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Career Preview

This document covers how the bi-annual Career Preview is handled from the perspective of a manger. For the employee preparation, please see Career Preview - Information for Employees

9Y Approach

Still, the performance review / career preview is important. For us, we want to follow this principle:

360° degree feedback from colleagues is collected by the employee. See https://9y-media.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/9RPBK/pages/2203156500/Career+Preview+-+Information+for+Employees#Appendix-A---360%C2%B0-Questionnaire

You prepare your thoughts, as a Team Lead or School Lead on the areas below.
Your colleague will also prepare for the areas according to Career Preview - Information for Employees

In the meeting itself, start with the observations from everyone and discuss them. Then move on to step 2 and 3.

Structure of a Career Preview

1. The Past

The Strengths

• Which skills does your colleague have that are really strong?

  • Do they have great design skills?

  • Are they great communicators?

  • Are they great team players?

  • Are they very organised?

  • …

The Impact

• Which impact do they have…

  • … on the company culture?

  • … on the team?

  • … on the business?

The Weaknesses

• In which area does your colleague have room to improve?

  • Do the skills fit the current position?

  • Are there any improvements possible in the areas of

    • Teamplay

    • Tech

    • Leadership

    • Structure

    • … ?

The Communication

• How …

  • … friendly

  • … precise

  • … short

  • … thorough

  • … proactive

• … does this person communicate?

General Work Attributes

• Thoroughness

  • Do you get all the information you need, or do you have to ask again more often until you have the full picture?

  • Is the agreed work performed as discussed, sound and complete?

• Proactivity

  • Is the person approaching you with information, notification, questions, … or do they wait until you approach them?

• Helpfulness

  • How supportive is this person when you need help in any area?

• Honorable Mentions

  • Is there any situation you would like to mention where this person made an extra effort which should be appreciated?

2. The Future

• Where do you want to be?

  • Which skills do you want to develop?

  • Which positions do you want to have?

  • Do you want to stay and improve in your current position, or do you want to change?

• What do you want to achieve?

  • If you think of a longer time frame, where do you want to be?

• Do I see you there?

  • Do I, as your Lead, see you going in this direction?

  • Do we want to go there together?

3. Plan for the Present

How can we connect the past to the future?

• How do the strengths, weaknesses, and other attributes impact the position you want to be in?

What actions can we take to make this happening?

• Can we give you a different position?

• Is there a training we can provide you with?

• Can we organise a test run in a certain position?

Is there a chance to do this?

• Do I see you in this position?

• Do we have the possibilities inside the company?

What does this imply salary / compensation wise?

• The salary discussion can be part of the Career Preview

🎭 The art of holding a Career Preview well

• Prepare your thoughts on the topics below and anything else you’d like to discuss

• After all replies are in, summarise the 360° feedback

• Start the CP with the 360° feedback

  • Do not add your thoughts from point 1 on top of it

  • Let the feedback speak for itself, but try to identify the general pattern in the answers and point it out

  • Outcome: Shared overview of the feedback from the colleagues (1/4th of the Past Picture)

• After the 360° feedback is discussed, start with the Past part

  • Give your feedback

    • The feedback from you as lead should be mostly focused on the employees field of work

  • Give the employee room to share their view

  • Make sure your counterpart (SL/TL) gives feedback from their perspective

  • Outcome: Self-view and Feedback from the TL/SL, more focused towards the field of work (3/4th of the Past Picture)

• After the Past, all of you should have a pretty extensive and complete picture of the performance

  • Take this and move on to the Future part

  • Listen in which direction the employee wants to evolve

  • React and respond to the employees wishes, with your knowledge from the 360° feedback and the Past conversation

  • Also bring in your own thoughts that you gathered upfront

  • Together, make a decision on the direction the employee would like to take

  • Outcome: Shared understanding and agreement on which career direction to take

• Take this as input and move on to the Present part

  • Identify and define concrete steps which will bring the employee closer to the Future goal

  • Outcome: Concrete list of Action Items for the employee (what to improve), and the SL/TL (enabling the employee to move into the direction)