CEB Ignition™ Guide

to Implementing and
Managing Career Paths
CEB Corporate Leadership Council™

This five-step guide includes 15 documents that will help you: Time:1 4–8 Weeks
■■ Drive an internal understanding of the organization’s career Effort: 2
2–4 FTEs
path philosophy, design, and expectations; Input: ■■ Organizational
■■ Adapt relevant HR processes to reflect a new career path business and
philosophy and design; HR strategy
documents
■■ Equip managers and employees to have meaningful and
business-aligned career conversations; and ■■ Updated career
path design
■■ Keep career path design and development aligned with
documents
organizational strategy.

1
Time refers to the total duration for completing the activity end to end.
2
Effort refers to the total number of FTEs required to execute the activity.

© 2016 CEB. All rights reserved. CLC5704916SYN cebglobal.com

Overview
Plan
1. Plan How to Implement and Manage Career Paths CEB Ignition™ Project Manager (.xls)

Build
2. Identify Required Resources, and Prepare for Career Pathing Implementation
2.1 Confirm the career path design, and develop success metrics. CEB Ignition™ Guide to Designing
Career Paths (web)

2.2 Confirm the internal resources needed to implement the career path
design.

2.3 Build and adapt technology-based career pathing tools. HCL Technologies’ Social Career
Navigation System (web)
Experian’s Career Connections
Portal Screenshots (web)
Schindler’s Career Center (web)

2.4 Embed the career path design and expectations within the existing Career Pathing HR Cascade
talent management processes. Checklist (.doc)

2.5 Share the career pathing strategy and expectations with the HR team. Career Pathing HR Implementation
& Reflection Template (.doc)

3. Cascade the Career Path Design and Expectations

3.1 Share career pathing and development expectations with line Career Pathing Manager
managers. Communication Checklist (.doc)

3.2 Share career pathing and development expectations with employees. Career Pathing Employee
Communication Checklist (.doc)

3.3 Use additional internal channels to reinforce career pathing messages. Career Stories Collection Tool (.xls)

4. Provide Ongoing Career Management Support

4.1 Prepare line managers and employees to conduct specific career Career Conversation Guides (web)
conversations.

4.2 Train line managers to identify and preempt career risk triggers. Timing Career Conversations (web)

4.3 Shape ongoing internal talent planning discussions to facilitate Arrium’s “Manager Once Removed”
greater talent sharing. Talent Brokers (web)
Cyber Company’s1 Critical Skills
Portfolio (web)

Monitor
5. Monitor the Effectiveness of Career Pathing Implementation and CEB Ignition™ Project Reviewer
Management (.xls)

1
Pseudonym.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 1 of 5: Plan How to Implement and

Manage Career Paths
Finalize the plan for implementing the career path design, and ensure all stakeholders
are comfortable with related deadlines, logistics, and design.

Project
Objectives
Project Outcomes Problems Addressed
■■ Employees show improved career ■■ Career paths do not align
satisfaction and intent to stay. with the organization’s overall
■■ The organization has a stronger strategy, goals, and related skill
and more flexible leadership bench needs.
and a higher succession plan hit ■■ Employees do not have visibility
rate. into and cannot easily access
■■ Employee development initiatives available career paths and
and processes focus on skill needs. development opportunities.
■■ Line managers and employees
■■ Employees misunderstand their
have higher-quality career organization’s unique career
management and development value proposition and leave the
conversations. organization.
■■ Line leaders and managers are
reluctant and unprepared to
share talent and communicate
available career paths and
opportunities.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Roles and
Responsibilities
CHRO/Head of Human Resources
CEB Ignition™ ■■ Outline project goals and objectives.
Project Manager
(.xls)
■■ Affirm career path design and approve the career pathing implementation
process.
■■ Provide context to HR and line stakeholders regarding organizational
strategy and talent goals.
■■ Advocate for any incremental budget required for career pathing
technology and other support.
■■ Confirm the importance of careers built on experiences with line managers
and employees.
■■ Build the case for improved internal talent mobility, including a stronger
leadership bench and higher succession plan hit rate.
Career Development Center: Expertise Specialist or L&D
Specialist
■■ Create a career pathing implementation process.
■■ Partner with IT and other internal partners to design and create an effective
internal career portal and related career pathing support.
■■ Coach HR Business Partners (HRBPs) on critical areas that will require their
support during the implementation process.
■■ Recalibrate career paths and available development opportunities as
organizational goals shift.
■■ Collect, catalogue, and share career development success stories.
HR Business Partner
■■ Liaise with internal partners to understand the career pathing implementation
process, and be prepared to answer questions.
■■ Coach line managers and employees on managing effective career
conversations.
■■ Embed expectations for talent mobility within existing internal talent
management activities.
■■ Identify and collect career development success stories.
Line Managers
■■ Attend dedicated training sessions regarding the career path design, and
cascade the relevant information to direct reports.
■■ Guide career conversations with direct reports.
■■ Network with other line managers to facilitate greater talent mobility within
and from your business unit.
■■ Share personal career development experiences with direct reports.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Roles and
Responsibilities
Employees
CEB Ignition™ ■■ Attend dedicated training sessions regarding the career pathing design.
Project Manager
(.xls)
■■ Improve awareness of available career paths and development
opportunities.
■■ Advocate for career interests during career conversations with managers.
Recruiting Specialists
Incorporate career path design into staffing and recruiting plans.
Compensation Specialists
Ensure alignment of pay structures and plans with career path design.

Before
You Start ■■ Review your business and HR strategies as context.
■■ Locate the Project Plan template within the CEB Ignition™ Project Manager.
Following this template will help initiative managers remain organized and
on track.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Common
Pitfalls & Keys
to Success
Equating Title Progression Equate Growth with
with Career Progression Career Progression
Employees value title progression Teach employees to prioritize
and structure their career plans growth and diverse experiences and
in the interest of largely vertical to structure their career plans to
progression through organizations include both vertical and horizontal
via promotions. movements that align to their
interests.

Largely One-Way Ensure Two-Way

Career Conversations Career Conversations
Employees do not provide adequate Employees advocate for their own
direction, resulting in manager career interests, and managers
coaching that is inconsistent with identify relevant organizational
employees’ long-term career career opportunities, both within
interests. and beyond the employees’ current
roles, that align to those interests.

Overwhelming Employees Provide Relevant

with Impersonal Career Career Support at
Support Relevant Times
Employees are introduced to Career support and opportunities
all centrally provided career are filtered and then proactively
development support, but the lack pushed out to both passive and
of tailored career guidance prevents active internal candidates.
the right employee-experience
match.

Failure to Normalize Talent Sharing

Share Talent Through Internal Talent
Brokerages
Line managers don’t fully Organizations support talent sharing
participate in talent-sharing by providing line managers access
discussions because they don’t to internal talent profiles, systems
want to lose productive employees to help facilitate internal moves, and
and don’t see positive examples. formal guidelines and governance
standards.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Common
Pitfalls & Keys
to Success
Emphasis on Stable and Shift Career Opportunities
Consistent Career to Align with
Paths Only Organizational Goals
Career paths are kept stable and Career paths and opportunities
consistent over time, but the lack of are consistently reevaluated
flexibility jeopardizes the relevance and recalibrated to ensure they
of career paths as organizational are still appropriately aligned to
goals shift. organizational priorities.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 2 of 5: Identify Required Resources,

and Prepare for Career Pathing
Implementation
Review the resources required to comprehensively implement your career path design,
and make adjustments to central processes to prepare for implementation.

Tasks
2.1 Confirm the career path design, and develop success metrics.
CEB Ignition™ Review the finalized career path design, and ensure it remains aligned with
Guide to organizational goals, employment value proposition, and skill development
Designing Career needs, as well as employee career development interests.
Paths (web)
Advice from CEB

Today’s flatter, more complex work environments have strained typical employee-
owned career paths that require employees to, largely independently, navigate career
opportunities. As organizations evolve their career path designs, they should look
to establish reciprocal career partnerships that better align employee development
interests and organizational skill needs.

Career Partnerships Drive Better Talent Outcomes

Talent Outcomes of Improved Career Pathing

Workforce Capabilities
Employee builds Reduce likelihood
portfolio of skills of internal skills
that aligns with the shortages by
Career Career Satisfaction organization’s current up to 30%.
Partnerships The extent to which and future needs.
an employer meets
an employee’s career
interests compared to Engagement
Increase intent
other employment options Pride, optimism, and
energy drive employee to stay by up to
intent to stay and 33%, and increase
discretionary effort. discretionary effort
by up to 27%.

Source: CEB analysis.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

2.2 Confirm the internal resources needed to implement the career

path design.
Evaluate and finalize the HR personnel, delivery channels, technology, and
overall budget required to successfully implement the career path design.

2.3 Build and adapt technology-based career pathing tools.

HCL Technologies’ Identify the technology solutions—such as an internal careers portal, job board,
Social Career and others—that can facilitate the pushing out and employee-matching of
Navigation System career opportunities.
(web)
Experian’s Career Advice from Peers
Connections
Portal Screenshots “By channeling employee aspirations toward the skill sets we require for future growth,
(web) we have been able to provide the business with niche skills that are expensive and
difficult to find in the external market place.”
Schindler’s Career
Center (web) Lakshminarayanan (LN) Vaidyanathan, Head Career and Talent CoE
HCL Technologies Limited

2.4 Embed the career path design and expectations within the
Career Pathing HR existing talent management processes.
Cascade Checklist Ensure all talent management processes that intersect with career pathing and
(.doc) development (e.g., objectives, performance appraisals, talent reviews) reflect
the career path design and expectations.

2.5 Share the career pathing strategy and expectations with the HR
Career Pathing HR team.
Implementation Introduce HR staff (e.g., HRBPs, HR specialists) to the career pathing
& Reflection implementation details, expectations, and strategy, and provide the team with
Template (.doc) opportunities to reflect on potential implementation scenarios and challenges.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Related
Resources ■■ Benchmarking Tool: HR Structure and Spend: Benchmarking Report and
Decision Support
■■ Benchmarking Tool: HR Budget and Efficiency
■■ Case Study: Raise Your Hand Process (UnitedHealth Group)

How to Set Up
for Success
Success Criteria Red Flags

■■ Clear stakeholder understanding ■■ The career pathing design overly

of business and HR strategies, as relies on promotions, not growth-
well as career path philosophy based experiences.
and design ■■ Success measures and/or
■■ A clear career path objectives for the career pathing
implementation and implementation process are
communication plan, including unclear or varied.
success measures ■■ Few to no changes are made to
■■ Buy-in from the HR team about relevant ongoing HR processes,
the career path implementation programs, and technology based
strategy and plan on career pathing design changes.
■■ Adapted HR processes and ■■ The HR team is confused
internal platforms to support about or disagrees with the
career path design and updates implementation plan and process.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 3 of 5: Cascade Career Path Design

and Expectations
Share specific career pathing expectations and context with each stakeholder group,
and use additional internal channels to reinforce these messages.

Tasks
3.1 Share career pathing and development expectations with line
Career Pathing managers.
Manager HR leadership and HRBPs use group and individual sessions with line managers
Communication to share relevant career pathing details and line manager expectations, to
Checklist (.doc) answer questions, and to affirm the organization’s commitment to career
development.

Advice from CEB

Often employee resistance to growth experiences (as opposed to promotions)

stems from employees’ difficulty seeing the personal benefit. As a result, managers
play an important role in shifting and reorienting employee interests to the idea of
employability—or an employee’s capabilities, experiences, personal attributes, and
more—that makes him or her more valuable internally and externally, which actually
affects career satisfaction more than title progression does.

3.2 Share career pathing and development expectations with

Career Pathing employees.
Employee HR leadership, HRBPs, and line managers use group and individual sessions
Communication with employees to share career management expectations, answer questions,
Checklist (.doc) and affirm the organization’s commitment to career growth through
experiences.

Advice from Peers

“The reality is that we can’t support a promotion-based culture. We want employees to

start thinking about their career in terms of growth instead of narrowly focusing on how
to get the next promotion.”
SVP of HR, Pharmaceutical Organization

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

3.3 Use additional internal channels to reinforce career pathing

Career Stories messages.
Collection Tool Leverage strategies that are both top down (e.g., town halls, training sessions,
(.xls) careers portal) and bottom up (e.g., employee success stories, testimonials) to
reinforce general awareness of career opportunities and strategy.

Advice from CEB

Prioritize diverse internal career pathing messages that reinforce the organization’s
career path design, philosophy, and goals—and, in particular, messages that correct any
areas of disconnect between employee career perceptions and career realities, including
perceptions of limited career path autonomy or that careers will be made up mostly of
upward moves.

How to Set Up
for Success
Success Criteria Red Flags

■■ Clear understanding and buy-in ■■ Communication between HR,

from managers and employees managers, and employees about
about the personal value of the career path philosophy and
career path design and their design is limited.
participation expectations ■■ Employee adoption of the new
■■ Active participation from career path philosophy and values
managers and employees to is low.
catalogue and share valuable ■■ Managers and employees are
career experiences skeptical about the career path
■■ Widespread understanding of design and the extent to which it
the diversity of available career will be enacted and supported.
opportunities and relevant ■■ Participation from managers
internal support and employees during the
■■ Ongoing communication between implementation process is limited.
HR (often via HRBPs), managers,
and employees about the career
path implementation process

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 4 of 5: Provide Ongoing Career

Management Support
Help line managers and employees navigate career scenarios, and ensure ongoing talent
processes are facilitating career growth.

Tasks
4.1 Prepare line managers and employees to conduct specific career
Career conversations.
Conversation Strengthen career partnerships by educating line managers and employees
Guides (web) about how to conduct specific career conversations.

4.2 Train line managers to identify and preempt career risk triggers.
Timing Career Prepare managers to proactively identify and intervene with their employees in
Conversations advance of specific career risk triggers.
(web)
Advice from CEB

Career conversations usually focus on HR processes like performance reviews and

development planning. However, this timing often misses high, externally driven career
risk triggers, such as an employee’s birthday or a major social gathering, that actually
affect job search activity more.

Proactively Look to Identify Career Risk Triggers

Career risk triggers are work or life events that prompt employees to reflect on and reconsider their careers. These
moments are characterized by decreased career satisfaction and increased job search activity.

Career Satisfaction
Level
Percentage Actively
Seeking Jobs

Career Risk Trigger

Source: CEB analysis.

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

4.3 Shape ongoing internal talent planning discussions to facilitate

Arrium’s “Manager greater talent sharing.
Once Removed” Ensure line leaders and managers are using existing internal talent planning
Talent Brokers discussions (e.g., calibration sessions, talent reviews) to improve visibility into
(web) and sharing of available talent.
Cyber Company’s
Critical Skills Advice from Peers
Portfolio (web)
“Giving managers responsibility to identify and measure the risk to their [business units’]
skills portfolio was an “aha” moment. Removing HR from the equation increases the trust
between managers, and giving them control over critical skills, not people, makes them
work together to find the talent they need.”
HR Director, Cyber Company1

Related
Resources ■■ Case Study: Career Conversation Guidance (MITRE)
■■ Case Study: Everyday Performance Management (Cargill)
■■ Resource Portals: For Managers and Employees

How to Set Up
for Success
Success Criteria Red Flags

■■ Open, honest, and two-way career ■■ Employees hesitate to voice

conversations between managers evolving career interests.
and employees ■■ The timings of career
■■ Ongoing education and coaching conversations are not aligned to
for managers and employees likely career risk triggers.
about conducting specific types ■■ Managers have little to no interest
of career conversations in sharing talent
■■ Adapted employee development ■■ Discussions of available talent
plans that embed development are limited during talent reviews,
priorities based on longer-term calibration, and other HR
career interests processes related to facilitating
■■ A greater degree of internal talent mobility.
mobility and internal job
placements
■■ Alignment between potential
career risk triggers and targeted
career conversations

1
Pseudonym.
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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 5 of 5: Monitor the Effectiveness

of Career Pathing Implementation and
Management
Monitor the performance of the implementation process using predefined objectives
(e.g., career satisfaction, bench strength), and continuously adapt the process based on
internal feedback and organizational goals.

Review Your
Performance ■■ Track implementation effectiveness through participant feedback.
CEB Ignition™ ■■ Track progress against objectives using preestablished metrics.
Project Reviewer
(.xls)
■■ Gather feedback from line managers and employees on the career pathing
implementation process.
■■ Evaluate the effectiveness of the career pathing implementation plan.

Keys to
Continued
Success
Maintain Alignment with Organizational Strategy
Refine available career paths and growth-based experiences based on
organizational goals and needs.
Ensure internal talent management processes and activities are reinforcing
the organization’s career pathing values and goals, such as employee growth
and diversity of experiences.

Improve Awareness of Career Path Design and

Opportunities
Expand employee career testimonials, success stories, and other internal
communications to improve internal awareness of and interest in growth-
based career experiences.
Refresh career resources to ensure all internal support accurately reflects
available career paths and opportunities.

Related
Resources ■■ Research Study: The New Path Forward: Create Compelling Careers for
Employees and Organizations
■■ Infographic: The New Path Forward

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