But here's a twist to consider: What if there were more right places? Would there not be more right times for all those right people? What if your employees began to think about other ways of moving? What if each move challenged and rewarded them? What if they could move forward instead of up? If employees see that you can support several viable alternatives within the organization, they see a future for themselves within the realities of that organization.
We believe that there are five possible options in addition to moving up. We also believe that the more specifically you can outline those moves, the less your talented employees will see green grass in other organizations. Consider talking with your employees about moves in several (or all) of the following directions:
Four of these options raise the possibility of your talented people moving away from you. If this makes you nervous, you're in the majority. You've spent time and resources building a strong, functioning team, and you don't want to lose them to other managers and other parts of the organization. What's in it for you?
There may not be anything in it for you, except that the talent you have developed may just stay with your enterprise…if not with you. Your best people will leave if they feel that you are hoarding their talent, and not exposing them to other managers and other departments within the organization who could use their skill set.
The choice may be yours. The good news is that your reputation as a manager who cares about development may draw other talented people who want to work on your team. Here are some choices to pose to your talented employees when they come to you to have that conversation.
Until recently, lateral moves meant that your career might be headed for a dead end. Not today. Lateral moves offer much-needed breadth of experience. Taking a lateral move should mean applying current experience in a new job at the same level, but with different duties or challenges. Help employees see that lateral moves can improve skills or help them shift from a slow-growing function to an expanding part of the organization. You can ask:
This might be the easiest option to discuss -- but it's also one of the most ignored. Most folks seem to think they need to move out of their current position to develop. Not true. Most of your employees' work is changing constantly. Enrichment means that employees expand the job, refine their expertise, or find depth in areas they really enjoy. You can help.
The critical question for you to ponder is: What can employees do, or learn to do, that will energize their work and bring them closer to achieving their goals and the goals of the organization? You can also ask:
Sometimes we reach a stage in our careers when we aren't sure of what we want or what choices are available, or even what's appropriate. This option involves gathering information to inform a decision or new direction. Encourage your people to consider taking short-term job assignments in other parts of the organization, participating on project teams with people from other departments or even going on informational interviews. Giving a talented person, whose expertise you need, the chance to explore other positions isn't easy. But people are less likely to feel trapped in their current jobs when they have other choices. Consider asking:
Often the thought of moving back to a previous position or downward would be last on anyone's list of options. Sometimes though, the path to a career goal involves a step backward in order to put oneself in a better position for the next move, or to join a part of the organization poised for rapid growth. More common is the technical specialist who accepts a management position and then sorely misses his technical work. Organizations lose far too many technical people because the road back to their technical areas seem to close behind them. Perhaps these questions are appropriate:
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