Three Mistakes You're Making With Career Development With Your Team

Many sales leaders struggle with finding the time for career development within their teams. With so many responsibilities already on their plate, adding career development can seem overwhelming. Your team and your organization need you to be working on career development with at least your top performers.  Here are the three mistakes most sales managers make with career development for their teams.

Mistake #1: Not Doing Any Career Development at All

Career development is essential for building competencies that help team members succeed in their current roles and prepare for future leadership opportunities. When you invest in career development, everyone benefits—the company, the individual, and you as a manager.

Who Should You Focus On? Career development should be targeted at the top half of your team’s performers. If you plot your team’s individual performance, you’ll see a natural distribution where most team members fall in the middle, a few overachievers are at the top, and some underperformers are at the bottom.

You should focus career development efforts on the top half of this curve—those who are high performers and potential future leaders.

When Should You Conduct Career Development? Twice a year is a good cadence for career development discussions. Scheduling them alongside mid-year and annual reviews can be effective, but be sure to carve out dedicated time so that career development isn’t overshadowed by performance evaluations.

Mistake #2: Having a Vague Discussion with No Follow-Up

Another common bad practice is having career development conversations without a clear plan or structured follow-up. Without a system in place, these discussions can become unproductive and quickly forgotten.

A structured approach ensures that career development is actionable. Using a three-step career development system helps streamline the process. This plan should empower employees to identify the skills they want to develop and outline steps they can take, with follow-up discussions scheduled to track progress.

Mistake #3: Relying on Articles Instead of Real Development Opportunities

Simply sending employees a link to an article is not career development. Real growth comes from hands-on experiences and opportunities that allow employees to develop new skills.

Here are three practical ways to foster career development:

1. Assign Bubble Assignments – A bubble assignment is a cross-functional project where an employee works outside their normal role. This could involve collaborating with another department or working on a special project within the sales team. However, only assign these to high performers who are meeting their current goals.
   
   
2. Pair Employees with Mentors – If your organization has a mentorship program, ensure your high-potential employees are enrolled. If not, proactively find mentors for them within the company. For example, if someone is interested in marketing, pairing them with a marketing leader can provide valuable insights to that job function.
   
   
3. Give Leadership Opportunities – Encourage team members to take on leadership roles by having them lead team meetings, send out team communications, represent you in meetings, or facilitate broader discussions.
   

Not every high performer will take advantage of career development opportunities, and that’s okay. Typically, about half of those offered will follow through. The key is to provide these opportunities and allow employees to take ownership of their growth.

By avoiding these three mistakes, you can create a more engaged, motivated, and high-performing team. Prioritizing career development isn’t just an investment in your employees—it’s an investment in the future success of your team and your leadership.

Grab your free 3 Step Career Development System here.