Managing with beers & Careers

Caring Personally

The best career advice that I’ve ever received was to be less good at my job and to be better about my career. It hadn’t occurred to me to take time out of my busy schedule to make sure that I actually told people what I was doing and the value I was adding. I assumed, like many of us do, that if I nailed my job, exceeding all expectations, that I would be rewarded. The problem with this thinking is that if no one knows, they can’t reward you for it.

It took being passed over for a promotion while other, less experienced, peers were getting the nod to shock me into action. Ever since that day, I have been proactive about managing and building my career. And now, I have the great pleasure of managing a team and having the opportunity to help others to do the same.

My idea for ‘Beers & Careers’ coaching conversations was inspired primarily by the book Radical Candor by Kim Scott. The TL;DR is that the combination of Caring Personally and Challenging Directly drives results and grows teams (read the book!).

So, what are ‘Beers & Careers’ conversations? In order to Care Personally managers need to get to know their teams, well, personally. Annual or semi-annual performance reviews are not enough. We should all be building, and discussing, our careers every day.

‘Beers & Careers’ conversations should be held between direct reports and managers at least quarterly (if not more often). I find it better to be away from the office where it is easier to avoid distractions and speak personally about dreams, concerns, and growth opportunities. Beers are optional.