You sabi where you wan dey for two years time. You don sabi am for a while now, and di conversation wey go move you go dat side don dey your one on one agenda for four months, dey slide go down di list because di quarter dey always loud pass di decade.
Dat one no be discipline problem, na framing problem. Career conversation dey lose to status update every week, because status update get deadline attach to am and your career no get. Di fix na mechanical: give di conversation im own meeting, im own name for di invite, and one specific tin wey you wan carry comot from di room.
Your manager sef no dey avoid am. Plenty of dem dey wait make you open am, because if dem open am demself e fit sound like say something dey wrong. So na you go open am. Dis na di sentence, wetin you go bring, and di one ask wey worth pass all di others.
How I go take start career conversation with my manager?
Open with one sentence, no be full argument: I wan talk about where I dey head go, no be about dis quarter. Put dat same line inside di calendar invite so nobody go enter di room dey feel ambush, and nobody go waste di first ten minutes dey wonder whether you wan resign.
Di invite matter pass how e sound. Meeting wey dem call catch up, dem go treat am like catch up, and na di tin wey dey burn una go spend am on. But meeting wey dem call career direction, thirty minutes, dem go treat am as wetin e be, and your manager go enter wey he don already think about am, wey na di whole difference between useful answer and answer wey dem just arrange for di spot.
Thirty minutes na di correct size. Gallup research on manager conversations put di effective range for fifteen to thirty minutes, done regularly, and dem find say na only around sixteen percent of workers dey describe dem last conversation with a manager as extremely meaningful. Dat bar low well well, and to jump am na mostly matter of showing up with topic instead of mood.
One more tin about timing. No book dis one for di same week as performance review or compensation cycle. Di review machine go swallow am and wetin go come out di other side na rating talk, wey no be wetin you come for.
Wetin I suppose actually bring come dis conversation?
Bring three tins and nothing else: where you wan dey for about two years, wetin you think dey missing right now, and one specific tin wey you want your manager do. Three tins fit enter person head, and manager wey fit hold your ask for head fit repeat am give another person.
Talk di two year destination as level or scope, no be job title, because title dey different from company to company but scope no dey. To own one product area. To run di technical direction for a team. To be di person wey dem dey route di hard accounts to. Dat version dey travel, and e give your manager something to aim at even if di exact title never open here.
For di missing piece, come with your own honest guess instead of open question. My guess na say I never run anything cross functional, and na dat tin dey stand between me and di next level. Guess dey invite correction, and correction na wetin you actually want, but open question dey invite compliment and then silence. Bring di record too. Six lines don do: wetin you do, wetin change because of am, and who see am. Nobody dey remember March, including you, na why e go enter paper before di meeting instead of you dey try remember am inside di meeting.
Wetin be di one tin wey worth am to ask my manager do?
Ask dem make dem sponsor you, and give dem di words. Mentor dey talk to you, but sponsor dey call your name for room wey you no dey inside, and na inside rooms wey you no dey dem dey decide promotion.
Plenty people only ever hear di first word, na why plenty career conversations dey end with offer of more coffee and more advice. Advice no be di constraint. Di constraint na say when your name enter calibration meeting, somebody must fit describe your work for one specific sentence, and dat person no go be you.
So make e easy for dem. Di ask sound like dis: I dey ask you make you call my name for di calibration room, and dis na di three lines to talk. Then hand dem di three lines, already written, each one dey name something wey you do and wetin e change. Catalyst work on sponsorship put di difference plain: mentoring dey essential for development but e no dey enough on im own to move person up, and na advocacy na im dey do di moving. Manager fit honestly refuse promotion wey he no control. But almost nobody dey refuse dis one, because e no cost dem anything and e dey make dem look like person wey get talent for im team.
Then close di loop for di other side, one line, no sermon. Name one person for your own team wey you fit do dis exact tin for, and talk dem sentence out loud for your next meeting. You go see how cheap e be from di giving side, wey na di fastest way to stop to dey feel shy about asking.
Wetin if my manager talk say nothing dey available now?
Take am as real answer and continue, because availability na different question from readiness. Ask wetin go need to be true make you be di obvious candidate when something open, and ask when na di next moment wey dem dey make dat kind decision.
Roles dey open on schedule wey nobody dey publish. Wetin you dey try establish no be whether job dey today, na whether you don already dey inside di sentence when one dey. So push gently on two specifics. Wetin work between now and then go build di argument for me? Who else need to see dat work make e count?
If di honest answer na say dis level no exist here, dat one no be bad meeting. Na very good meeting wey you hold eighteen months earlier than you for hold am, and e tell you wetin to do with di next year. Pew Research find say among people wey quit job for 2021, sixty three percent name no opportunities for advancement as reason, tie with low pay. Most of dem find out slowly. You just find out fast, and fast worth plenty.
How I go stop am from turning to performance review?
Talk di boundary out loud for di first thirty seconds, then hold am: dis one no be about dis quarter, and I no dey ask for feedback on my current work. If di conversation still drift, name di drift once, warmly, and steer am back.
Drift na di default. Your manager dey run on quarters, na di quarter dey im mind before he enter, and di vocabulary of ratings and goals dey right there for surface. One sentence usually fix am. Dat one useful and I wan come back to am, and I get twenty minutes left for di two year question.
Stay steady if di answer no be di one you hope for. To hold body for dis particular half hour no be personality trait, na tactic, because di person wey go decide your next role dey quietly measure how you dey handle information wey you no want. You fit disappoint later, for private, full body. Inside di room, write am down and ask di next question.
Send three lines after, and di conversation go become real
Before di next day pass, send three lines: dis na wetin I talk say I want, dis na wetin you talk say dey missing, dis na wetin we agree go happen next and by when. Ask dem make dem correct anything wey you get wrong. Dat na di whole follow up, and e dey turn warm chat to shared record wey go survive reorganization, new manager and bad quarter.
Then put di next one for calendar, around a quarter from now. Career conversation no be event, na series, and di second one easy pass di first because di agenda don already dey. Na only di first one dey ever feel like say you dey disturb person, and dat feeling dey commot about ninety seconds inside.
None of dis dey ask you make you want small tin or push less. E dey ask you make you spend one sentence on di tin wey you don dey carry for four months, so dat di effort wey you don dey make go land somewhere wey people fit see am. Book am dis week. Di quarter go still dey there come Friday.