Career Check-in Framework

Quick links: Example of a completed check-in | Career check-in template

What is this?

The Career Check-in Framework is a process guide and template for running regular career conversations. This guide was written from the perspective of an engineering manager running this program with their direct reports, but ICs could also be the ones introducing this to their managers. This is a generic framework and can be adapted to other other disciplines, or changing company needs.

Goals

The check-in template aims to align manager and report expectations, both around a report's growth within the company, and long-term career goals. The framework is designed to provide a way for people to get clear feedback about where they stand, preventing surprises during yearly review cycles. The framework encourages building out both a concrete list of things people can do to grow, as well as a record of contributions and improvements to review during promo cycles. Finally, we want to encourage an openness to discussing career and life growth outside of Autodesk. It's an unspoken truth that most people won't spend their career at Autodesk. By bringing longer-term career goals to the open we can both help the reports grow in the areas they care about, and also have an understanding of when a report should seek growth opportunities outside of Autodesk.

There are also some clear anti-goals to highlight. The aim of the check-in framework isn't to encourage people to game the ladder, create more work for managers, or encourage ICs to focus on things that don't help the company.

Overview

The check-in document divides the conversation into 4 sections:

Goals - What skills/projects the report wants to be working on over an increasing length of time.
Reality - Where are they today? Do they have skills we can leverage, are we holding them back?
Planning - What are some mid-term projects they can complete, and how can we break them down into small, measurable tasks?
What have you done so far? - A history log of what your report has worked on, to date.

Why should I try this out?

Value for the Manager

This gives you insight to each reports' trajectory and plans.
By understanding the reports' plans, managers can keep their reports happy (meaning less attrition).
If reports want to try other platforms or learn drastically new skills, it can be tracked within the career check-in doc and broken down in to "bite-sized" pieces.
This satisfies the report's desire to progress on the goal, while allowing the manager to balance the exploration with regular feature work.

Value for the Report

This framework calls for a dedicated block of time for managers and reports to have a focused discussion around career goals.
This regular meeting is an opportunity to receive career advice and direction.
It's a chance to speak openly about what they want, and where they want to be in the future, with the knowledge that their manager isn't there to judge, but to assist.

Getting started

General Guidance

There are no "wrong" answers.
The suggested check-in interval is 6-8 weeks.
It is not on the manager to do preparation work ahead of time.
It is on the direct report to drive the conversation
It is on the manager to ask probing questions to get to the heart of career goals a report might have.
It is on the manager to provide meaningful guidance to the direct report.
Probe about career decisions to discern their real goal. e.g. "I want to be a CTO" from an IC doesn't highlight any understanding on what that role would entail, or why they're aiming there.
Be realistic with the report. e.g. a 1 year goal of becoming an Architect might not be reasonable for a mid-level report.
Within the 6-week tasks section, it is advised to create tasks with the report as an assignee, and include a due date. Then, during regular 1:1s, look at their Confluence task and ask for updates on the items that are approaching their due date. This is a powerful way of reinforcing their goals, and if they truly want to make time for them.

Before your first career conversation

Talk to your report about this program, highlighting the benefits to them.
Take a look through the check-in-template to familiarise yourself with the layout and suggested responses.
Create a check-in document using the check-in-example. Be sure to make it private so that only you and the report can see it.
In a regular 1:1 share the new check-in document with them. Be sure to run through each section with them at a high level to check their understanding.
Get your direct report to fill out the "Goals" and "Reality" sections before your first official career check-in.

During the first check-in

1. Get your direct report to read over, and expand on, the "Goals" and "Reality" section together

Are the goals reasonable?
Is the self assessment (reality) accurate?
Are there blind spots you can fill in?
Do the goals and areas of focus aligned with the team's needs?
If not, are there other areas of focus that align with both the individual and the team goals?

2. Fill in the "Planning" section together

Starting with the 6 month section, think about their higher-level career goals and help rough out some projects they can work on.
- e.g. Own the technical documentation for an upcoming project
From their 6 month goals, help break down some of these projects into some tasks that can be completed before your next check-in
- e.g.
  - @Direct Report Have a draft technical spec ready for technical review by 29 Oct 2020
- These tasks should be SMART
  - Specific - Is this a specific task, or should it be broken down?
  - Measurable - Can this task be evaluated as "done"? "Write better specs" is not measurable. "Have 50% commitment on my draft technical spec" is.
  - Achievable - The tasks should be challenging, but achievable with the resources and skills they have.
  - Relevant - Is this task something that will help the report with their goals, and will it helping the team and company in some way?
  - Time-bound - Set a deadline.
- Help the report identify opportunities.

3. Encourage the report to keep their "What have you done so far?" section up to date. Adding thorough summaries here help you both out in a in a number of ways

More context means it'll be easier to support your case during a review cycle
More context and evidence means there's supporting documentation if you're to be put forward for a promotion
Clear context here is free content for their resume when applying for a new job.

4. Schedule the next follow up! These should happen once every 6 weeks (or at least once per quarter)

Between career check-ins

Get the IC to keep notes under "What have you done so far?"
Keep a tight feedback loop, you don't have to wait until the next career conversation to touch on these topics.
As a suggestion, before starting your 1:1s, review their career check-in tasks.
If there's time in the meeting, ask about the status of whichever career task that is due next. This is a powerful way of reinforcing their goals or identifying if they are still passionate about the work.
Note: If the tasks a created within Confluence you can easily create a table to view everyone's career tasks, which makes the above much easier.

At each future session

Check in on the "Goals" and "Reality" sections, has anything changed?
Check in on the "Planning", is this still the right approach?
Check in on the "What have you done so far?", are the notes sufficient?
Schedule the next conversation!