11 obstacles to meaningful development conversations

Written By Suzie Marsden

Recently we ran a leadership coaching clinic at the Women in Leadership Summit in Auckland. We asked these influential women, what gets in the way of great career development conversations for you as a leader and for individuals? These are the key themes;
- TIME
- TIME
- TIME
Overwhelmingly prioritising time for development over all the other deliverables is an issue for both leaders and team members. Not having an organisational culture that values development underpins this.
For leaders, there were a few other important themes;

  • Trust - have I created a safe enough space to allow for complete honesty?

  • I need to manage their [unrealistic] expectations

  • Individuals have the mindset that development = promotion

  • What if I don't have the answer?

  • Holding back on having these because of talent shortages - I need to hold on to everyone that I've got!

  • Specific issues like what to do for people in specialist roles or in small organisations with limited opportunities.

For individuals other themes were;

  • I don't know what I want

  • I do know what I want but it's too risky to tell my manager (what if telling them disadvantages me)

  • I don't know what the choices are for me in this organisation

  • self doubt - am I capable of doing something different

Given the recent McKinsey research that lack of career development is currently the #1 reason people are quitting their jobs. We need to address these issues!
We'll be posting our thoughts on how to tackle some of these challenges in subsequent blogs.

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Suzie Marsden
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Mutual trust is at the heart of great career conversations
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Talent shortages here to stay. Time to review your EVP.