Career development conversations are one of the most underused tools available to a new manager. They tend to get squeezed out by project reviews, performance issues and the general pressure of daily management — which is a significant missed opportunity. People who feel that their manager is genuinely invested in their growth are more engaged, more loyal and more likely to bring their best effort to the work in front of them. The investment is modest; the return is substantial. These five practices will help you make career development a real priority rather than an annual formality.
1 Create dedicated space — not an afterthought
The most common failure mode in career development conversations is treating them as something to squeeze into a regular one-to-one when time allows. The signal this sends — even when unintended — is that development is less important than the status updates, project issues and operational matters that habitually fill that time. Meaningful career conversations require their own space: a dedicated meeting, enough time to go somewhere real, and a clear signal to the team member that this conversation is for them.
This is less about logistics than about intention. When someone receives a calendar invite titled "Career Development Discussion" with an hour blocked out, they arrive differently than they do when the subject gets raised in the last five minutes of a standard check-in. They have had time to think. They know what the conversation is for. That preparation makes the dialogue significantly more productive for both parties.
Schedule career conversations as standalone meetings — not as a standing agenda item on your regular one-to-one. When you invite someone, be explicit about the purpose: "I'd like to set aside an hour to talk about your aspirations and how I can best support your development here." That framing alone changes the quality of the conversation before it has started. Aim for at least one dedicated career conversation per person per quarter, with shorter check-ins on progress in between.
2 Listen more than you talk — and ask better questions
A career conversation where the manager does most of the talking has not achieved much. Your role in these discussions is to facilitate someone else's thinking, not to present a development plan or map out a path you have already decided on. The most useful thing you can do is ask questions that help the person surface what they actually want — which is often less clear to them than it appears, and almost always more nuanced than "I want to get promoted."
Open-ended questions that invite reflection produce far more useful conversations than closed ones that prompt a yes or no. "What does getting promoted mean to you in terms of the work you'd be doing day to day?" reveals more than "Which role are you aiming for?" The follow-up is often where the real insight lives — asking why something matters, what draws them to it, what they imagine it would feel like to achieve it. Most people have not had a manager ask those questions, and the effect of being asked them genuinely is significant.
Resist the urge to jump to solutions when a team member expresses a goal. Instead, explore the goal itself first: "What does that mean to you?" and "Why is that important to you right now?" are often more valuable than "Here's how we could get you there." The former helps the person understand what they actually want; the latter assumes you already know. Understanding comes first — planning follows from it, not the other way around.
Developing your team is a core module in the LeadWise Emerging Leaders Program — covering career conversations, coaching skills and how to create genuine development opportunities, with practical exercises you apply directly with your team.
Explore the program — €2993 Explore strengths and what energises them, not just what is next
Career conversations that focus exclusively on the next role or the next promotion miss something important: many people do not yet know what they want next, and even those who do often have a better answer once they understand more clearly what they are good at and what kind of work gives them energy. Helping someone identify their strengths and what genuinely engages them is frequently more valuable than helping them navigate a career ladder they are not sure they want to climb.
The practical implication is to spend time in career conversations on the present as well as the future. What kinds of tasks does this person do well and find satisfying? When have they felt most effective? What would their ideal workday look like? These questions surface information that is useful both for the person — who often finds the answers clarifying — and for you as a manager, who can use that understanding to make better decisions about delegation, stretch assignments and development opportunities.
Ask each team member to think back to a project or piece of work where they felt genuinely in their element — not just competent, but energised. Then ask: what specifically about that work felt natural? What skills were you using? What kind of impact were you making? The answers tend to be revealing, and they give you a much richer picture of what to invest in than a job title or a level on an org chart ever could.
4 Co-create a plan with concrete next steps
A career conversation that ends without any agreed next steps has generated insight but no momentum. The transition from conversation to development requires a plan — and the plan needs to be specific enough to be actionable. Vague intentions like "work on your leadership skills" or "get more visibility" are not plans; they are aspirations. A plan names the specific action, the timeline and what support the person needs to take it.
The most effective development plans combine several types of opportunity: formal learning where it adds genuine value, real work challenges that stretch the person in the relevant direction, and relationships — mentors, peers, senior stakeholders — that expose them to perspectives and contexts they would not otherwise access. Most meaningful development happens through experience, not coursework, which means the most valuable thing you can often do is find the right project or assignment rather than the right training programme.
End every career conversation with three things written down: one specific action the team member will take, one thing you will do to support them, and a date to check in on progress. The act of writing it down and sharing it creates accountability that a spoken agreement rarely does. Keep the plan simple — one or two priorities are more likely to be acted on than five — and revisit it at your next one-to-one rather than waiting for the next formal career conversation.
5 Follow up consistently — development is an ongoing conversation
Career development conversations that happen once a year and are never mentioned in between are barely better than no conversation at all. What makes the difference is continuity: regular, brief references to the goals the person has shared, acknowledgement of progress, genuine curiosity about how things are going. This does not require additional meetings — it requires making development a standing thread in your regular one-to-ones rather than a separate and occasional event.
The follow-through also signals something important about your actual priorities as a manager. Anyone can schedule a career conversation and ask thoughtful questions in the moment. The managers whose teams genuinely develop are those who remember what was discussed, notice when progress is happening, and connect the dots between current work and longer-term growth — not just in dedicated conversations, but consistently across the whole relationship.
After each career conversation, write a brief note of what the person shared — their goals, what energises them, the development priorities you agreed on. Keep it somewhere you will see it before your regular one-to-ones. Referencing it naturally in conversation — "How did that presentation go? You mentioned it was an opportunity to work on public speaking" — demonstrates that you were listening and that their development is genuinely on your radar. That experience, for most people, is rarer than it should be. When a manager provides it consistently, it builds a kind of loyalty that is hard to replicate by other means.
The bottom line
Supporting your team's career growth is not a distraction from your job as a manager — it is a central part of it. The people on your team who feel genuinely seen, challenged and supported in their development bring more to their work, stay longer and require less management in the difficult moments because the foundation of trust is already there. The investment is five conversations a quarter, some careful listening and the discipline to follow through.
New managers often underestimate how much it means to a team member when their manager asks genuine questions about their aspirations and then actually remembers the answers. It is not a complex skill — but it is an uncommon one. Making it a consistent habit is one of the most straightforward ways to distinguish yourself as a manager who develops people, not just one who manages them.