Career planning is the process of matching an employee’s career goals with their

capabilities. Simply put, it’s about connecting what people do well with what they
want to do. Ideally, we want employees to enjoy their chosen career. If they do, it can
translate to employee engagement, which ultimately has a positive impact on
productivity and the bottom line.

But career planning isn’t a one-person activity. While individuals play an important
role in their own career planning (more on that later), organizations have a
responsibility as well. The keyword here being responsibility. Helping employees find
a successful career path is in the best interest of the organization. So, this isn’t an
optional activity.

3 Ways Organizations Can Support Career Planning

One way to view career planning is in terms of employee career stages like early,
mid, and late career. It’s important to note that this could also offer the organization
some flexibility. Early career could be viewed as either new to the job, new to the
company, or both. Same philosophy applies to mid and late career.

This gives organizations several options when it comes to their support of career
planning efforts. Here are three different ways that organizations can use existing
programs to support an employee:

1. Career Development Tools. Whether a person is new to the organization

or their role, organizations needs to provide them with tools. Early stage
career development starts with orientation and onboarding. These
programs are specifically designed to give new employees the tools they
need to be successful. Whether it’s helping a new manager learn how to
create a budget or giving an employee a few tips for participating in a
successful one-on-one meeting, organizations can make an impact in an
employee’s career by giving them the right tools.
2. Guidance. After employees are given the tools, managers can play a
role in career planning by offering guidance. Think of guidance as
direction or information. Managers can help employees figure out what
they like about their work (and what they don’t). They can encourage
them to take on new assignments to learn. Guidance can get employees
to do their own self-awareness activities so they can start identifying the
things they enjoy and those they have an interest in learning more
about. This is also a good activity for managers to start introducing
employees to the concepts of self-learning.
3. Recognition and Coaching. Once employees have the tools and start
experimenting with them, managers can take on the role of coach to
support career development. A way to do that is by sharing with
employees the things they do well. Sometimes an employee needs to
hear that they have a skill or ability for something. If an employee has an
interest in something they haven’t exactly perfected, the manager can
also provide some feedback on things the employee should consider
spending additional time learning.