This episode I speak with Brian Bowman, learning strategist, capability expert and
digital learning guru in Australia Pacific on how a leader can have a career conversation with their direct reports.
When my company, Brainpower Training, won a tender to deliver customized Report Writing for Audit workshops in multiple cities for one of Australia’s largest banks, Brian Bowman held a People and Culture role at that bank. We worked together closely to roll out those Report Writing programs.
TALKING POINTS
[6:40] So the career conversation for the leader is actually themselves having to step out of the day-to-day and ask, “Where do you want to go?”
[7:30] Good questions to ask . . . “What brings you joy?” Because it
gets people to think about, “When I’m in flow, when I’m really enjoying work, this
is what I’m doing.”
”What are you drawn to?” is another really great question. People will naturally gravitate across their work day to things they really love and enjoy doing.
You can ask people, “What do you want to do at work?”
[11:00] The joy question can be offset with, “What do you hate doing?” It’s such a brilliant way of exploring that career conversation.
[13:00] Careers aren’t linear, they might do a bit over here or something there.
[14:00] People have different stages of their career. There might be a 3-year cycle. Charles Handy talks about the Sigmoid Curve, the S-curve.
[15:46] Don’t wait for someone’s motivation to wane; change before you have to, always give a sense of progression to people in their career. To re-motivate people, start a second curve,
[16:44] It’s an interesting conundrum for leaders, how do I help people grow and drive their career? I want to retain and deliver great work across an organization but training people up might make them leave.
[18:19] In the future it’s helping people translate their impact in their career where they’ve been and what they would also bring to that next cycle of impact.
[19:16] Younger people might ask for a promotion or more money, but maybe they haven’t sailed in the storm yet. They say things like, “I do the same work as . . .” another.
“Well, the other has 15 years’ experience and hoisted the sails in the storm and
survived and sailed it. Yes, you are doing the same job. But I know if something went wrong, they’ll manage it appropriately.”
[21:10] Gallup strengths and the top 5.
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ABOUT BRIAN BOWMAN
Contact Brian Bowman via LinkedIn HERE: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbowman2/
ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY
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- Psychological Safety, and Psychosocial Hazards To Avoid
- Rookie Mistakes New Leaders Make
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