February 26, 2013

Help Them Grow or

Watch Them Go
Career Conversations Employees Want
Beverly Kaye & Julie Winkle Giulioni

©2012 Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

Adapted by permission of Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-60994-632-6

Key Concepts
• Genuine and meaningful career development occurs of anyone who is willing to or asked to get in-
through the human act of conversation. Growth is the volved.
result of quality conversations between managers • Modern career development looks more like a rock-climb-
and employees, conversations that are designed to ing wall than a ladder. The traditional notion that
facilitate insight and awareness, explore possibili- advancement means moving up has been replaced
ties and opportunities, and inspire responses that by a definition that involves moving forward and
drive employee-owned action. toward a very personal definition of career success.
• From the intersection of hindsight and foresight comes • Grow with the flow. This is the science of holding
insight and growth. Employees who fully under- unplanned conversations with employees about
stand their strengths and interests are better able to supporting and informing career growth. Growing
anticipate future growth. Insight is where manager with the flow honors the cadence of business and
and employee jointly determine the full range of enables managers to build development into the
ways to move forward and the actions to take to ever evolving fabric of the workplace.
achieve career objectives.
• Employees in every sector are starving for feedback. Introduction
Feedback is a hindsight lens through which
In Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, authors
people can pass their self-perceptions, yielding a
Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni examine the
clearer vision of who they are and the value they
benefits of and methods for addressing the career
bring to an organization. Feedback costs noth-
development imperative with employees. In today’s
ing, lends itself to any setting, and is the domain
business environment, talent is a major differentiator

Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

and developing that talent is one of the most signifi- Over the years, managers have created and continue to
cant drivers of employee engagement. Increasing propagate several myths that keep them from having
employee engagement will lead to better business the career conversations their employees want. Some
outcomes in terms of revenue, innovation, produc- common “immobilizing myths” include:
tivity, customer loyalty, and other important criteria
• There is simply not enough time. Time is a scarce re-
for business success. Responsibility for career devel-
source today, but most managers are having con-
opment ultimately rests with employees, but it is the
versations all day. Career development can be a
job of management to prompt, guide, reflect, explore
simple matter of redirecting some of that conversa-
ideas, activate enthusiasm, and drive action. This
tion time to focus on careers.
can be accomplished using a framework for think-
ing about conversations to help others grow, focused • If I do not talk about it, they may not think about it, and
around the concepts of hindsight, foresight, and the status quo will be safe. Employees always have
insight. growth on their minds, whether managers address
it or not. Withholding career development conver-
Develop Me or I’m History sations is often a greater danger to the status quo
Managers in the modern workplace face significant than engaging in them.
challenges day in and day out, and they cannot tackle
• Since employees need to own their careers, it is not
them alone. Managers are expected to do more with
my job. Managers have an essential role in help-
less (reduce costs, time, and resources), meet ever-
ing and supporting others to take responsibility.
expanding expectations (e.g., bigger sales, more
That role plays out in large part through conver-
projects), continuously improve quality, and deliver
sation.
the next big thing. The most effective tools that man-
agers have at their disposal to face these challenges • Everyone wants more, bigger, or better: promotions,
are capable, flexible, and engaged teams able to drive prestige, power. When asked what they want to get
exceptional business results. This means that career out of a career conversation with their managers,
development should be a top priority for any busi- most employees are simply looking for ways to use
ness. Managers must remember that the best and their talents creatively.
brightest employees in any organization will always
have options, and failing to help them grow can lead
them to take their talents elsewhere, or worse, become
disengaged but stay in their current positions.
Further Information
Information about the author and subject:
Career development is among the most frequently
www.help-them-grow.com
forgotten tools for driving business results, yet it is
completely within a manager’s sphere of influence. Information about this book and other business titles:
Genuine and meaningful career development is made www.bkconnection.com
possible through conversations that are designed to Related summaries in the BBS Library:
facilitate insight and awareness, explore possibilities
The Employee Engagement Mindset
and opportunities, and inspire responses that drive The Six Drivers for Tapping into the Hidden
employee-owned action. Career development often Potential of Everyone in Your Company
gets pushed to the backburner by busy managers, By Timothy R. Clark
but there is a way to reframe it in such a way that
the responsibility for growth rests squarely with the Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work
employee. Talk is the most precious and results-driv- Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the
Principles of RESPECT
ing commodity that a manager has to share, as it can
By Paul L. Marciano
lead to actions that help employees realize their per-
sonal definitions of success.

Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved Page 2
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

• Development efforts are best concentrated on high po- exchanges help employees to sustain momentum,
tentials, many of whom already have plans in place. track progress, and act as an ongoing reminder of
Managers will usually see a significant return on the organization’s commitment to employee learning,
the development they invest in their high poten- growth, and progress. People recognize and respond
tials, but they only make up a small fraction of to genuine curiosity on the part of their leaders, and
an organization’s population. A small investment it might be the most undervalued leadership compe-
in the massive middle doing the bulk of the work tency in business today.
could yield great results.
Boomers are waiting longer to retire. Repeated rounds of belt
Managers operate at the speed
of business and can rarely set tightening have led to delayering and downsizing. More jobs are
aside large chunks of time to out-sourced. ... [T]his breeds a sense of scarcity and leaves the
engage in career dialogues with impression that there aren’t as many opportunities. ... This makes
employees. An effective solution
career development more—not less—important than in the past.
is for managers to look at career
development in terms of ongo- Quality questions asked with a spirit of curiosity
ing conversations rather than procedural checkpoints can facilitate conversations that will allow others
or scheduled activities, which fits better with the to change their lives. This does not mean that the
cadence of business today. These brief yet frequent employee or the manager has to have all the answers.
In many cases, a lack of closure will actually drive
more thought and energy as the mind, uncomfortable
About the Authors with what has been left unfinished, continues to focus
on the question or problem and possible solutions.
Dr. Beverly Kaye is an internationally recog-
nized authority on career issues and retention Hindsight, Foresight, and Insight
and engagement in the workplace. She was Whether conversations are more formal and lengthy
given the “Distinguished Contribution” award or shorter and iterative, helping others pursue their
by the American Society for Training and Devel- career goals involves facilitating an exploration of
opment (ASTD) for her impact on workplace three key areas: hindsight, foresight, and insight.
learning over the past three decades. As founder Hindsight is a look backward to develop a deep under-
and co-CEO of Career Systems International standing of things like where employees have been,
and a best-selling author on workplace perfor- what they love, and what they are good at. Self-per-
mance, Kaye and her team have worked with ception is the key, and it becomes even clearer when
many organizations to establish talent develop- enhanced by the feedback of others.
ment solutions.
Foresight involves a big-picture look at the environ-
Julie Winkle Giulioni has spent the past 25 ment and the business to determine what is changing
years improving performance through learning. and how those changes will affect the future.
She has partnered with hundreds of organiza-
tions to develop and deploy training products Insight is the convergence of hindsight and foresight,
that are in use worldwide. As co-founder and where manager and employee jointly determine the
principal of DesignArounds, Giulioni leads full range of ways to move forward and the actions to
multi-disciplinary teams that create award-win- take to achieve career objectives.
ning electronic and instructor-led training. She Hindsight conversations are the foundation of career
is an author and respected speaker on a variety development, as they are designed to spark thinking,
of topics, including performance improvement, encourage connections, and promote discovery. Hind-
leadership, sales, and customer service. sight allows employees to develop a clear view of their
skills and strengths, values, interests, dislikes, prefer-

Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved Page 3
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

ences, and weaknesses. Most people are disconnected Abilities can include strengths, skills, and the
from their strengths but strongly drawn toward their perceived value that an employee brings to the orga-
weaknesses, so employees require two different per- nization. Blind spots include any behaviors that
spectives in order to confirm, challenge, and enhance might get in the way of an employee’s success, includ-
their own self-perceptions. Clarity around these fac- ing ways in which perceived strengths might work
tors allows for confident and intentional movement against the employee. Conditions are the settings or
toward career objectives. circumstances in which an employee might make the
greatest contributions, or any factors that could trigger
stress or other negative reactions
Genuine career development is not about forms, choreographing for the employee in question.
new assignments, or orchestrating promotions. It’s about the
Employees also need to get hind-
quality of the conversations between a manager and an employee. sight information from managers
based around three key areas:
Feedback 1. Technical skills
Studies have shown that employees in every sector are
2. Soft skills
starving for feedback, and good people tend to move
on when their hunger for feedback is not satisfied. 3. A set of career intangibles
Feedback is a hindsight lens through which people
Managers who address any of these areas will help
can pass their self-perceptions. It is an ideal develop-
deepen employees’ self-awareness and facilitate
ment tool considering that it costs nothing (except a
development.
little genuine attention to others), lends itself to any
setting, and is the domain of anyone who is willing Technical or hard skills are those that relate to how
or asked to get involved. Encouraging employees to employees produce the outputs of their jobs. Equally
proactively solicit the points of view of others can important to employees’ success is their set of interper-
create a self-generating feedback frenzy. This has the sonal or soft skills, which can include communication,
double benefit of enabling employees to check their collaboration, teamwork, and networking.
assumptions and balance their understanding, while There is another category of skills that includes career
helping them to develop the capacity to indepen- intangibles that are frequently forgotten, but are qual-
dently initiate feedback conversations. Developing a ities that serve as key differentiators when it comes to
broad network will facilitate individual career suc- day-to-day and long-term career success. These quali-
cess, because gathering feedback from others is an ties include a thirst for continuous learning, resilience
ideal way for employees to begin engaging others in in the face of change, and a natural curiosity about the
creating a path forward. world and its endless possibilities.
The ability to solicit and graciously accept feedback is Hindsight clarity needs to be filtered through the
a skill that distinguishes successful and effective indi- lens of foresight, allowing employees to play to their
viduals. Because the act of opening one’s self up to the identified strengths in the context of a business need.
opinions of others can be challenging, the agenda for Foresight conversations open people’s minds to the
such a discussion should be simple and straightfor- broader world, the future, organizational issues,
ward. Employees should be encouraged to focus on changes, and the implications of all of these factors,
just three things as they gather feedback from others, while helping others to focus their career efforts in
ABC: ways that will lead to satisfying and productive out-
1. Abilities comes.

2. Blind spots What’s Happening?

People who are able to anticipate the future and are
3. Conditions
ready to grow into it practice their own brand of ESP:

Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved Page 4
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

Ever Scanning and Pondering. ESP is a set of habits a promotion to a higher position, a lateral adjustment
that managers can instill in employees so that every- to something more interesting or challenging, or even
one in the organization is constantly staying on top of steps that in the past might have been considered
what is going on in the world around them. down or backward, but in fact help the employee gain
valuable experience.
Employees may not always see the big picture, so
it is important for managers to populate their radar Too many managers avoid career discussions alto-
screens with a constellation of new points to consider, gether because they do not want to set unrealistic
including both internal and external factors. expectations only to disappoint when desirable moves
are few and far between. But growth is not limited
External challenges and changes are things going on
to movements over, up or down, and with the right
in the wider world that can include changing demo-
support people can grow right where they are. Find-
graphics, globalization, government regulation, and
ing ways to grow talents, explore interests, and build
economic instability.
capacity within the context of employees’ current jobs
Internal challenges and changes within the organi- is completely within a manager’s sphere of influence,
zation can include changing customer expectations, and is often a better option than having an employee
new vendor relationships, mergers and acquisitions, move towards a different role. Helping employees
and responses to shrinking margins. A manager does to grow in place requires a shift in mindset, where
not have to deliver a whole strategic planning cur- the old notion of career development is replaced by
riculum to his or her staff, but it is beneficial to create a focus on developing skills and experience, which,
a forum for employees to get in touch with the world in turn, makes employees more valuable to the com-
around them and define their career development pany.
playing fields.
From the intersection of hindsight A strength is a lot like oxygen. We don’t really pay much atten-
and foresight comes insight. Pos- tion to it—unless it’s missing.
sible insights are endless, and can
manifest into useful solutions for the organization. The opportunity minded have unlimited ways to
For instance, an employee might use insights gained grow in place, and it is important for managers to
through conversation to deploy a new skill to solve a encourage them to think and point them in new direc-
problem, or evolving interests might support a new tions. Helping employees realize their own personal
business direction. Recognizing insights and explor- definitions of career success requires conversations
ing and exploiting them though career conversations that fall into two distinct categories: what and how.
can reveal countless possibilities for both employees
WHAT conversations focus on what the employee
and the business.
needs in terms of experiences, skills, exposure, and
Advancing the Notion of Advancement information. HOW conversations build on these and
Insight and growth are all about possibilities. help the employee to figure out how to get those needs
However, recent years have seen widespread orga- met. These conversations should not be combined or
nizational belt-tightening and delayering in many reversed, and above all they should not be rushed.
businesses, which creates the false impression that Moving prematurely to action sidesteps important
opportunities for advancement are scarce. In addition thinking, chokes off creativity, narrows the conversa-
to the trend towards work–life balance, the traditional tion, and obscures the full range of possibilities for
notion that advancement means moving up has been career development.
replaced by a definition that involves moving forward
Advance Action Forward
and toward a more personal definition of career suc-
Working with employees around hindsight and
cess. Some of the most important conversations that
foresight helps to generate insight into the world of
managers will have with employees involve clarifying
possibilities that exist for those who want to move
their definitions of career success. Success could mean
Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved Page 5
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

forward and toward their career goals. But those pos- the lines between mentoring and networking are
sibilities will remain amorphous and abstract until blurring, and exposure is all about establishing com-
they can be translated into action. There is a model for pelling connections among individuals who can share
accomplishing this end, the 3E Model, and it involves knowledge, skills, and experience. The authors call
understanding and using the “3 Es” to help employ- this “Mentworking,™” which is based on two simple
ees move from insights to implementation. premises: nobody knows it all and it is reciprocal. The
model is a mosaic of connections where enlightened
1. Expand education to open employees to a variety
mentors can learn as much as they teach.
of new learning avenues.
Experience
2. Enable exposure to others who can teach, mentor,
and coach. Experience is the third “E,” and most people learn by
doing. At any organization there is often a lot of work
3. Explore experiences that will unlock opportunities
to be done, so strategically bringing these two factors
to learn on the spot.
together can serve the needs of the
Encouraging employees to interact directly with the environ- organization and the individual
simultaneously. Experience-based
ment is just an interesting exercise until you debrief their expe- learning is about integrating learn-
riences and encourage reflection. ing into the workflow, as a sensible
way to efficiently and effectively
Education develop others. Experiences can be scaled based upon
Concerning education, learning can take place in a a manager’s sphere of influence, the needs of the orga-
variety of settings. It can be face-to-face in the form nization, and what employees are looking to achieve.
of classes and workshops, or online through webinars There are plenty of options for experience-based
and virtual classrooms. Employees will get the most learning, including combinations and permutations
value from education when their managers help to of special projects, events, in-department rotations,
set them up for success, and this can be done in four job-shadowing, and community service.
simple steps: Whatever combination of education, exposure, and
1. Set expectations in advance, using conversation to experience managers use, they must have a plan in
support employees and help them to focus their ef- place to implement the learning, and the best plans
fort and learning. are really development deals that managers strike
with employees. A DEAL is:
2. Set aside time to schedule employees into classes,
to demonstrate commitment to learning. • Documented. Putting it in writing signals that the
plan is being taken seriously, and can be treated as
3. Provide opportunities for employees to obtain new the living, breathing, and changeable tool that it is.
skills and knowledge, and set up opportunities for
• Aligned with the employee’s goals. Linking the
employees to use what is learned.
plan to short-term and long-term goals tests wheth-
4. Set a date to debrief and create a plan for moving er activities are worth the effort they will take.
forward with the new learning. • Employee-owned. Employees must take responsi-
Exposure bility for their plans to generate the commitment
and energy required to implement them. Owner-
The second “E” in the 3E model is exposure, because
ship is most effective when the plan is personal-
it is important to expose employees to wisdom in
ized to the individual, focused and specific, and
the workplace. Exposure can be facilitated by creat-
doable in light of other activities.
ing connections, and the more individuals who are
drawn into an employee’s career support circle, the • Linked to the needs of the organization. Resources
better. But in today’s dynamic business environment, may be in short supply and support can be fickle,

Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved Page 6
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

but what employees are doing to learn and devel- hindsight as a lens to understand who employees are
op directly contributes to the bigger picture. and what they bring to the organization in terms of
Development is only an activity until its lessons are skills, interests, values, and more will provide a solid
applied. Many employees become so engaged in the foundation for development.
experience that they do not take the time to reflect on Fostering a future focus is a matter of helping employ-
how they have benefitted from it. Conversation, in the ees develop the ability to scan the environment,
form of a debriefing discussion, becomes the key to anticipate trends, and spot opportunities to pro-
genuine growth. Managers can ask simple questions, vide a constructive context for career development.
such as: The intersection of hindsight and foresight can be
• What did you learn from that? mined for insight, because opportunities exist where
employees’ aspirations can find expression in the real,
• What would you do differently?
ever-changing world of work.
• What will you take away from this?
These questions will launch a dialogue about an g g g g
experience that will help them to extract learning
from it, and in the process seal the deal on their Features of the Book
learning and development.
Estimated Reading Time: 1–2 hours, 126 pages
Grow with the Flow Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go is a guide to
In the fast-paced modern workplace, career devel- help managers have more constructive career devel-
opment and growth has to be seamlessly integrated opment conversations with employees to enable their
with the flow of business. Growing with the flow is success and improve business outcomes. “Try This”
the science of holding unplanned conversations with features are inserted throughout, providing questions
employees about supporting and informing career and activities managers can use with their employees,
growth. By learning to pick up career conversation and each chapter ends with a “What If”section, which
cues, managers can use these opportunities to build asks questions that require managers to reframe their
development into the ever evolving fabric of the thinking. The book is intended for anyone who has a
workplace. Additional benefits will follow, as regu- role in developing others, and can easily be read cover
larly scheduled career conversations will become to cover or used as a reference.
richer and more efficient, and employees will learn to
pick up on their own cues and take greater ownership Contents
for driving their own development. Introduction: What’s a Manager to Do?

Conclusion 1. Develop Me or I’m History

Helping employees grow is an essential management 2. Can We Talk?
responsibility, because career development benefits
3. Let Hindsight Light the Way
both individual employees and the organization as a
whole. Just as there are multiple directions in which 4. Feed Me
a career can develop, there are lots of ways to engage 5. What’s Happening?
with employees in meaningful and constructive ways
that can fit easily into any manager’s schedule. It can 6. If Not Up … Then What?
be as simple as managers talking with people, and 7. Same Seat, New View
interacting intentionally to show genuine interest in
8. Advancing Action
helping employees grow.
9. Grow with the Flow
It is important for managers to keep the interview
going, in the sense that they should make a commit- Conclusion: Grow for It!
ment to continue learning about employees. Using

Business Book Summaries® February 26, 2013 • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • All Rights Reserved Page 7
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni

Index
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Working with the Authors

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