Career Pathway Frameworks
Knowing what path a person is on for the next six months can help you as a manager determine the type of projects they should work on until the next review cycle. These pathways include: the consistency path, the excellence path, and the leadership path.
If it helps, think of six months as "semesters." What path do you want your employee to be on for the next “semester”?
Consistency path
Description: This person is great at what they do, and wants to stay in that lane for now. They're not looking for special projects, or more leadership opportunities, or more education – they're looking to stay in their lane and produce great work and meet expectations. Their top traits tend to be reliability and high standards.
Example: Most freelancers are on a consistency path. They produce excellent work, use best practices, and have great client relationships. Are they open to new things? Yes. But they're not going to pitch or ask for them. They don’t tend to be super interested in managing people, going to conferences, or reading the latest business books or articles. They're satisfied with the high quality of work they’re currently producing.
Within a Company: Promotions/Raises - Promotions might not come as quickly or raises not quite as high; it's more of a slow burn with smaller bumps. That said, consistent solid work is greatly needed and appreciated. Company Value - Companies often use reliable workers as pinch-hitters – they know they can put these folks on any project and the work will be solid.
Manager Support: As a manager, you’re looking for honesty from the employee that this is their chosen path — which can sometimes be a tough conversation, as this path isn’t always rewarded as much as others. But clarity will save both of you from pushing them to do more. If they’re good with where they're at and want to stay on that track, great. Your role as a manager is to ensure that they're still producing what needs to be done at the proper standard.
Excellence Path
Description: The person desires excellence in their craft. They are open to things like trying new tactics, utilizing updated best practices, gaining additional certifications, going to conferences, and watching webinars. They also have a keen interest in the results of their work because they want to improve. They may be open to teach others, but typically don’t want to manage a team. Their main goal is to become experts of their craft, and be the best at what they do. Their top traits tend to be speed, curiosity, and very high standards.
Example: I knew a principal writer at a tech company who was an example of this. She created the online education survey every year, which got better each time, and received a ton of press coverage. She spoke at conferences, gave interviews, and stayed up to date with trends. She didn't run her own team, but she did lead the monthly writers meeting. Overall, she was the go-to person to represent the site’s excellence.
Within a Company: Promotions/Raises - Promotions and raises are typically slower for this path. Most companies tend to move up managers faster than experts. But increased skills can receive a bump. Company Value - Experts are highly valued in terms of their knowledge and can often find themselves as the go-to person. However, sometimes there’s only one designated content expert at a company – such as the content strategist or the principal writer.
Manager Support: Your role as a manager is to offer the employee support, suggest learning opportunities, and ask questions about what projects they're working on. You’ll likely need to have candid conversations with the employee about what career growth means to them, and whether they’re looking to move up or simply continue to improve their craft.
Leadership Path
Description: The person desires growth and growing people around them. They are keen on suggesting strategies, trying new things, noticing and fixing problems ahead of time, leading people around them, and pitching ideas that haven't been tried before. Their main goal is to move the needle forward, and help others become experts at what they do. As such, they can show interest in managing a team. Their top traits tend to be proactiveness, strategy, relationship-building, and leadership.
Example: I knew an Editor II at a tech company who was on the leadership path. She noticed how terrible the onboarding process was, so she proactively changed the whole system while working with the copyediting and operations teams to get their buy-in. Among other things, she also proactively worked to fix the site map by collaborating with the SEO and engineering teams; taught peers how to use various software tools; and pitched a content strategy in a channel we hadn’t tested before.
Within a Company: Promotions/Raises - Promotions and raises are typically faster for this path. Companies are looking for scope – is this person's leadership not just helping their team but other teams as well? Company Value - They often get first dibs to join new projects or tapped to lead new initiatives.
Manager Support: Your role as a manager is to act as a coach, and push the employee to pitch new strategies, lead initiatives, train others, and be proactive in solving issues. Since a person on a leadership path is often next up for a promotion, it's up to them to give you evidence to advocate for them, and it’s up to you to keep them in the spotlight.