My Employee Trading Card
Prior to the first one-on-one in my new role, my manager granted me access to a shared one-on-one document. Within this document, they include a number of questions about my professional background and aspirations, as well as my personality and preferences. This is a practice I plan to steal and use with future managers (or reports, should I move into management again). While not a replacement for actually talking about these ideas or having a career conversation, these questions provide something akin to a trading card for my career—the reader can see my stats, strengths, and weaknesses. Some sample questions include:
- what are technologies that you've worked with in the past
- what are you interested in learning more about
- what are your strengths
- what are your weaknesses
- what causes you stress
- how do you work best
- are there topics to be mindful or sensitive about
As the employee, this gives me some time to sit and think about these questions, providing better answers than I may if I were to be asked on the spot. I also have a "living document." As my career evolves, I can adjust my experiences or interests. Like a trading card, this information can be easily shared with others (i.e., a new manager) should the need arise.
From the manager's point of view, they now have a care-and-feeding cheat sheet for their employees. As a ~recovering~ former team lead, I know it can be all-too-easy to forget some of the background skills your team comes in with if they aren't using them every day or to always have their career aspirations top of mind. Again, this is not a replacement for having real conversations in which you listen to your team members, but in the spirit of Getting Things Done and Building a Second Brain, I think it is okay to acknowledge that your brain cannot store everything. Juggling multiple reports and your own career is an extremely difficult task. I am grateful for a manager that is using tools like this to help support me during my career.
I hope that by sharing this idea, you, too, can steal it and empower your manager with their very own trading card of you.