Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

In this issue…

• Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go - Interview with Julie Winkle Giulioni

• Extra Insights- Enabling Greater Workplace Trust Through Coaching by Dr. John Blakey

• Weekly Motivation Boost - Embrace Greatness - Eddie Pinero (YouTube)

• Action for the Week - Build Instant Trust with Your Team

• Together with The Rundown AI - AI in 5 Minutes a Day

🎯 EXPERT OF THE WEEK

📰 Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

Interview with Julie Winkle Giulioni

We recently caught up with Julie Winkle Giulioni, career coaching expert, author of Promotions Are SO Yesterday and co-author of the recently released 3rd edition of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go. We wanted to explore how development is changing and how leaders and coaches can better support the growth employees crave.

Can you share the inspiration behind Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go and what motivated you to write (and now update) this book?

The inspiration behind Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go stems from a deep-seated belief in the power of career development. It’s become clear that successful and sustainable career development can no longer just be an HR initiative; it’s a human initiative and fundamental leadership responsibility.

Employees crave growth, meaning and purpose in their work. We wrote this third edition (after selling more than 140K copies in seven languages) to offer more practical guidance to leaders who want to make a real difference in their teams' lives by encouraging growth-oriented conversations. The update reflects our understanding of evolving workplace dynamics, including the shift toward remote/hybrid work, and reinforces the idea that career development is an ongoing, collaborative experience versus a ‘one-and-done’ process.

What are the key differences between the new edition of the book and the previous versions?

The latest edition of the book builds upon the original's foundation but with significant enhancements. Key differences include:

• A new chapter on ‘developing at a distance’: Addressing the unique challenges and solutions for supporting remote and hybrid employees

• Insight into talent hoarding: Understanding why talent must be viewed as an enterprise resource

• Exploration of psychological safety: Highlighting its crucial role in development of relationships.

• Reinforcement of human interaction: Emphasizing the need for human connection in an AI-driven world.

• Over 100 questions: Designed to spark meaningful career conversations.

• A detailed chapter-by-chapter discussion guide: Facilitating deeper understanding and implementation.

• Book-bot: Extending and elevating the reader experience with AI-powered opportunities to plan and rehearse career conversations, assess current skills and practices, brainstorm targeted development activities and more via a custom GPT.

How do you define career development in the context of today's modern work environment?

Career development today is less about climbing a predefined corporate ladder and more about exploring and enjoying experiences that align with both personal aspirations and organizational needs. It’s a dynamic, ongoing process that requires flexibility, adaptability and a proactive mindset. Career development is about preparing employees not just for the next role, but for an uncertain and fast-changing future. It involves continuous learning, the acquisition of new skills and the ability to agilely pivot when necessary. This new edition helps leaders discover the simple truth that simply engaging in regular, meaningful conversations advances career development.

What common mistakes do managers make when it comes to career development, and how can they avoid them?

One of the most common mistakes managers make is treating career development as a once-a-year event rather than an ongoing conversation. This often leads to generic, surface-level discussions that fail to address the unique needs and aspirations of each employee. But there’s also the mistake of assuming that career development is exclusively about promotions, titles and roles – which can be limiting and demotivating when employees have different goals or the organization can’t deliver on mobility.

Can you discuss the importance of psychological safety in career development conversations?

Psychological safety is the cornerstone of effective career development conversations. When employees feel safe, they’re more likely to be open, honest and vulnerable about their aspirations, concerns and challenges. This level of trust allows for deeper, more authentic conversations that can lead to meaningful growth. Without psychological safety, employees may withhold important information, leading to superficial discussions that don’t address the real issues. Managers can build psychological safety by being approachable, non-judgmental and consistently demonstrating that they value and respect their employees’ perspectives.

What are some practical steps managers can take to integrate meaningful career conversations into their regular interactions with employees?

It all begins with conversations. Leaders who engage in the kind of career development that moves the needle take every chance they get to connect with people – and help people connect with themselves. They weave a thread of development through all of their interactions with others, using strategies like:

• Scheduling routine check-ins - Rather than waiting for formal reviews, they set aside time for brief, informal conversations focused on development.

• Using every interaction as an opportunity - Whether it’s a quick chat after a meeting or a discussion during a one-on-one, effective developers use these moments to ask questions that inspire reflection, insight and sometimes even interaction.

• Leveraging Hindsight, Foresight and Insight questions - These questions (and there are more than 100 of them in the new edition) can help guide powerful conversations that consider individual and organizational needs… and surface meaningful opportunities for growth.

What role does human interaction play in an increasingly AI-driven workplace, particularly in terms of career growth?

Development is a deeply human experience. Even in an AI-driven workplace, human interaction remains essential for career growth. AI can assist with data-driven insights and process automation, but it can’t replace the empathy, intuition and nuanced understanding that human managers bring to career development conversations. Human interaction builds connection, trust and psychological safety—elements that are essential for effective career growth.

All that said, I think you’ve created an AI tool that goes along with the book. Is that right?

Yes, I guess it sounds a little contradictory. But the challenge many of us experience when it comes to change is bridging the ‘knowing-doing’ gap. We might have the intellectual (book) knowledge, but translating that into action can be tough.

So, we’ve created a book-bot, an AI-supported tool that readers can use to build the confidence they need to use what they learn from the book with their teams. It’s a safe place where readers/leaders can plan for upcoming career conversations, get help structuring a dialogue with great questions, assess their skills and practices, brainstorm development opportunities, and even rehearse conversations in advance and get feedback that will help them be more effective. We’re really excited about the role the book-bot can play in helping to elevate the career development experience of employees everywhere.

💡EXTRA INSIGHTS

Enabling Greater Workplace Trust Through Coaching

By Dr. John Blakey - The Trusted Executive

7-Minute Read

🏅WEEKLY MOTIVATION BOOST

EMBRACE GREATNESS - from Eddie Pinero’s “Never Give Up On Yourself”

8-Minute Watch

🏃🏽‍♀️Action for the Week

Build Instant Trust with Your Team

💡 In your next 1-on-1, ask this coaching question:

“What’s one thing you wish I understood better about how you work?”

This simple prompt does 3 things:

• Shows that you are not above learning.

• Creates psychological safety.

• Opens the door to real coaching, not just performance management.

💎 TOGETHER WITH THE RUNDOWN AI

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