Planning and Implementation of Career Development Programmes

Today's employees are more career conscious than ever demanding more in terms of personal growth and development. Organizations that fail to meet employee individual needs will be losing valued employees.

A Career Development Program seeks to match to needs of the employee with those of the organization with the major components being counseling and training. Career Development Programs are essential because of changes in the workforce like, work-life balance, diversity, and focus on quality; advances in management theory like, employee motivation; changes in managerial styles and the increasing complexity of technology.

The most important aspect of career Development is that the employee must accept his/her responsibility for development. The career development actions are:

• Job Performance
• Exposure
• Resignations
• Change of job
• Career Guidance
• Internal Mobility

1. Career Development Objectives

1. To improve the effectiveness of the organization
2. To maximize the employee efficiency
3. To ensure discipline
4. To adopt organizational changes

2. Career Development Planning & Evaluation Phase

1. Define what career development means for the organization (by considering views of management vs. employees vs. supervisors and HRD)
2. Determine the organization’s needs for career development
3. Identify goals to be achieved through the program
4. Design a program to meet the identified needs, including finalizing of Internal or External coaches

3. Career Development Implementation Phase

1. Pilot the program with a specific team or department, evaluate results, and revise if necessary
2. Launch and promote the program to employees identified
3. Continue to evaluate results and, if a survey was done at the beginning of the program, survey again in 6-12 months to measure results

As the implementation is being done, both at the pilot level and at the organization-wide level, following are some of the steps that should be considered:

1. Assessment:  of skills, knowledge, values, interests, and work style
2. Exploration of options:  promotions, transfers, rotation and enrichment
3. Identification and resolution of barriers:  if the employee seems to lack education or training or have other barriers to their desired career development within the company, coaching addresses those
4. Goal setting and planning:  specifying what the employee wants to achieve and helping them get there through a Career Development Plan, often working with their direct supervisor
5. Strategizing:  support systems, mentoring, interviewing, training available resources, and timelines

4. Career Development Action plans:

1. The actual steps necessary to prepare the employee for further career growth must be noted down.
2. It must be realistic and measurable as to allow both the employee and organization to evaluate the employee's progress.
3. It must be specific and contain achievable developmental objectives, as well as the resources necessary to achieve these goals.
4. It must be flexible enough to enable the employee to reassess individual needs and desires throughout their careers.
5. A time frame for accomplishing these activities needs to be established and periodic follow-up must be conducted.
6. Continuous monitoring and evaluation are essential, especially in the early part of the employee's career. Employee development is multifaceted and must be viewed as a long-term process as there is no "one best way" to develop employees.