Avoiding Career Dead Ends

One of the most common reasons I hear from employees on their way out of organizations is they don’t see opportunities for growth. While certainly dependent upon where one happens to be in his or her career, most employees are interested in growing their income, their responsibilities and/or their impact. When these employees no longer see growth in their future, they often begin to question whether the timing is right to look elsewhere.

I have found that in many of these situations the lack of growth opportunities is based more upon perception than upon reality. Often, there are multiple opportunities for any given individual within an organization. Unfortunately, these potential career paths are not always clear or communicated. As a result, many good people leave organizations prematurely because they see leaving as the only way to realize their professional objectives.

Leaders can help their employees “see” growth ladders by engaging them in regular career discussions. Only by understanding where an employee’s professional interests lie can a leader help guide the employee to ways of achieving their career goals. Some organizations have documented and illustrated both traditional and non-traditional career paths for their employees on company intranets so employees can more easily play with alternate scenarios.

Leaders can help avoid employee attrition due to perceived “career dead-ends” by participating in the development of career plans with their employees. Effective professional development is an ongoing process requiring the engagement of leaders. While ownership of professional development planning ultimately must rest with the employee, leaders can do much to enable and encourage this planning process.

By talking regularly with employees about their career aspirations, leaders can identify books, articles and training opportunities consistent with employee development goals. With this knowledge, leaders also can be looking for rotational or promotional opportunities within the organization that will further develop their employees.