career development pt. 1: Everyone wants career development but what does that even mean?

Put yourself into this scenario as the manager: “We want career development opportunities!” Your employees are advocating for themselves in your Tuesday team meeting. You give each team member a piece of paper and a pen and ask them to write down what they mean by “career development opportunities.” You tell them to, on the count of three, hold up their paper with their definitions. To everyone’s surprise… they’re all different. One reads “being promoted more often” while another reads “ability to shadow people in other roles.” One simply says, “learning new things.” While in the same realm, to each of your team members, career development is different. That’s because career development is individualized. It’s specific to one’s goals, experiences, strengths, weaknesses, and more. To fully grasp the concept of career development, I think it’s important to define the terms flying around along with it.

Career Development. Career Growth. Promotion. You hear these terms all the time, but what do they mean? Often, these terms are used interchangeably when, in reality, they are all separate concepts that complement each other.

Career development is short-term. It is the opportunities that one takes that build their skills, abilities, and credentials over time. Career development allows an individual to explore new things that interest them and decide what fits their goals and abilities and what doesn’t.

Career growth is long-term. It is eventual career movement as a result of career development and is aligned to an individual’s skills, abilities, credentials, goals, strengths, and weaknesses.

Promotion is when someone’s rank in their role or business is heightened.

What it boils down to is: Career development leads to career growth (which could include promotion but not necessarily.) Career growth is cemented in a solid foundation of career development.

When someone focuses solely on getting promoted, they’re focusing on checking boxes for the next level up. “I can do A, B, C and D so I should be promoted.” Ultimately, they check the boxes, they move into the next level, they get some more money deposited into their bank account every other Friday, and they get to toot their own horn by updating their LinkedIn title. Friends and colleagues click the “thumbs up” and “clapping” emojis. Then the shine wears off and they feel lost again. That’s because the growth they focused on was checking the boxes of a job description instead of checking the boxes of their own goals.

When someone focuses on career development, they’re choosing opportunities for learning that align with what they’re interested in, what they’re good at, or what they want to improve at. Over time and many career development experiences, the individual has a clearer idea of where they want to be going in their career. “It’s a journey, not a destination.” I’m sure you’ve heard this saying. If you focus solely on the destination (promotion), you will miss out on everything you will learn from the journey. If you focus on career development, your journey will prepare you for the career growth that is right for you. Maybe this career growth includes a promotion or two! But that promotion then is aligned with what makes sense for your career.

In Career Development Part 2, I discuss how you’re the driver in your own career development journey, and start to talk about how to navigate that responsibility.