It is Monday morning; my Operations Manager walks into my office for our weekly update. Looking at him, I get a sense that something serious is on his mind. A talented and hard working individual, he has met performance expectations for the past year. He enjoys working with his team and is respected by his peers. As the meeting progresses, I get to know what’s on his mind. A question that most managers have lived through at least once in their corporate lives, if not more. “I have been with the company for a year, what’s next?” Most times, there is a feeling of an unspoken threat accompanying this question, “Well, if you don’t give me an answer, then I will have to start looking around.”

The hierarchal system where the employee’s career progression was pre-defined by the organization is slowly giving way to a more open and healthy work environment where the entire concept of career progression is defined around empowering the employee to be the master of their destiny.

Empowerment begins when employees exercise the need to change themselves. This gives them a vision for their future, the ability to choose, which transforms them to take control of their destiny and self-learning.

Most corporations are willing to go the extra mile to make their employees feel good about their working environment. It’s common to find companies providing high tech working facilities, coupling this with fabulous gyms, cafeteria, pick up and drop services, food and even fruits! When the physical well-being is taken care of with attention to such minute details, the obvious next step for companies is to provide self-development tools and knowledge base to its employees to transform themselves and in turn transform the organization.

Career Progression Planning (CPP) sets the framework to develop critical leadership and competencies in a company’s workforce. The CPP enables the employees to plan and track their short/long term career aspirations. It’s also an important tool for continuous learning, professional and personal growth. This results in a highly motivated workforce.