Do managers really care about employees’ long term goals?

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard a lot from my management team about the importance of employee career goals, but I don’t buy it. They tell us to tell them what we want, but I’ve already had two possibilities waved off and I’m still in the same role they hired me into six years ago because they supposedly “need me” there. Is it all BS, or do they only support the goals of favorites?

[Anonymous]

I have a team of about 100 and have led many various sized teams. I care about ensuring people are career pathed in a coherent way, but I dont feel I owe someone a promotion for anything other than excellent performance. I think you need to parse out from your leaders if they think your performance is excellent, and if so how do you get to the next stage? Or are there things you could be working on. Also six years is a long time. Every promotion I've ever got has been bc I changed jobs.

[Anonymous]

Time to look for another job.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the public sector and yes. My goal with every single one of my employees is for them to move on to bigger things and to become experts.

Probably unique to public sector though, these employees don't want to move up, nor take on more work for more pay, nor supervise. My employees make almost the same as me, but I have a lot more stress as a supervisor.

[Anonymous]

I care about my team members goals, in that I don’t want to hold on to unhappy employees - they whine and complain to everyone and in general, it can become a morale and work quality problem. That said, I in no way take responsibility for someone’s career trajectory. I will happily be a reference when they’re ready for their next position, or will discuss strategy for finding a new job, etc but I’m not necessarily trying to create a job that doesn’t exist because they decided that’s what they want to do next. I have generally found that many employees lack self-awareness and want jobs even though they don’t align with their actual skills. And when I point that out to them they get defensive. So, there’s that.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I care about my team members goals, in that I don’t want to hold on to unhappy employees - they whine and complain to everyone and in general, it can become a morale and work quality problem. That said, I in no way take responsibility for someone’s career trajectory. I will happily be a reference when they’re ready for their next position, or will discuss strategy for finding a new job, etc but I’m not necessarily trying to create a job that doesn’t exist because they decided that’s what they want to do next. I have generally found that many employees lack self-awareness and want jobs even though they don’t align with their actual skills. And when I point that out to them they get defensive. So, there’s that.

Terrible manager. OP, there are leaders with the “skills” to mentor and provided leadership. The above poster is what you call someone who knows how the work is done but unable to successfully mentor and lead their employees to become successful.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the manager and the company. Most just pay lip services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I care about my team members goals, in that I don’t want to hold on to unhappy employees - they whine and complain to everyone and in general, it can become a morale and work quality problem. That said, I in no way take responsibility for someone’s career trajectory. I will happily be a reference when they’re ready for their next position, or will discuss strategy for finding a new job, etc but I’m not necessarily trying to create a job that doesn’t exist because they decided that’s what they want to do next. I have generally found that many employees lack self-awareness and want jobs even though they don’t align with their actual skills. And when I point that out to them they get defensive. So, there’s that.

Terrible manager. OP, there are leaders with the “skills” to mentor and provided leadership. The above poster is what you call someone who knows how the work is done but unable to successfully mentor and lead their employees to become successful.

Not who you originally quoted but I agree with what that person said. You have to be realistic about what your current bosses can provide at the current company. If there’s no chance to move up or perform projects that an employee wants to work on due to business needs, sometimes it’s best for them to find a new role while the current company finds another employee who sees the original role as their goal.

I will always be more happy that my coworkers found new roles suiting their career goals than I will be upset to cover their work temporarily while hiring someone new.

[Anonymous]

110 percent care deeply. But 99 percent of employees won’t tell you their long term goals. Sure in a review might say want a promotion or raise but that is not a long term goal.

And some won’t tell you as have no long term goal. And if they do some are useless.

For example, been bugging this 38 year old woman on goals. Finally after three years she said her goal is in 3-5 years move back to her home country and retire. She is only here her husband’s work as he is in rotation in USA from our county. Fine with me.

My goal is to milk it till retirement.

My one staff goal is to milk it till he gets canned, take a few months off then find someone else to hire him. Found out every 2-3 years gets fired then milks unemployment 6 months, Thats his goal, dude is a 40 year old happy single guy

[Anonymous]

This is why I am so glad AI exists so it can write my goals my boss never reads anyway.

[Anonymous]

I manage ten people and genuinely care for one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:110 percent care deeply. But 99 percent of employees won’t tell you their long term goals. Sure in a review might say want a promotion or raise but that is not a long term goal.

And some won’t tell you as have no long term goal. And if they do some are useless.

For example, been bugging this 38 year old woman on goals. Finally after three years she said her goal is in 3-5 years move back to her home country and retire. She is only here her husband’s work as he is in rotation in USA from our county. Fine with me.

My goal is to milk it till retirement.

My one staff goal is to milk it till he gets canned, take a few months off then find someone else to hire him. Found out every 2-3 years gets fired then milks unemployment 6 months, Thats his goal, dude is a 40 year old happy single guy

How do you suggest people respond when their career goals mean they would have to leave your organization? E.g. that job title is not available at your org or you dont serve the kind of client they want.

As a worker this feels scary to share because maybe you’ll be out of the runnibg for a promotion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I care about my team members goals, in that I don’t want to hold on to unhappy employees - they whine and complain to everyone and in general, it can become a morale and work quality problem. That said, I in no way take responsibility for someone’s career trajectory. I will happily be a reference when they’re ready for their next position, or will discuss strategy for finding a new job, etc but I’m not necessarily trying to create a job that doesn’t exist because they decided that’s what they want to do next. I have generally found that many employees lack self-awareness and want jobs even though they don’t align with their actual skills. And when I point that out to them they get defensive. So, there’s that.

Terrible manager. OP, there are leaders with the “skills” to mentor and provided leadership. The above poster is what you call someone who knows how the work is done but unable to successfully mentor and lead their employees to become successful.

I'm the PP you're responding to. My job as a supervisor is to hire people who have room to grow into the job they were hired to do and to help them develop the skills to do their current job well. If an employee comes to me saying they want to build skills to be ready for x,y, or z position, I'll look for opportunities for them to develop the skills necessary for those roles in the work my team already does. I'm happy to shift work that's within my team's purview to someone seeking to build a particular skill. I'm not going to create unnecessary work for them to develop skills. Improving their skills in their current role is what opens the door to further opportunities. It's on the employee to find the next career opportunity when they're ready to move on.

As a supervisor, I'm fully supportive of an employee that's ready for their next opportunity - I'm not going to sabotage a great employee that has mastered their current role and is ready for a new challenge. Like I said, I'm happy to have open and honest conversations about their desire to move on, and to support them as they strategize about their next career steps. But it's definitely not my responsibility to create the employee's next opportunity.

The only scenario where that's going to happen is if there's a real organizational need for the opportunity and the employee is a good fit for the role in terms of having the right skills, and the position is a growth opportunity in the direction the employee wants to take their career. But do you know how rare and unlikely that scenario is? And how rare and unlikely it's going to happen multiple times so that direct reports can have a reasonable expectation that they too will get a similar opportunity? The reality is that most organizations are pyramids, with fewer opportunities to continually move up in the organization.

And if it feels like only favorites get the opportunities to advance on the rare occasion they do come up, you have to believe that I'm not going to recommend a direct report that doesn't have the skills or isn't ready for the position. Recommending someone for a position relies on my political capital. I'm never going to recommend someone that may reflect badly on me. So in that sense, yes, that type of sponsorship is going to go to the people who may be perceived of as my favorites. But they're likely getting what is perceived as preferential treatment because they do their job well consistently and haven't let me down. They may let you down from time-to-time as a peer, so you may see warts that I don't. But if they consistently give me what I need to do my job and look good for the people I report to, I know they will do the same in their new role as well.

So to you and the OP, you can't assume that your managers will hand you a career on a platter. You should have career goals. If, OP, you've identified roles you want to move into, don't wait for your boss to hand you the role. Don't abdicate your agency. Proactively go out and apply for the positions, both internally and externally because you and you alone are responsible for your career trajectory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Time to look for another job.

+1. 6 years is too long to stay in one place if you are ambitious.