Here’s an article I wrote for the January issue of HR Network Scotland (you can read the full magazine by clicking on the cover on the homepage).

It’s from the perspective of the employer, encouraging managers to be more proactive in having career development discussions with employees, but is also relevant to employees in terms of recommending they take the initiative and express their career aspirations to the boss.

If you’re suffering from New Year blues at present and are frustrated in your current role, why not follow the suggestions in this article? The solution to your job dis-satisfaction may be closer to home than you think:

“How many of your employees do you think have made New Year’s Resolutions to find another job?

Perhaps not right now, but if an upturn comes in your market over the course of this year a lot of them might be off. Exit interviews show that over 25% of leavers were moving for career advancement that their former employer could have offered them – if a conversation about career development had taken place sooner.

Do you talk to your employees about their future? Talented people want challenging assignments and good leadership. So successful career planning requires employer and employee to have mature conversations about ambitions, aspirations, potential, opportunities and growth.

So why don’t we discuss these issues? Why is HR so unsuccessful in running internal mobility initiatives? Underpinning this failure of communication is a lack of openness and clarity on both sides.

Employees are reluctant to voice their aspirations and long-term career goals for fear of jeopardising their job security. They don’t want their employer to think they are dissatisfied, disloyal or planning to leave. So they don’t ask for training or secondments that will allow them to develop the competencies they need to build on as part of their long-term career plan. Instead they leave for a role that they hope will allow them to develop these aspirational competencies.

It’s relatively rare for people to leave jobs where they are happy, even if offered higher pay, as most people prefer stability. But CIPD research shows lack of training and developmental opportunities are major reasons for staff turnover. If more organisations could get this bit right they’d improve their staff retention, make significant savings on recruitment costs and improve staff relations too.

Employers fear making the investment in training and developing people who will then leave. In addition, managers don’t necessarily advertise the fact that staff are top performers, as they don’t want to lose their best people to promotion or other departments. This means good staff aren’t enabled to fulfil their potential and may move on prematurely because managers aren’t committed to and engaged in the career planning and development process.

In an organisation that aims to anticipate human capital needs and meet them effectively, management needs to encourage dialogue about career paths, choices and opportunities. This sort of interaction can produce a win/win situation: employees improve their skills and competencies while the organisation benefits from an engaged and empowered workforce, enabled to realise their potential as well as their ambitions.

Ambitious people don’t want to wait for opportunities and often don’t have to – they move on. Good employees are looking for work that interests them and to increase their skills base. They want advancement, challenges and control over their careers. So processes and policies that go even part way to helping staff achieve their aspirations and ambitions will pay dividends. Building a talent pool is more efficient, less disruptive and cheaper than buying talent in!

Initiating such conversations may feel risky. Managers may feel that career decisions are best left to HR and top management. But balancing the interests of employer and employee is a strategic imperative if you want to protect your investment in development efforts. Employees need to willingly share their view of the future with their employers – and if career planning with their current employer can help them grow into what they want to be then that’s all to the good for both parties.

Management need to be educated in dealing with these risky conversations. They need to initiate dialogues with employees to address development needs and concerns. This has to be face-to-face. It may be sensitive, challenging and time-consuming. It requires imagination, courage and commitment on the part of the organisation. But the alternative is even more costly – losing your best people.

Openness in discussing career planning allows an organisation to improve its capability to spot talent, keep people motivated, stretched and challenged, whilst giving them appropriate support and development opportunities. Employees’ choices may not dovetail with organisational interests perfectly, but preserving the investment made in developing staff is a moveable feast. Meeting the needs of the organisation should take account of the preferences of all involved.

We all know that very few New Year’s Resolutions get acted upon – so why not demonstrate to your best employees that there really is no need to start surfing round the job boards? Start talking to them about their careers today.”