We need stronger teams than ever in today’s climate to deliver business results. Leaders will never be able to create and nurture high performing teams if they don’t make career growth a central part of their team culture.

Being a leader of people and teams is both fulfilling and draining. That’s the honest truth.

The BEST part about leadership is watching your people achieve their goals, get promoted, make more money, take risks, explore new opportunities, and take their personal and professional life to the next level. Most leaders likely need to be part of an organization that prioritizes and encourages growth in order to be fully engaged and committed. The dopamine hit you get from your team generating business pales in comparison to watching one of your people excel and grow in their career.

Luckily, the juice that keeps us people leaders going—employee growth and development— is tightly aligned to what employees need from their employers and leaders. Team members who feel as though their leaders understand what their goals are and demonstrate they are committed to helping them get there are more likely to be accountable to their work and transparent with what they need to be the best version of themselves on the job.

Beginning the Employee Growth Conversation

It doesn’t take a transformative effort in order to start prioritizing growth as a key pillar of your team culture. Ask yourself: “Do I know what my team member is working for, professionally and, ideally, personally?”

If you find that you are clueless about your team’s career aspirations…just ask them!

In your next scheduled 1:1, which should be happening weekly, ask to reserve 5 minutes of the call to talk about career goals. If this is a brand new subject for the two of you, use this as an opportunity to demonstrate some vulnerability and acknowledge, “I realized that I hadn’t taken any time to understand what opportunities you are hoping to create for yourself while in your current role. What do you see as the next natural and/or desired progression of your career here?”

Now, if this is completely new, this conversation might be awkward. It also might leave you feeling as though you won’t be able to get them promoted to their desired role, given the career pathing limitations at your organization.

The good news is that skill development and exposure is valuable even if those experiences are taken to another opportunity at a different company. Once you break free from the confines of the company you work for, the “development” conversation will be more authentic.

For those who have already started dabbling in this talk track, the question you must ask yourself is: “Am I actively contributing to my team’s stated career aspirations, and am I doing what I said I was going to do?”

Promote an Environment of Learning

By the time someone is ready to get promoted, they should already have evidence of skill development, situational exposure, and readiness. It’s your job as a leader to find ways to help your team stretch and grow.

Ideally, any of the below examples would give them a story or anecdote to be able to tell during an interview:

• Bring them into a meeting they would otherwise not be included. Be sure to clear this with the organizer and other attendees first.
• Ask that they lead in your absence. For example, have them host a team meeting when you are out of office, especially if they are looking to move into a leadership role.
• Partner with them on something you would otherwise do yourself.
• Bring them into the recruiting process.
• Give them special projects that create opportunities for them to use their expertise, but challenge their thinking.
• Appoint them as a go-to subject matter expert for collaborative projects.
• Align them closely to a new hire.

Encouraging the Growth Mindset

One of our main jobs as leaders is to be an extra set of eyes and ears, as well as an advocate for our people. Ideally, we are doing our best to stay on top of career opportunities and promotion cycles on behalf of our employees, but truly, it’s the employees’ responsibility to take ownership of their career.

It’s never too late to have a transparent conversation with your team and create a mutual agreement of responsibilities. It can be as simple as: “I’m committed to curating ways for you to stretch and grow outside of your current role.”

You have to deliver, but they have to show up.

In Conclusion

We started down this path making the connections between employee engagement, employee growth, and high performance. Team members that believe they are positively contributing to work that is going to get them to the next level raises the bar for your entire team. Helping forge a path with your team that connects them to their goal turns into an unstoppable and contagious force.