Career Conversation
Helping you understand what steps you need to take to develop your career.
What is it and what are the benefits?
The Career Conversation (CC) is a facilitated process that affords individuals the opportunity to explore their career to date and define the most appropriate development for them at that point in time.
In dedicating this time, you will :
- Increase your self-awareness the types of roles and cultures that you find most fulfilling
- Have a deeper appreciation of your career to date
- Be more focused on the type of personal and career development that is most impactful for you at this point in time.
How do I access the CC?
The CC is designed to be administered and delivered by your organisation, supported by the central Leading to Change team. As such your organisation retains the flexibility to define how and when to use the tool based on current needs.
If you feel that you should complete a CC then please contact your local OD/training/Learning and Development department for more information on how they are using it.
What is involved in a CC?
You will be guided through the process by your organisational facilitators and the information contained in the app.
Working in partnership with your facilitator you will have a focused conversation based on the outputs from two key documents, the User Preparation Document, and your Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ).
Here’s an overview of the documents:
User Preparation Document:
This has three broad sections:
- Career history – highs and lows and what implications these may have for future roles
- Current role – level of fulfilment and opportunities to grow
- Future Career – what would you like to achieve and what support might you need to get you there in addition to a consideration of other life factors that may have an impact.
The SAQ is aligned to the Leading to Change Leadership Success Profile which focuses on the whole-person approach to leadership. It explores how your leadership across three outcome clusters, each containing three dimensions:
1. Enabling Outcomes
This cluster focuses on how you build clarity, capability, and commitment within your team or organisation.
- Developing Purpose and Vision
You help others understand the future, simplify complexity, and connect their work to a meaningful purpose. - Building Capability
You nurture self-sufficiency, share influence, and support others to grow and lead. - Harnessing Commitment
You align people around shared goals, reduce waste, and enable progress with pace and flexibility.
2. Shaping Cultures
This cluster explores how you create inclusive, innovative, and psychologically safe environments.
- Releasing Creativity and Innovation
You empower teams to ask questions, take balanced risks, and co-design improvements. - Modelling Self-Leadership
You demonstrate emotional intelligence, resilience, and a commitment to personal growth and wellbeing. - Fostering Inclusion and Psychological Safety
You create environments where people feel respected, valued, and safe to contribute fully.
3. Empowering Systems
This cluster reflects your ability to work across boundaries and enable better outcomes for people and communities.
- Whole System Awareness
You understand the needs of communities and collaborate with partners to address complex challenges. - Forging Trust and Collaboration
You build trust, share information, and work beyond traditional boundaries to deliver joined-up services. - Enabling Population Outcomes
You prioritise resources and design services that respond to individual needs and deliver long-term impact.
Those two documents will allow your facilitator to have a deep conversation with you around your development needs and aspirations. You will work together to agree the key points that will form the basis of the conversation summary that will give you clarity on your development and sits within your profile in the app.
General
Do I need to be a Senior Leader or Manager for this to be useful for me?
No. It’s not just senior managers that might find a CC useful. The CC is designed to be applicable for all levels but as discussed above it’s use will be based on organisational need.
How much does this cost?
The CC is free to access and use. However, there is a time cost for both you and the facilitator in terms of preparation and delivery of the session. This will be factored in by your local organisational lead.
How often could / should I do a CC?
The process is not designed to be used on a routine basis but rather a lever in which to better or more fully understand your development needs in terms of your career. That said, depending on the need, both yours and the organisations it may be appropriate to run it again.
System
Where can I access a CC?
This will be decided by your organisation based on need and capacity.
Feedback
Tell me more about the facilitators?
Your facilitator is an individual that is already skilled in delivering one to one developmental sessions. They could be someone that is a qualified coach, psychometric or 360 facilitator. All individuals will have had training on the tool and deemed competent to deliver these types of sessions.
Reporting
Will my organisation be told that I’ve done a CC?
As part of governance and improvement you are required to complete an evaluation of the process. On a quarterly basis local leadership may be provided with a report on global usage data and any key areas for improvement. This is to ensure that the feedback sessions maintain a high quality.
The content of your report will not be shared and is entirely your data.
You may be contacted by one of the central Leading to Change team should any feedback warrant this. If you do need to contact the central team at any point, then you can do so here:
Do I need to share my report with anyone?
No. Your report is your data and you are in control of who it is shared with. It is not possible for your Raters, Group Coordinator or Manager(s) to see your report without it coming from you.
You are encouraged to share your report with your manager in order to gain support for a development plan that supports you doing something with the feedback you’ve gathered.
