This is an annotated slide deck from my presentation at the International Mentoring Association (IMA) Conference in Phoenix, Arizona on 23 April 2015. I have annotated the slides because I deliberately don’t include much text in my slides when I present. But that isn’t much help to you when you just have the slides to read without me talking through them.

1. Career Conversation Toolkit
Helping Mentees Take Ownership for Their
Career Development
Presentation to IMA Conference
Phoenix, Arizona
April 2015

2. Our Destination
• By the end of this session, you will be
able to help mentees take ownership of
their career development and prepare
for career conversations with their
manager

3. Why career conversations
are important
What makes a career
conversation effective
Career Conversation
Toolkit: Overview

4. WHY CAREER CONVERSATIONS
ARE IMPORTANT
V

5. You can’t develop others’ careers
They have to develop their own

6. Career paths are no longer
predictable

7. Employees need to take
responsibility for developing their
own careers

8. Employees need support
• Where are they at?
• What’s important to them in their career?
• What does success look like for them?
• What skills and qualities do they have?
• What opportunities are available?
• How do they navigate the processes and politics
of the organisation?
• How do they identify and evaluate different
options and opportunities?
• What career development strategies can they
use to make progress?

9. WHAT MAKES A CAREER
CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE
V

10. Effective Career Conversations Lead
To Positive Insights and Actions
0 20 40 60 80 100
Secondment
Retention
Contacts
Career skills
Development
Political
On-going…
Job move
Feel-good
Information
Self-insight
Future direction
%
Source: Straight Talking: Effective Career Discussions at Work by Wendy Hirsh, Charles Jackson, Jenny Kidd.

11. 37% Never
30% Once
17% Twice
15% More
But employees aren’t given the
opportunity to discuss careers

12. The best career conversations
Often take place informally
Sometimes unplanned
Don’t have to take a long time

13. And are focussed on the needs
of the individual

14. Which means mentors are the most
helpful resource they can access

15. CAREER CONVERSATION
TOOLKIT

16. The power of a career conversation
is in the question

17. The Career Conversation Toolkit
does the heavy lifting for you

18. The Career Conversation Tools are:
Practical
Flexible
Enable an effective
career conversation
in 15 mins or less

19. Use the tools to change the viewing
Help employees see things differently

20. So that they change the doing
Help employees behave differently and take
ownership of their careers

21. Where they’ve
come from
Where they’re
heading
Where
they are
The tools help employees
reflect on and consider:

22. 3 different levels
• Focus on one question or one
tool
• Blend 2-3 different tools
• Apply all 10 tools

23. Try it out for yourselves!
www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com/career-conversation-toolkit

24. What questions do you want
answered?

25. Find out more
www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com/career-conversation-toolkit

26. Get in touch
Website: www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com
Email: antoinette@antoinetteoglethorpe.com
Telephone: 0191 286 4311 or 07957 604783
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/antoinetteoglethorpe
Twitter: www.twitter.com/antoinetteog