Even though no one commented, I thought I would give some feedback. My meeting went pretty well. Thanks in most part to guidance my boss gave me before the meeting. We do use a standardized form (since I work for a big company) but I thought it was really helpful.
Key points: Be honest. Be prepared including researching company policies, talking with others, your mentor etc.. Treat it as an interview (Situation-Result-Behaviors). The goal should be to align your perception of strengths/weaknesses with the company’s perception.
1. Describe your goal for the next 2-4 years (typically the next rung in the ladder).
2. Describe your goals for 4+ years. It’s totally fine if you’re not sure where you want to be 20 years from now. Most people you are going to have this meeting with will understand that. The key is to show good logic and demonstrate you have thought about it. .
Typically, there are two paths. One is for a specialist. One is management. For example, you are a junior applications engineer with 3 years of experience. Your 4+ goals could be you want to be the most senior engineer – perhaps a project manager or work across multiple regions or divisions. You want to advance but you don’t want to manage people. The second path is the traditional functional manager. You want to manage people. Perhaps you want to be senior VP of the division or function (Sales, marketing etc.).
3. Strengths (vs 2-4 year goal) – describe your strengths in relation to the role you want in the next 2-4 years. Make sure they traits (Leadership, Coaching etc.). Use the interviewing method of describing a situation with examples from your job in the situation-result-behavior method.
4. Weaknesses (vs 2-4 year goal) – describe the gaps that you would need to attain your goal in the next 2-4 years. For example, if you would like to be a first time manager, then you would need to develop interviewing skills, a familiarity with HR policies including compensation policies and interviewing.
5. The mobility question. Be ready to address it. Know what your company’s sentiment on this are. Most companies “Strongly prefer”, you to take an assignment in a different region, country or division. Check what the typical duration of assignment is. Then review your family situation. Ensure you talk about it with your spouse. Consider the health of your family (including your parents). Whatever you decide make sure you are crystal clear with the management team. Be ready to accept the consequences. For example, our company typically has minimum 3 year terms on assignment. I told them I would do a 6 month assignment but would reassess the mobility question annually. I told them I understand that it means I may have to wait longer for my opportunity and I’m fine with that. The management team was very accepting of my response to this question.
5. Development opportunities – based on the agreement you attain in points 1-4 you should get feedback from management. This would include them suggesting “We have a development program x” or “You should sign up for training Y”. Sometimes you could even get a whiff of a future project. “You know Bob is leaving so you may be a good fit to take over project ZZZ”. Make sure you have some of your own opportunities prepared in case management is quiet.
6. Action Plan – set up next steps. Typically this could be “Investigate feasibility of project takeover ZZZ” or register for trainings X, Y, Z.
7. Documentation – For goodness sake, document the crap out of this process! Publish notes!
