FROM THE COACH: Consider the four-phases model for the development of successful careers

Richard Tyson

Having coached CEOs and other leaders for almost four decades, I have come to realize that much of their responsibility is facilitating successful career transitions for themselves and their people.

None of us come out of school ready to lead. We may have strong entrepreneurial tendencies that draw us into leadership roles early on, but even start-up geniuses have to learn and grow in order to find their path to successful leadership. Beyond their need to navigate their own journey to strong and effective leadership, wise leaders have to guide their troops through that process.

Several years ago, I was introduced by Brett Savage to “The Phases Model” of career development. This model was created by two highly esteemed faculty members of the Harvard Business School and the Brigham Young Marriott School of Management, Gene W. Dalton and Paul H. Thompson.

The phases are as follows:

Phase 1: Apprentice. This phase is the necessary starting point for any new employee. Everyone who moves into a new position essentially becomes an apprentice for a season. These folks are an essential element in any enterprise, especially in companies that are growing rapidly. That said, there must be effective and efficient processes for building growing competencies in the functions and roles for which they were hired or promoted into. Apprentices must not stay apprentices! It is during this phase that the individual must begin the process of becoming an individual contributor.

Phase 2: Individual Contributor. Having gained personal competence in a specific skill set or area of contribution required by the enterprise, the apprentice transitions to individual contributor status. Their competence is generally defined in the context of their job description, including both the actions or activities required and the results to be achieved.

Strong individual contributors are capable of working both independently and within the context of group processes. They are typically trusted with complex, high-impact functions that require job-specific critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They understand their roles and the relationship between their work and the successful achievement of key performance metrics for the enterprise. They operate with minimal supervision and are capable of managing their workload and priorities effectively.

Phase 3: Manager. Individual contributors may transition to manager. However, many individual contributors choose to remain as such throughout their careers.

For others, the transition to manager provides both great opportunity and challenges. They now acquire project and operational responsibility and accountability for a specific critical function. This requires the management of, and motivation and communication with, one or more individual contributors. They train and develop these people, including both apprentices and individual contributors. They assign tasks, set and monitor priorities, plan and administer budgets and interface with their team, top management and with customers, suppliers, etc.

Their primary role and responsibility is no longer to function as an individual contributor, but rather to facilitate the success of those individual contributors under their purview. This transition from “doer” to “facilitator” is often quite challenging for the new manager. Leaders must recognize that a manager almost never transitions into this role without the need for training and oversight. It is a dangerous error to assume that because of their tenure or strong performance as an individual contributor that they will easily and immediately make the transition to manager successfully.

Phase 4: Leader. A few managers transition to leader, which may carry any of several titles, including CEO, chairman, director or general manager. This transition requires the delegation of day-to-day management functions to Phase 3 managers and taking on the full-time responsibilities of strategist, facilitator, influencer, multiplier, problem-solver, and connector. Each of these functions have their own sense of challenge and opportunity.

The leader must recognize that their primary role is no longer to function as a manager, but rather to facilitate the success of the managers who report to them as they pursue the broader achievement of enterprise strategies and goals.

The Phases Model provides an outstanding template for understanding and planning career development for yourself as a leader and the people you lead. Each member of your team (including yourself) occupies one of these phases or aspires to another.

As you strategize the purpose, mission and goals for your enterprise and how these will be achieved, it is essential that you recognize the people and competencies required for success. You need not only to recruit for those competencies, but also have strong training and development processes that will facilitate the career path for each member of your team.

I recommend that every CEO and executive leader consider the Phases Model in your critical role of facilitating career development in your organization.

Richard Tyson is the founder, principal owner and president of CEObuilder, which provides forums for consulting and coaching to executives in small businesses.