By this point in the process, you have an understanding of your employee's strengths, challenges, interests, and level of enthusiasm for professional development. The focus now is to empower your employee to explore and identify opportunities that support their goals.
Guide them by using prompts, suggesting activities, and offering opportunities. Your goals are to name the action steps your employee has already identified, cast a wider net to capture more options, and offer opportunities to fill any gaps.
Conversation prompts
Open-ended questions are a great way to keep the conversation going. Here are some suggestions:
- What are you thinking of doing to help you reach your goals?
- What types of experiences are most engaging to you?
- What resources/opportunities have you already explored?
- What resources have you found to help you meet your developmental goals?
- Thinking creatively, how can you reach your developmental goals?
- Are you aware of professional organizations/partner organizations in the realm of your goals? If not, how might you find out? If so, do they offer opportunities that appeal to you?
- Are you aware of any resources on campus?
- Are there any books or articles that could help you achieve your goals?
- Would any online resources (TED talks, YouTube, Lynda.com, etc.) be applicable?
- What areas within ASR would you like to learn more about?
- Is there someone you could see as your mentor?
- Is there someone you would like to job shadow?
Activity ideas
Your employee may already have a strong professional network, but you can help them tap into yours, too. Consider pursuing any of the following activities to help your employee find out more about development opportunities:
- Job shadowing
- Informational interviews
- Identify related professional organization(s)
- Cross-training
- Stretch assignments
- Succession planning
- Workshops
- Trainings
- Research
U of M opportunities
In some circumstances, you may want point your employee towards specific, known resources such as those available within the University. These can be for personal or professional growth.
Departments that offer a number of trainings, workshops, classes, and activities are highlighted below. Their offerings are continually evolving so check in on them from time to time.