From a Conversation on Career Phases
I talked with a coworker of mine this past Friday. She is quite senior to me and at the same level as my boss's boss. She's been at Microsoft since the late 80s and is pretty much a lifer; despite that (or maybe because of it), she's a very hard worker.
On a quiet Friday afternoon, exhausted, she shared with me her theory of career phases. It goes from the moment a new grad finds his or her first job to the point of becoming good at the job. One can look at career phases along the two variables of skill and morale/motivation. Beyond her insights, I also add my own, explaining what characteristics would cause someone to get frozen at one phase or another.
Career Phase 1: high morale/motivation, low skill. To describe this phase succinctly, call this phase the "cocky" phase. New grads, fresh out of school and after witnessing the fantastic and outrageous success of young entrepreneurs like Zuckerberg and Jerry Yang, tend to have a lot of confidence, drifting toward the outright arrogant. They overlook their lack of skill, sometimes having an overly idealistic or ridiculously unrealistic ambition. This especially ties in with folks who come from good schools, who too often carry with them the baggage of entitlement. Big movers and shakers in any industry always start out (and frequently stay) in this phase, so even the most experienced have a hard time distinguishing between the unjustifiably cocky and the genuinely revolutionary talent. Given that "diamonds in the rough" are incredibly rare, most managers bet that folks locked in phase 1 are the overly cocky and act to push them out of the organization. As painful and heartless as it sounds, in general, moving folks who can't seem to get past phase 1 is usually the right decision.
Career Phase 2: low morale/motivation, low skill. Anyone who is starting out on a new job will inevitably get schooled by the more experienced and pwned (yes, pwnage!) a couple times. In the process, new grads will drift in to phase 2, with their morale and motivation sunk. If the new grad truly lacks the mettle to cut it at the job, he or she will not progress beyond this phase. Cast most any engineer into the career of professional bodybuilding (though maybe not crazy bastards like this guy or this really crazy guy) and failure is nigh a certainty. They will get locked at phase 2 and be unable to progress. Again, even if the new employee is a sweet, caring, nice individual, if performance management and training are ineffective in getting him/her past phase 2, managing out is an unfortunate and inevitable consequence.
Career Phase 3: low morale/motivation, high skill. Any qualified new employee (read: smart) will be able to pick up the intricacies of the job over time. Skill always comes first and confidence is built on top of that skill. Low morale and motivation remain a problem, however, if the new employee, despite acquiring important and difficult skills, fundamentally dislikes the job. If cockiness froze someone at phase 1 and lack of ability locked someone at phase 2, it is lack of enthusiasm and bitterness which will keep a new employee from progressing past phase 3. Attitude means a lot in the workplace, and if even a single employee is a detractor, it will affect the company quite negatively. No matter how productive the person, if he or she cannot be convinced, keeping the employee around is quite rightly called a liability. (NB: if someone gets stuck at this phase at your company, you should also start asking questions about why the company was unable to motivate the person. Is the cause wrong? Misdirected? How did the situation arise?)
Career Phase 4: high morale/motivation, high skill. After working in phase 3 for long enough, enough accolades amass, enough praise is heaped, and the employee's confidence slowly rises into phase 4. At this point, as long as the candidate stays in the same role and continues doing similar tasks, one can expect a ton of productivity and energy. This is the ultimate stage in career phase, and this is where the most real work gets done.
There are a few caveats to this theory. First, I asked the question is it possible to maintain high morale throughout? While this point is still a controversial topic in my mind, her view is that new employees will pass through all four phases; some phases may just be really short: maybe one will feel down for a day or two and pass through phases 2 and 3 very quickly, for instance.
Second and perhaps more importantly, everyone passes through these four phases repeatedly, anytime one becomes a "new employee." This means that moving projects, getting a new team, getting a new boss, being promoted, switching companies, or any other fundamental change to the job will force an experienced employee to become once again a "new employee" and again force the one to run through this cycle.
I have my criticisms of her theory, but it is surprisingly pertinent to the phases I have gone through over the course of working several jobs.
On a quiet Friday afternoon, exhausted, she shared with me her theory of career phases. It goes from the moment a new grad finds his or her first job to the point of becoming good at the job. One can look at career phases along the two variables of skill and morale/motivation. Beyond her insights, I also add my own, explaining what characteristics would cause someone to get frozen at one phase or another.
Career Phase 1: high morale/motivation, low skill. To describe this phase succinctly, call this phase the "cocky" phase. New grads, fresh out of school and after witnessing the fantastic and outrageous success of young entrepreneurs like Zuckerberg and Jerry Yang, tend to have a lot of confidence, drifting toward the outright arrogant. They overlook their lack of skill, sometimes having an overly idealistic or ridiculously unrealistic ambition. This especially ties in with folks who come from good schools, who too often carry with them the baggage of entitlement. Big movers and shakers in any industry always start out (and frequently stay) in this phase, so even the most experienced have a hard time distinguishing between the unjustifiably cocky and the genuinely revolutionary talent. Given that "diamonds in the rough" are incredibly rare, most managers bet that folks locked in phase 1 are the overly cocky and act to push them out of the organization. As painful and heartless as it sounds, in general, moving folks who can't seem to get past phase 1 is usually the right decision.
Career Phase 2: low morale/motivation, low skill. Anyone who is starting out on a new job will inevitably get schooled by the more experienced and pwned (yes, pwnage!) a couple times. In the process, new grads will drift in to phase 2, with their morale and motivation sunk. If the new grad truly lacks the mettle to cut it at the job, he or she will not progress beyond this phase. Cast most any engineer into the career of professional bodybuilding (though maybe not crazy bastards like this guy or this really crazy guy) and failure is nigh a certainty. They will get locked at phase 2 and be unable to progress. Again, even if the new employee is a sweet, caring, nice individual, if performance management and training are ineffective in getting him/her past phase 2, managing out is an unfortunate and inevitable consequence.
Career Phase 3: low morale/motivation, high skill. Any qualified new employee (read: smart) will be able to pick up the intricacies of the job over time. Skill always comes first and confidence is built on top of that skill. Low morale and motivation remain a problem, however, if the new employee, despite acquiring important and difficult skills, fundamentally dislikes the job. If cockiness froze someone at phase 1 and lack of ability locked someone at phase 2, it is lack of enthusiasm and bitterness which will keep a new employee from progressing past phase 3. Attitude means a lot in the workplace, and if even a single employee is a detractor, it will affect the company quite negatively. No matter how productive the person, if he or she cannot be convinced, keeping the employee around is quite rightly called a liability. (NB: if someone gets stuck at this phase at your company, you should also start asking questions about why the company was unable to motivate the person. Is the cause wrong? Misdirected? How did the situation arise?)
Career Phase 4: high morale/motivation, high skill. After working in phase 3 for long enough, enough accolades amass, enough praise is heaped, and the employee's confidence slowly rises into phase 4. At this point, as long as the candidate stays in the same role and continues doing similar tasks, one can expect a ton of productivity and energy. This is the ultimate stage in career phase, and this is where the most real work gets done.
There are a few caveats to this theory. First, I asked the question is it possible to maintain high morale throughout? While this point is still a controversial topic in my mind, her view is that new employees will pass through all four phases; some phases may just be really short: maybe one will feel down for a day or two and pass through phases 2 and 3 very quickly, for instance.
Second and perhaps more importantly, everyone passes through these four phases repeatedly, anytime one becomes a "new employee." This means that moving projects, getting a new team, getting a new boss, being promoted, switching companies, or any other fundamental change to the job will force an experienced employee to become once again a "new employee" and again force the one to run through this cycle.
I have my criticisms of her theory, but it is surprisingly pertinent to the phases I have gone through over the course of working several jobs.