Running Great DCCs

Running a Dynamic Career Convo!

The great strength of this method is that regardless of whether someone enters this conversation knowing precisely what their goals are or has never even thought about it before, you can still have an extremely thoughtful and productive conversation with concrete outcomes.

By using the matrix and filling in the boxes, you are tangibly aligning on your mutual goals for this person’s career, and partnering together on it. There is a shared responsibility.

For those who want a checklist, you can emerge with that. For those who just need ideas and a north star, you can emerge with that.

When the pandemic struck and remote work picked up, I felt lost not being able to use a whiteboard for this conversation. Not to be defeated, I decided to replicate the matrix in a table in a Coda doc, and found it to be just as dynamic and effective. One unforeseen advantage was that I could even insert the completed exercise in my reports’ 1:1 docs so they could revisit (and update!) it whenever they wanted.

1. Start by copying this template into a coda doc or mocking it up on a whiteboard - whatever suits you best. You’ll see there is a column indicating a goal or achievement to aim for, with corresponding columns listing the experience or skills required to reach that goal, and the type of work projects that could incorporate them. There is also a column with timeframes (short, medium, long) to pair the goals with.

Timeframe

Role/Achievement Goal

Skills/Experience Required

Example Work/Project

Short (6-12 months)

Mid (1-3 years)

Long (5+ years)

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2. Then between you and your report, begin to fill out the matrix. Start by asking questions to brainstorm any goals they want to achieve (could be anything: job title, skillset, subject matter expertise, relationships etc.). You can begin with more tangible, short-term goals, or you can think through bigger long-term goals (you can even jump between the two). Add as many new goals as you like for each timeframe.

3. As you fill in each goal, also start adding the corresponding skills/experience, and example work/projects so that you can start mapping tangible actions to a particular outcome. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the dots connect and a career path opens up. Here’s a generic example of what an in progress matrix looks like:

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4. Finish by reflecting on what boxes stand out, and how you and your report may want to pursue them. Remember it’s okay to leave any of the squares blank or to give yourselves an action item to research and fill in later.

Here are some more tips on how to get the best out of this conversation:

Let your employee know about a week beforehand so they are not caught off guard, and have some time to prep if they’d like.

Let them know that no matter where they are in thinking about their careers, this conversation can be tailored towards them. If they just want to brainstorm and get ideas, the matrix can help them do that. If they know what they want and would like to document the more specific steps required to get them there, the matrix can help them do that too. It can do everything in between as well!

Set the expectation that you want them to come prepared to talk and with an open mind, because you might have ideas too. Ideally you’d like them to drive a fair chunk of it, but you’re prepared to drive as much as necessary too.

Remember the 3 “E”s of growth - Exposure (observing how a thing is done e.g. sitting in on a high level meeting), Education (learning how a thing is done by studying the theory e.g. taking a course), & Experience (doing the thing itself e.g. practising skill in low-risk environment). These are all ways you can help an employee build a new skillset and depending on the environment and complexity of the goal, you can pick which one is the most appropriate.

Be comfortable with not filling out the whole matrix - it’s natural for some people to want to focus more on short vs long term, or vice versa. Similarly, don’t worry if the short term area is more tangible and specific and the long term areas are much more vague and aspirational. Things can change over time, so no need for everything to be so defined from the off!

Encourage people to think big, and not feel any constraints when they share their goals. Nothing has to be concrete, unless they want it to be.

Follow up in your next 1:1 to see how the conversation landed, with a little bit of time to digest.

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