About a year or two out of college, I remember having a talk with a close friend. I had decided to work in marketing in upstate New York, eventually going to work for my family’s leadership development firm in Vermont, and he had decided to do sales in New York City.
He had left one job after a year, because that’s what you did to cut your teeth in the Big Apple, and he had gotten a new job that had advanced his sales career a nudge. He was having a great time at his newer employer. About 8-10 months into his new role, he stopped by his manager’s office and asked if they could talk. He spoke with his manager briefly about feeling like he was doing well, capturing all the Key Performance Indicators laid out for him, and if there was anything else he could do he’d love to learn more, advance his job, and genuinely be helpful to the organization. The manager dismissed him, saying, “Not at this time, but come back after I’ve given it some thought.”
A couple of months went by and my friend stopped into his manager again, “I really think I could do more at this company – are there any additional teams or committees I could be on?” The manager quickly dismissed him, saying, “you’re doing fine, just stay in your lane.” My friend stopped by one more time a couple of weeks later to a now slightly annoyed manager without getting much further in his quest to do more for the company.
The last time my friend stopped into his manager’s office was to hand the manager his resignation. He had found a much more suitable company across the street with plenty of projects for him to work on there.
When my friend told me this story, I began to think about some of the unfortunate events and what he was really asking for:
The manager should have jumped at the chance to sit down and create a roadmap for any employee wanting to do more.
Timing is sometimes difficult and the Millennial generation has gotten a bad wrap for wanting things faster than normal; it would have been good for the manager to schedule some time to create a roadmap with tentative dates and mile markers so that my friend understand what it would actually take.
With that being said, if my friend was succeeding as much as he said he was, the manager should have been a coach and champion for my friend, cutting red tape to make sure my friend succeeded and stuck around.
A decade later, I can honestly say my friend is one of the best advertisers in NYC, winning multiple awards for his efforts within the industry – and he’s under the age of 40!
Imagine what that employer could have done with that raw talent that was seeking further development and growth.
As I began training and speaking on generations in the workplace and creating an adaptable culture for a new way (and speed) of work, I developed from the story I just told you the Leadership Growth Lattice.
Traditionally, corporations have long talked about the leadership ladder - each rung of the proverbial ladder equaling a new role, title, pay, and/or leadership level. Unfortunately, that’s quite an outdated model and just doesn’t work for the new worker.
When we look at the Leadership Growth Lattice, it functions like the name. Instead of straight up, its sprawls out like a garden lattice. It assists in creating a “holistic” employee with multiple dimensions of growth, service and leadership.
Imagine a lattice and the buckets you may want an employee to think about as they grow within your organization:
Job Training and Skill Growth – What competencies, education, and training do we need to work together on in the next year(s) to get you to where you want to be?
Leadership Training and Growth – What leadership-specific competencies like communication skills, team building, facilitation, presentation skills, conflict resolution, negotiations, etc. do we need to work on together to get you to where you want to be?
Coaching and Mentorship – Where can I, the manager or another mentor in our organization, come alongside you and support and “sponsor” you in your development and engagement? Can we meet monthly for lunch?
Internal Teams and Committees – Where, as a coach and sponsor, can I work with you to get you on internal development teams and committees to expand your knowledge of the organization?
External Community Involvement – This is one I think we miss often. Not only should you be engaged with your organization, but where can I, your manager, encourage you to seek out additional service and leadership roles within the community to build your “holistic” leadership model? It wouldn’t be bad press for our organization either!
Personal Life Goals – Another one we tend to shy away from. I, your manager, want to know about your life goals so I can work with you in the ongoing development of your salary, benefits, time off, etc. I want to know where you want to be in the future. “This organization wants to support you in your first house, daycare, schooling, etc.”
Every year I sit down with my employees to do a performance evaluation. They fill out theirs privately, I also fill out theirs privately, and then we come together and talk about how we line up and where we see variances between the two. After we walk through last year’s performance, expectations for this coming year, we go over their Lattice. Where can I, their leader, help them in those key areas mentioned above? They are thrilled, excited and find it fun to brainstorm and think about the future. I know, as the leader, I’ve won the engagement game with them (for now).
Three things the Lattice does:
It provides a roadmap for both the coach and employee on specific areas of growth and development needed to build the employees competency and commitment to the organization.
It challenges the current beliefs of the employee about the timeframe and the expectation of their role (and growing roles) within the organization. Once you can build discrepancy and transparency through a tactical, tangible plan, you can then begin to growth your employee with proper expectations on both sides.
It frames a commitment between the coach/manager and the employee that is in writing, has a specific work plan and review dates, and ensures that opportunities will be created for the employee.
So what do you think? Is it time to try out the Leadership Growth Lattice out on some of your up and coming employees?