Help The Grow or Watch The Go by Beverly Kaye & Julie Winkle Giulioni - Book review

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

Career Conversations Employees Want

By: Beverly Kaye, Julie Winkle Giulioni

Published: September 17, 2012
Format: Paperback, 144 pages
ISBN-10: 1609946324
ISBN-13: 978-1609946326
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers







"Developing employees. Helping them grow. It's like eating properly or exercising. You know it's good. You know you should. Yet, if you're like many managers today, you just don't do it as well or as frequently as you would like", write founder and CEO of Career Systems International, Beverly Kaye; and co-founder and principal of DesignArounds, Julie Winkle Giulioni, in their concise and very hands on book Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want. The authors describe how despite the clear evidence for beneficial results for employees, managers and their organizations, clear development is often overlooked as an engagement tool, and they share their proven and practical techniques for establishing a culture of employee career development that really works.



Beverly Kaye (photo left) and Julie Winkle Giulioni recognize that organizations and managers are stretched very thinly in terms of resources, and that very often it is employee career development that becomes a casualty of a belt tightening event. The authors demonstrate that within today's changing business environment, career development is more important to the organization than ever before.

Since the authors point out that for many firms, talent is what separates them from their competition, career development provides a real and tangible bottom line benefit. Unfortunately, many companies make career development a low priority, or so complicated and bureaucratic, that busy managers either ignore the process or are opposed to its implementation.



Julie Winkle Giulioni (photo left) and Beverly Kaye understand that incorporating employee development into the company strategy and culture presents a real challenge for business leaders. It is a challenge, however, that managers at all levels must take seriously or risk losing employee engagement, and even their most talented people to their competitors. The problem for many managers, when they do consider career development, is that they are not given the tools, skills, or resources to properly guide and engage their staff members in the process.

The authors share three important types of conversation that managers can have with their employees to better understand employee career goals. They also provide advice for managers to offer feedback to the staff member about how to strengthen their position and skill level within the company. The three types of conversation are as follows:

* Hindsight conversations to determine where the employee has been and is now
* Foresight conversations to help the employee look forward to recognize change
* Insight conversations to help the employee grow and perform in the future

For me, the power of the book is how Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni combine a powerful overview of the reasons why employee development is so important, with the practical techniques and conversations to make employee career development a reality. The authors develop a strong case for organizational employee development while addressing the most common myths and misconceptions that surround the concept. The book makes very clear that without establishing a clear conversation with employees, and engaging them in a developmental role, the company will very likely lose its most promising and high performing talent to other employers.

The authors recognize the crucial importance of conversations with employees, and really listening to them, to understand their goals and aspirations for their careers. At the same time, valuable advice is offered to managers for offering vital feedback to staff members, and for sharing honest outlooks for those employees, in a time of transformation in the workplace structure. The authors provide the critical questions that managers should ask their employees, and offer the exercises and practices that will build employee engagement and create a culture or employee career development.

I highly recommend the very insightful and comprehensive book Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want by Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni, to any managers and leaders, regardless of their level within an organization, who are serious about developing their valued employees, retaining their services, building engagement, and establishing a learning and people growing culture. This book will transform how you think about employee career development, overcome any obstacles to its successful implementation, and into an avowed advocate of the process throughout the entire company.