12 tips to build a motivating career progression

Show a personal interest

Before thinking "career", think "person". Take the time to learn each person's real ambitions: where do they see themselves in three years, what lights them up, what bores them?

An employee who feels their manager takes a genuine interest in their future already feels a sense of progress, well before any change in title. Ask questions, listen and, above all, follow up on what people share with you. The follow-through is proof that your interest is authentic.

Onboarding lead for new hires

Handing the welcome and onboarding of new employees to a team member is a wonderful mark of trust. That person becomes a go-to, a pillar, the reassuring face of those first days.

This role builds leadership, teaching skills and a sense of responsibility, all without changing the org chart. It's real progression: the employee moves from teammate to mentor.

Be the teacher

Everyone has expertise worth sharing. Invite your employees to teach: an internal presentation, a lunch-and-learn, a practical guide for colleagues.

Teaching forces you to structure your thinking, deepen your knowledge and gain confidence in front of a group. It's also public recognition of the person's expertise. You only truly master a subject once you're able to teach it.

Add meaningful responsibilities

Broadening an employee's scope is one of the most direct ways to make them feel they're advancing. Be careful, though: the goal is to add useful, rewarding responsibilities, not simply to pile thankless tasks onto an already full plate.

Here are a few concrete examples to inspire you:

• Software development director, entrusted to a developer: being the point person between testers and developers; researching development best practices and making sure every developer follows them, becoming the reference on the topic; keeping time during scrums.
• Marketing director, entrusted to any employee interested in marketing: if you're aiming for a booth at 5 trade shows during the year, ask them to scout new events and identify the 5 most profitable ones, then stay up to date so you're the first to book.
• Purchasing manager, entrusted to any employee interested in business development: delegate the search for new suppliers, building a relationship of trust and requesting quotes for the smaller contracts, which are often the last to be reviewed for lack of time.

Whether within your team or in others, look for ways to hand each person tasks that will motivate them and make them want to stay loyal to your company.

Promote personal development

Career progression isn't limited to skills tied directly to the job. Encourage your people to learn, period. A training course, a conference, an online class, a memorable book: anything that nourishes the person also nourishes the employee.

If the budget is tight, point them toward the many free webinars or open resources. What matters is sending a clear message: here, we grow.

Build the employer brand

Give your employees the chance to build their professional reputation, outside the company as much as inside. It's a win for them and for you: every talent who shines strengthens your image as an innovative company.

• Encourage them to publish articles or share their expertise on their professional profile.
• Support their participation in conferences, as a speaker or a panellist.
• Invite developers to contribute to communities like Stack Overflow.

An employee who is proud of their reputation is an employee with every reason to keep progressing with you.

Make the most of unique skills

Everyone arrives with a particular talent: a sharp eye for design, a gifted pen, a natural ease with numbers or with people. Too often, these strengths lie dormant because the job doesn't call on them.

To break the routine, encourage your employees to take on other work related to their current role or their interests. Could you lend an employee to another team for very specific projects, a few days a year? For example, an employee could put their Excel programming skills to use to build a tool that generates automated reports for the accounting department.

This allows your employees to:

• grow closer to new colleagues and build more genuine bonds;
• objectively understand other facets of the company and see the importance of their own role;
• develop by acquiring training skills and sharing their knowledge;
• break out of the routine and explore other interests within your company.

Here's a quick guide to make the most of it in your team:

1. Identify your employees' specific skills

Determine which of your employees' skills could be useful to other teams. Do the exercise with them and get to know them better. Here are examples of skills you might recognize:

Programming automated tools in Excel	Sales skills from a former career	A knack for training colleagues
Writing talent (articles for your site, newsletter, media communications)	Networking talent (client prospecting)	Rigour for routine tasks (validating reports, comparing brochures)
Graphic design (redoing PowerPoint presentations for another department's clients)	Translation (validating the shareholder presentation rather than calling on a translator)	Idea generation (does an employee always have good ideas? Have them meet the product team for a day)

2. Maximize the benefits of your management committee

At your next managers' meeting, ask what challenges they faced on recent projects. Probe enough to understand what slowed the projects down or what could be improved: how did clients respond? Were the set objectives met? After all, you're all working toward a common goal: growing your organization.

3. Demonstrate your added value

Using the skills list you built beforehand, offer to help another manager by lending them an employee for a day. Show them it will be worthwhile: the employee will bring an outside perspective and expertise their team lacks. That manager will likely return the favour at some point.

Value lateral moves

We almost always associate progression with a vertical move: climbing the hierarchy. Yet lateral moves, meaning changing role, team or field without "moving up", are a source of immense growth.

The most telling example comes from Brian Halligan, co-founder of HubSpot. He describes how the company values letting an employee move from one department to another to broaden their experience, rather than climbing a single ladder:

Presenting a lateral move as genuine progression, and not as a status quo, opens up a wealth of career paths within your organization.

Tap into their interests

Your employees' personal passions are a gold mine too often overlooked. Someone loves event planning? Photography? Data analysis? Content creation?

Find projects where these interests can come to life within the scope of the job. Not only does the person invest with tenfold energy, but they also develop new skills with genuine enjoyment. Motivation and progression then go hand in hand.

Develop a mentorship program

Mentorship is one of the most powerful levers for progression there is, and it costs nothing but time and attention. Pairing a less experienced employee with a seasoned colleague accelerates learning on both sides.

The mentor gains leadership and a sense of passing knowledge on; the mentee gains skills and confidence. To structure the approach, consult our guide to building your internal mentorship program.

Also think about reverse mentorship: younger talent shares their mastery of new trends with executives. It's a lesson in humility for some, a boost of confidence for others.

Share market news

An employee who understands their industry's trends feels they're growing along with their field. Circulate the relevant news: an innovation at a competitor, a notable study, a regulatory change.

Better yet, task a different employee each week with presenting an industry watch to the team. They build their expertise, speak in front of their colleagues and position themselves as a reference. Everyone gains in relevance.

Create a succession plan

Nothing sends a message of trust as strong as telling an employee: "Here's the role we're preparing you for." A clear succession plan gives a concrete, tangible horizon.

Identify the key roles in your organization and the people who could one day fill them. Then build, together with them, the development path that will get them there. For inspiration from modern management practices, the Leading Snowflakes initiative is full of advice on guiding future leaders.

An employee who clearly sees their future with you has no reason to look for it elsewhere.