You just need to look at the stigma around ‘Quiet Hiring’ for a sense of the workforce mood towards their treatment and development.

Quiet hiring, as defined by Gartner in their 2023 WorkTrends report, refers to the practice of acquiring new skills and capabilities without increasing the number of full-time employees. This may require reskilling or upskilling current employees so they can accomplish what’s most important. Many argue that quiet hiring is simply a new term organisations are using to add to their team’s workload and hold them to the directive: “Do more with less.”

In truth, the idea is to realign priorities among your people in order to prevent burnout. You want workers to feel excited about increased opportunities and confident that any changes are benefiting them, not pressured, coerced or taken advantage of. However that is how people feel if leaders don’t communicate and show up in a way which reassures, recognises and inspires through the learning curves.

Grow and Engage Employees with Better 1-on-1s

Some direct reports may have a career path fully mapped out, down to desired promotion dates. Others may have no clue what they want to do next. Some may not yet fully understand how they contribute now. Regardless of where direct reports stand, when looking to address career development start with clear expectations, stress-free access to resources and opportunities to shine.

Frequent, meaningful career conversations are one of the most overlooked engagement levers- 23% of workers have never had one. Yet, learners who are given the opportunity to set career goals engage with learning 4x more than those who don’t set goals. And when individual career development aligns with a company’s priorities, people and organisations build the critical, future-facing skills to navigate constant change

10 Questions Leaders Can Use to Address Career Development

1. What are some of the work projects you’re most proud of, and what do you think you might want to do next? 
2.  What are two to three new skills you’d like to learn on the job? What about those skills interests you? 
3.  What other roles here could you see yourself in down the line? Or what areas would you like to explore? 
4. If you were to create your ideal position, how would it differ from what you are currently doing? 
5. How is your current work helping or hurting your professional development?
6.  Which career or development goals do you feel like you’re not able to focus on right now? What else can I be doing to help you grow/ advance in your career? 
7. What else can I be doing to help you grow/ advance in your career?
8.  Imagine it’s two years from now, and things have gone well: What has been your role in that? What does your role look like?
9. What professional goals would you like to accomplish in the next six to twelve months, and what makes you say that?
10. What about this goal is important to you and what will be different when you achieve the goal?

For growth and learning to make a positive and sustainable impact on employee engagement, managers need to be involved. They need to be bought in, strategically connected and actively advocating.

Engaged Employees Feel Invested In

Putting employees’ development needs at the top of the priority list sends a powerful message. To ensure that message isn’t muted, organisations must equip leaders to consistently create a safe space for people to voice their aspirations, aligning them with the best results, and paving the way for their achievement. This is where you’ll see a major shift in how your business operates. If your organisation isn’t focusing on creating a learning culture, you’re going to find it very difficult to maintain strong employee engagement. In other words, if you don’t open doors for your employees, they’ll find different ones to walk through.

Learn more about our approach to developing leaders who inspire and engage their people.