by Deanna Perkins, Solutions Manager
Good talent can be hard to find. So when you have an ambitious, hard-working person on your team, you do whatever you can to keep them. But what if they want to move to another department? That’s a question I asked at our recent Boomer Consulting, Inc. supervisor training session.
If a valued employee wants to be promoted to another department, it’s better to keep them in the company than risk losing them to another company that will better support their goals. However, the transition process can be tricky, so I wanted to plan to ensure it goes smoothly for everyone involved.
Here is some of the advice I received.
Have an honest conversation
When an employee indicates they want to transfer into a new role, it’s important to have an open conversation.
You need to ask about their timeline and compare it to the company’s plans. In some cases, it might be possible for the employee to transfer right away. But if there aren’t any openings in the department they want to move into right now, it could be some time before the company is ready to promote or transfer them. The employee might want to be promoted in six months, whereas the company won’t be prepared to make a move for a year or more. Transparency from both ends is key.
It’s also important to find out what they’re hoping to achieve. Is the move what they really want? Or what they think the company wants?
Establish expectations
In many cases, the employee will need to balance their current role with developing their new career path for a while. So the employee and manager must set goals that will help the employee find that balance.
Let the employee know what the company needs to see from them in the meantime and if there are any skills they’ll need to develop to prepare themselves for the new department. If they need to work on certain skills, their manager can help connect them to resources to build those skills.
Make sure your employee also knows what needs to happen before they can make the transition. Will they need to train their replacement or document their job responsibilities so they can be outsourced? Establishing these expectations can help your employee see the full picture of what’s involved in their promotion.
Check-in regularly
At Boomer Consulting, communication is a key aspect of our company culture, so we have weekly meetings between employees and their supervisors and quarterly performance evaluations where we take a more in-depth look at performance and set new goals.
This is important for every employee, but it’s even more crucial to have these regular check-ins with employees who want to advance their careers soon.
Hopefully, your ambitious employee continues to meet expectations. But if their performance suffers because they’re too focused on the future, you need to have those coaching conversations early and often.
Employees are better positioned to achieve their career goals when they know they have support from their supervisors and managers. Helping employees grow in their careers while succeeding in their current roles can create long-lasting benefits for your people and position your firm to be even more competitive in the future.
As the Solutions Manager for Boomer Consulting, Inc., Deanna works to help clients and prospective clients identify their dangers, opportunities and strengths. Once these are identified, she works to develop a personalized game plan for their firm to focus on the area, or areas, they need to improve on most. These areas are critical to a firm’s success and future-readiness; Leadership, Talent, Technology, Process and Growth.
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