Workers commonly judge their professional selves by their job title, salary, or position on the organization’s hierarchy. Unfortunately, only so many people can receive promotions. Thus, managers cannot reward everyone on the team with success. How should they manage and develop careers then when not everyone is immediately moving towards high placement? Winkle Giulioni suggests a paradigm shift in management thinking towards alternative dimensions of career development, something she calls the “seven C’s.”
Contribution, competence, connection, confidence, challenge, contentment, and choice are all dimensions of career that managers can develop in everyone. These qualities share a common characteristic of being worker-driven instead of governed “from above.” That makes all work done at all levels inherently valuable. These traits are not mere add-ons to work but central, defining features of what constitutes a successful career.
Winkle Giulioni acknowledges that each employee might hold different aspects of the seven C’s to be more important personally. She suggests that managers seek to develop those individually identified traits with each direct report. The focus on the individual will make the work more subjectively gratifying to the employee while often bringing better results to the company. (At least, that’s how she presents the theory.)
At around 150 pages, this book is a short and quick read. I wish it were filled out more, however, with data that tests the hypotheses. How does this new paradigm improve a company’s impact or bottom line? Does it aid employee retention and satisfaction, which also form important gauges? Winkle Giulioni provides no supporting empirical proof for her contentions, no case studies or numbers to go along with her suggestions. That would transform her book filled with steady sage advice into an irresistable home run.
This book is geared to managers who are in charge of employees, not towards the employees themselves. It suggests ways to cultivate these traits in other people, not yourself. That places it in the genre of management and career development, not self-help. The writing is engaging and inspiring, but the material is fairly one-dimensional and in need of grounding in research.
Promotions Are So Yesterday: Redefine Career Development. Help Employees Thrive.
By Julie Winkle Giulioni
Copyright (c) 2022
ATD Press
ISBN13 9781952157738
Page Count: 151
Genre: Business/Management, Career Development
www.amazon.com