How do personal and organizational career planning objectives intersect?
Challenges in implementing career planning in HRM
How organizations can measure the success or failure of their career planning objectives
Plan your people’s career growth with Deel Engage
Effective career planning can lead to improved talent management and workforce optimization.
Explore the core objectives of career planning and find tips on how to achieve each one. We’ve also talked to a couple of organizations that have already implemented career planning to learn from their experiences.
Let’s explore the key objectives of a career planning process and how to make them a reality.
Career planning provides employees with a clear path for advancement and growth within the organization. Employees who see future potential and progression in their roles are likelier to stay with the company long-term.
Providing employees with career growth opportunities shows them that the company values them and their professional development. In turn, they’ll also be motivated to do their best work as they can see a clear path to advancement within the company.
One fundamental way to use career planning for retaining top talent is by giving employees clear growth plans. Additionally, offer coaching and guidance on how to prioritize their short- and long-term career goals and how to reach their objectives.
Use performance reviews and development conversations to help them identify and develop their strengths and potential.
Another strategy you can adopt is creating roles based on your talent pool’s strengths, passions, and potential rather than fitting employees into predefined roles. This approach leads to greater job satisfaction and can uncover unique roles that give the company a competitive advantage.
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Ensuring employees possess or develop the necessary skills to meet organizational needs can help organizations stay competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Career planning identifies future skill requirements and encourages employees to acquire these skills.
Upskilling (adding new skills) and reskilling (learning entirely new skill sets) ensure employees remain relevant and valuable. Upskilling and reskilling initiatives ensure employees have the necessary skills and knowledge to take on new roles, tasks, and responsibilities and stay competitive in your industry.
Plus, upskilling and reskilling can help employees feel more confident and capable in their roles, increasing job satisfaction and performance.
When employees know the organization invests in their professional growth, it drives their motivation and engagement. Career progression opportunities also motivate employees to excel in their current roles.
Career path outlining is a solution for boosting morale and job satisfaction that will likely work for most employees. Career paths give employees a sense of direction and purpose in their jobs. They offer a clear plan for advancement, with milestones and goals employees can strive toward. This helps increase motivation and morale as employees can see tangible rewards for their hard work.
Having a career path can further give employees a sense of job satisfaction as they can track their progress and identify specific goals they are working towards. It also helps reduce the feeling of stagnation that can come with a job that lacks clear advancement opportunities.
Another objective of career planning is to ensure a steady supply of talent to fill roles in a timely manner. Career planning allows HRM to better anticipate future staffing needs based on business goals. It helps in understanding which skills will be essential in the future and how current employees can fill those roles.
Start by assessing your existing employees’ current skills and expertise through regular evaluations or skills assessment tools. Once you’ve identified the gaps, use career planning to guide current employees toward the training and experiences they need to fill those future roles.
This proactive approach not only pre-empts potential shortages but also provides a clear growth trajectory for employees.
Some of the ways you can get started with improving your workforce planning efforts include:
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Identifying and grooming potential leaders ensures that when key roles become vacant, there’s a pool of qualified candidates ready to step in, ensuring business continuity.
Career planning also ensures that high-potential employees can grow into more impactful organizational roles.
Start by identifying the key positions within your organization that are pivotal for operations and strategy. Then, identify your top performers and support their development.
With succession planning, you can start preparing your company’s next generation of leaders so they can move into the position.
Offer additional training or mentoring or help them identify and pursue more challenging roles. By doing this, your company can help develop and retain its best talent, which can improve its overall performance and secure business continuity.
Use 9-box assessments to identify those who have the potential to become future leaders.
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When employees leave your company voluntarily, you can lose valuable knowledge and experience, which can be difficult to replace. Additionally, recruiting and training new employees can be costly, as the average cost of hiring a new employee is around $4,000.
A clear career path and growth opportunities can reduce the number of employees leaving the organization of their own accord. They’re less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere when they see a future with the company.
You can minimize employee attrition by addressing every team member’s career aspirations. By doing this, employers can help to retain staff by providing them with opportunities for career growth and development. This can create a more engaging and rewarding workplace, leading to increased job satisfaction and motivation.
Optimal use of competencies and knowledge is essential for any organization that wants to ensure its resources are used to their maximum potential. Having the right people in the right job roles means your company uses its resources efficiently and effectively.
Through career planning, HRM can identify employees’ strengths, knowledge, and competencies. This ensures that employees are placed in roles where they can utilize their skills to the fullest and add maximum value.
Additionally, it increases productivity and efficiency, improving your organization’s profitability. The right people in the right job roles can also minimize potential conflicts or misunderstandings. That’s because employees are better suited for the role they’re expected to fulfill.
Encourage employees to reflect on their skills and career goals regularly. This self-awareness, combined with the insights from feedback, can lead to more informed decisions in career planning, ensuring their competencies are always being put to the best use.
Tia Smith, VP of Global Talent at Collaborative Solutions, is a huge proponent of understanding and leveraging each individual’s strengths in their role:
”Leveraging an individual’s unique strengths isn’t just beneficial for the employee; it’s pivotal for organizational success. Focusing on an individual’s strengths during goal-setting leads to increased engagement and better performance, a principle supported by Gallup’s decades-long research. This shows that people who use their strengths daily are six times more likely to be engaged at work. In a fast-paced business environment, optimizing for strengths isn’t just an HR initiative. It’s a strategic imperative.”
Based on career planning discussions, create individualized development plans for employees. Tailor these plans around enhancing their existing competencies and developing new ones relevant to their career aspirations.
Download our competency framework template and select the most relevant competencies from over 140 core, functional, and technical competencies across five mastery levels.
When learning is part of the flow of work, employees always strive to develop their competencies and knowledge.
On this, Gayla Wright, Head of HR, notes that fostering a culture of continuous learning and resilience can encourage employees to embrace challenges, view setbacks as opportunities for growth, and take proactive steps to develop their skills:
“By nurturing a growth mindset, employees are more likely to engage in effective career planning, actively seeking out opportunities for skill development, setting ambitious career goals and looking at ways to achieve them, hopefully then leading to a more successful and fulfilling career.”
Career planning fosters a culture where continuous learning and self-improvement are valued. Employees at all levels are encouraged to challenge themselves, seek new knowledge, and embrace change.
To promote a growth mindset across the entire organization:
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While we’ve discussed the organization’s objectives above, note that employees should have their own objectives for career planning. Your role is to help them understand and work towards these.
Worthwhile objectives include:
An employee’s objectives will ultimately benefit your company by increasing every individual’s performance, motivation, and engagement.
When employees have objectives aligning with the company’s goals and objectives, you can start building a shared sense of purpose and ensure that your employees are working towards the same goal.
Aligning objectives can also build trust and engagement between the employee and the company. This leads to increased productivity and a better overall work environment.
Career planning also gives employees a sense of direction and purpose at work. It can also help organizations retain talented employees and even recruit top talent, demonstrating that the company is committed to assisting employees in achieving their career goals.
Implementing career planning in HRM can be a complex process with several challenges. Below are some common challenges, along with suggested solutions:
Employees may show limited interest or engagement in career planning initiatives, often due to a lack of awareness of its benefits or a perception that opportunities for advancement are limited.
Promote awareness and benefits—Clearly communicate the advantages of career planning, such as opportunities for skill development and potential for promotion.
Offer workshops or seminars that explain how employees can leverage these initiatives to advance their careers. Encourage managers to have regular career development conversations with their teams.
Implementing career planning requires significant resources, including time, technology, and personnel. Organizations may struggle to allocate these resources, particularly in smaller companies.
Leverage existing resources and tools—Start by integrating career planning into existing HR processes, such as performance appraisals or learning and development programs.
Utilize available HR software to automate parts of the process, reducing the resource burden. Consider a phased implementation to scale the initiative gradually.
Employees and managers might resist career planning initiatives because they are comfortable with the status quo or fear increased expectations and accountability.
Change management strategies—Implement change management strategies that include clear communication, training, and employee involvement at all levels.
Highlight success stories where career planning has benefited employees. Address concerns by providing support and reassurance during the transition.
Tracking the progress of career planning initiatives can be difficult, particularly in large organizations with many employees and diverse career paths.
Implement tracking and metrics systems—Use HR analytics and performance management systems to track employee progress in their career plans. Establish clear metrics and KPIs for career development and regularly review progress during performance appraisals.
In some organizations, particularly smaller ones, there may be limited opportunities for career advancement, which can discourage employees from engaging in career planning.
Offer alternative development paths—Where traditional promotions may be limited, offer lateral moves, job rotations, or opportunities for skill development in other areas.
Encourage continuous learning and provide employees with opportunities to acquire new skills they can use in different organizational contexts.
Measuring the success or failure of career planning objectives allows individuals to pinpoint areas that need improvement and set up strategies for achieving their goals. It also helps employees track their progress over time and adjust their growth plans as necessary.
The first step to measuring success or failure is to look at the goals you’ve set before and track specific metrics.
Some of the metrics that will indicate whether your organization is on the right path with career planning include:
To get even more accurate results, seek feedback from colleagues, mentors, and supervisors to get an honest assessment of progress and areas of improvement. Go beyond the individual level to evaluate the impact of your career planning strategies on overall organizational performance.
Planning for your team’s future has never been this intuitive. With Deel Engage:
Additionally, Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free.
Book a demo to see how our solutions will help you reach the objectives of career planning and build a future-proof workforce.
