The Microsoft Career Discussion
Every year around February, Microsoft kicks off its annual mid-year career discussion (MYCD). The MYCD really comprises of two things, an opportunity to check in against commitments you would’ve made at the beginning of the fiscal year, and to discuss your career aspirations. This discussion is something that an employee drives with his or her manager. The manager is simply there to assess your performance and to give you guidance on how you can reach your next set of milestones based on what you choose your career path to be.
I had my first MYCD a month after I’d joined Microsoft (Feb 2005). Obviously back then, my efforts were focused on simply doing my job and doing it well. And I was coming from a company culture that didn’t really pay as much heed to an employee’s career. It’s not till Feb ‘08 that I took the MYCD seriously. For the first time last year, I spent more time on the career portion of the MYCD than I did the commitments check-in. My reason for writing this post is to be transparent about Microsoft career discussion process. I’m incredibly proud of Microsoft, our HR team and the executive team for how seriously they take every individual’s career at Microsoft.
The goal behind the career portion of the MYCD is to really help you answer the questions “what do you want to do at Microsoft” and “what kind of a career path do you see yourself following“. We get so tied up in our daily work (which is based on our yearly goals) that we often stop looking at the big picture. Let me give you an example – I’m ridiculously happy with what I do, and I could be happy doing this forever. (without sounding like I’m gloating too much) I’d like to think that I’m doing well on the job, but the reason I’ve been doing well is because of the outside (valley) perspective that I’ve been able to bring into the company. It’s likely that in a few years, my perspective may not be as fresh anymore. There maybe someone better suited for the job, someone with a fresher perspective. And not knowing what you don’t know, can be dangerous. I’m one of those people who feels like he should retool and learn new things every couple of years. I feel learning new things will challenge me, help me grow and keep my skills sharp. That said, for the better of the company (fresher, newer perspective) and for my sake (learning, retooling), a career move every few years is absolutely warranted. The company believes that certain individuals will want to grow out of their role, learn new things and consequently they will contribute better to the company.
Step 1 – The “Career Compass” is a tool that our HR team has put together (with the help of external consultants) to help guide us. One of the first things you do in this tool as you kick off your MYCD is assess yourself. The Career Stage Profiles are specific to disciplines within a profession and describe results and expectations for roles within a career stage.
Given where you are in your career and your current role, how would you rate your skills in these areas?
- Business/Partner Engagement
- Customer/Partner
- Integration
- Leadership
What skills would you need to help you get to the goal and assess your development needs?
How do you rate yourself against these competencies?
- Cross-Boundary Collaboration
- Impact and Influence
- Conversion
- Customer Advocacy
- Passionate Communication
- Pioneering
- Strategic Business Skills
- Synthesizing and Simplifying
- Product & Technology Expertise
- Interpersonal Awareness
Step 2 – Your manager then assesses you against those competencies. Based on your role and where you are in your career profile, the tool gives you a baseline of where it thinks you should be. How your manager assesses you can get a little hairy. It is your job to keep him or her informed about what you do and how you perform those tasks. In my case, I felt there were a couple of competencies that I felt I was more skilled at than others, but that wasn’t necessarily how my manager saw things. We had a hearty two hour discussion and we eventually came to a mutual agreement about my assessment. We learned a lot about each other, and it gave me the opportunity to bring him up to speed.
Step 3 – You specify up to 3 jobs you would like to see yourself growing into and you create a development plan based on those aspirations and your competencies. There maybe some areas you’d need to get better at for where you want to go.
Throughout this process, I kept thinking to myself that I would’ve loved to have taken the MYCD more seriously when I first started. In fact, I wish I’d had these tools when I had graduated or even during my senior year in college. If you are ambitious and serious about your career, I strongly encourage you to go through this exercise.
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