Resisting success: overlooked career progression models hold immense potential | EY

We propose addressing these concerns with a refined career progression model

This model emphasizes the importance of aligning promotions with the complexity of responsibility and the type of intelligence applied, so individuals are truly ready to excel in their new roles. By doing so, team members don’t just rise to new challenges — they thrive, creating a dynamic where individual growth fuels team performance, and enhanced performance propels organizational success. Implementing such a model is vital in today’s competitive landscape, where the cost of misjudging potential and readiness can be high, both in terms of talent retention and overall productivity.

That’s good for both employees and employers. But, for these conditions to take place, coaching and mentoring must happen at every progressive stage of the model. Organizations must actively support employees in succeeding within the model itself.

How can you reap the benefits of a career progression model?

In practice, career progression models tend to fall down when organizations fail to stand up the right guardrails for success.

Case in point? While organizations often have comprehensive leadership and development programs for those ascending to higher roles, the move towards a formal career progression model calls for a more integrated approach. A proactive learning plan must be deeply embedded in the actual workflow, allowing individuals to develop key qualities through hands-on practice. This means coaching must meet people where they are, offering guidance in the context of their daily tasks rather than through remote computer-based training courses. The immediacy of coaching in the flow of work ensures that learning is timely and relevant, preventing the premature promotion of skilled contributors to managerial positions where they may be unprepared, and preserving their value as individual contributors.

To facilitate successful transitions, organizations must prioritize employee readiness and ensure proper skill-set alignment. This is where personalized career coaching becomes invaluable, as it helps individuals evolve and adapt in their roles. By integrating coaching into each stage of the career progression model, individuals, teams and the organization as a whole reap the benefits. Employees receive the support they need to grow and succeed in real time, fostering a culture of continuous development and readiness for advancement.

What steps are involved in a career progression model?

Career progression models generally come to life through four key stages: doing, managing, leading and legacy.

At EY, we recommend asking key questions at each of these steps to foster success for employees and the business overall.

Stage 1: Doing

• What’s happening? Employees at this stage generate primary outcomes or deliverables — think conducting analyses or creating presentations — and are governed by a specific set of predefined tasks. They are acquiring knowledge, producing superior results, mastering tasks and delivering high-quality outcomes. As experience levels increase, doers become better and more efficient, in line with the increasing complexity of tasks. Success is primarily determined by the quality of work completed.
• What’s changing? People shift towards developing emotional intelligence and managerial skills like planning, project management and task delegation, which become critical for enhancing efficiency and handling more complex responsibilities.
• What should you consider at this stage? Who are our high-potential individuals and emerging leaders? What targeted opportunities do they need to develop competencies necessary at the next level? How can we actively invest in the right mix of formal training, coaching and real-world practice to support their progress?

Stage 2: Managing

• What’s happening? Employees at this stage are moving away from task execution to focus on strategic planning and overseeing the work of others. They’re focused on creating an environment in which doers can perform and coaching teams can produce exceptional results. At this point, employees are accountable for managing projects to successful completion, mentoring others and finding opportunities for them to grow enroute to management positions.
• What’s changing? Although the development and maintenance of technical knowledge in their respective field remains highly relevant and important, employees shift from relying primarily on cognitive abilities (IQ) to crystallizing understanding gleaned from experience and employing emotional intelligence (EQ). They’re learning to nurture leadership skills, adopt a coach-like mindset, improve delegation and think beyond their own personal output to manage productivity and performance of the team.
• What should you consider at this stage? How can we strike the right balance between technical training and development focused on enduring competencies? What is our approach to nurturing EQ effectively at the managing stage?

Stage 3: Leading

• What’s happening? Employees at this stage actively establish a vision for their team, resolve complex issues, focus on business development, drive innovation, create inclusive and psychologically safe team culture and maintain a forward-thinking perspective. This is a marked shift from doing to managing. Leaders nurture and develop people, in turn trusting others to develop services and products. 
• What’s changing? Leaders are setting their sights on longer-term outcomes, more proactively developing teams and seeking to understand how their work is connected to driving broader organizational outcomes. They communicate their vision clearly and then influence, compel and persuade others to follow.
• What should you consider at this stage? What can we do to capitalize on the knowledge and experience of people from the legacy stage to teach and develop those just coming into the leading stage? How can we celebrate, value and recognize the importance of mentorship to bake this into our culture? Are we aligning the right budget here to reinforce success? 

Stage 4: Legacy

• What’s happening? Employees at this stage are more interested in developing remarkable teams who can build on their own legacies. People are focused on enabling the team to sustain and progress their work even after they’ve moved on. They are nurturing and coaching successors to support a seamless transition. In this stage, the wisdom built through years of experience and the passage through many career stages allows the individual to see patterns differently, approach situations differently and weave in this deep wisdom into the legacy they are building.
• What’s changing? Those reaching the legacy stage are moving away from actual involvement in day-to-day work. Instead, their primary impact becomes the influential ways they’re helping employees zoom out of daily responsibilities to understand and work towards big-picture goals. Their approach is guided by EQ.
• What should you consider at this stage? How should we prepare our leaders to support succession? What coaching can preclude disruption within transitions? Which formal learning programs might these senior leaders need to fuel a smooth succession plan?

What’s the bottom line?

Personalized career experiences are critical for businesses to attract and retain talent, and a well-structured career progression model is key to adapting to the accelerated pace of today’s work environment. Such a model not only facilitates individual growth but also enhances team productivity and organizational efficiency.

The challenge lies in making promotions timely and preparing individuals for their new roles. A proactive approach to career development, which includes coaching in the flow of work, is essential to prevent premature promotions and to align skill sets with organizational needs. This can help create a competitive advantage for organizations navigating so many layers of complex macro- and socio-economic dynamics.