Meaningful Career Conversations

Looking to improve the quality of your career conversations at work? This episode dives into practical topics like the role of managers in employee development, common challenges like fear of feedback, and actionable insights to overcome challenges that often come up.

My guest, Antoinette Oglethorpe, brings a wealth of experience to the conversation, having worked with organizations such as Accenture, the World Health Organization, and the NHS. She's also the author of the book "Confident Career Conversations," which serves as a comprehensive guide for enhancing employee development through meaningful dialogue.

You'll walk away with practical advice and strategies for making career conversations a valuable part of your organization’s culture.

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Episode Highlights

• How focusing on "employability" and "enjoyability" improves the quality of the career conversation.
• How managers can initiate and guide career conversations.
• Addressing the common challenges managers face, such as lack of time or fear of giving feedback.
• Ways HR can support managers and employees in having meaningful conversations.
• Strategies for incorporating career conversations into performance reviews and employee onboarding.
• Strategies to tackle the fear of feedback from both managers and employees.
• How to navigate sensitive topics like job security and career transitions.
• Simple techniques to implement immediately for improving communication.
• How career conversations contribute to employee wellbeing and organizational health.

Antoinette's view on the greatest unmet wellbeing need at work today

"This new world of hybrid working is now becoming the way forward. As you say, I think that during COVID we took great steps to connect with people even though we were working remotely. I think that focus has gone away now. And yet hybrid working seems as though it's here to stay. So, I think that's potentially a risky area where there's a lack of connection, a lack of visibility of employees, and a lack of conversation about what's going on for them as individuals. And I think that's something we all need to think about."

What “working with humans” means to Antoinette

“It's about navigating the human side of business. Business and organizations rely on people, and that involves communication, relationships, and collaboration. It's often complicated, but it's important to recognize that these aren't just human resources or human capital, as they have been called, or a parcel of human assets. They are humans. So, actually connecti