Springboards Blog

Last week I had a catch-up meeting with Beatrice, a former coaching client in town for a short visit to corporate headquarters. This rock star, high-performing employee had recently taken over a global office, all on her own, with just two years’ tenure at her firm. She wanted to talk about how the year was going, and how she hoped to continue improving. What a positive scenario – she’d essentially become a director of global operations, taking on a significant leadership role in a very short period of time, and was excited about her professional development and future with her company!

For many companies, the midyear period is a time for employee evaluation and goal-setting, typically resulting in a “from-now-to-year-end” roadmap. Ideally, managers and human resource leaders work together to establish an open-dialog environment in which employees are actively encouraged to share thoughts on their progress, challenges, and goals…and how they see the rest of the year unfolding. Managers, advisers, and HR staff should all come away from these conversations asking--