One of the engineering manager’s primary responsibilities is to support and develop their teams and individuals to grow. When an individual improves, the whole team and the company benefit. They will be more productive, efficient, and motivated. An excellent approach to developing your team is to set clear career goals that align with their aspirations and help meet the company’s needs.

This guide explains how to understand your direct report’s career aspirations, set clear goals, and track their progress. By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to support your team and help them to grow professionally.

Understand aspirations

Before setting any goals, it’s essential to understand your direct reports career aspirations. You need to know in which direction they want to grow so that you can help them. Here are some good practices to support them during this process:

• Practice active management by having recurrent conversations with your direct reports about their career aspirations during the 1:1 meetings.
• Use the company growth or career ladder framework to understand which role they identify as a next step.
• Coach your team by asking open questions about their long-term career goals and areas of interest to help them discover their aspirations.
  • What aspects of your current role do you find most engaging and why?
    • This question helps identify the tasks or projects that energise them, which can guide discussions about future roles or responsibilities they might enjoy.
  • What does your ideal role look like? Can you describe the responsibilities you want to have?
    • By asking them to visualise their ideal position, you can better understand their ultimate career objectives and the kinds of experiences they seek.
  • What motivates you in your work?
    • Understanding their motivators can help you tailor their career development in a way that maximises their engagement and satisfaction.
  • Are there any roles in the industry or in the company that you find appealing?
    • This can uncover aspirations they may not have explicitly considered before and can help in planning potential career moves within the company.
  • What do you want to achieve in the next quarter/year?
    • Encourages them to set specific short-term goals, which are essential for tracking progress and maintaining motivation.

Identifying goals

Now that you better understand your team’s aspirations, you should assist them in identifying opportunities for setting clear goals.

• Ask open-ended questions to help them identify potential areas for improvement and encourage them to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.
  • What are your top priorities in your role right now, and how do they align with your personal goals?
    • This question helps identify what they see as important in their current position and how these priorities relate to their longer-term career aspirations.
  • How can we align your personal goals with the team’s objectives?
    • Promotes a discussion on integrating their personal ambitions with the team’s needs, which is key for team cohesion and mutual success.
  • Is there a new area of expertise you’d like to explore or a new responsibility you’d like to take on?
    • Encourages them to think about expansion and growth, leading to goals that challenge and develop their capabilities.
• Suggest examples of typical goals to spark some ideas. Offer insights based on your observations and assessments of their performance and potential areas for growth.
• Highlight the company objectives and discuss how your direct reports can contribute to achieving these objectives.
• Request feedback from peers and people with whom they have been collaborating closely. They can give valuable insights into areas for improvement.
• Identify which type of goal your team wants to work on:
  • Skill Development: Improving technical skills, soft skills, or domain-specific knowledge.
  • Leadership Development: Building leadership qualities such as decision-making, people management and conflict resolution.
  • Project-Based Goals: Setting goals related to specific projects or tasks to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Setting goals

At this stage, you have clearly understood your team’s career goals and identified potential goals to help them achieve their aspirations. Since you have all the required information, it’s time to write down the goals.

• Ensure a healthy balance between short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals are usually focused on immediate skill development and performance improvement, while long-term goals emphasise career advancement and personal growth over time.
• Encourage experimentation by providing a psychologically safe environment where people are empowered to take risks and make mistakes in pursuit of growth without fearing being penalised.
• Provide resources and support to increase the chances of success. Identify relevant training workshops, courses or conferences for skill development. Find a mentor to pair with and provide guidance.
• Set clear goals using the SMART framework, which makes writing clear and structured goals.
  • Specific - The goal must be clear and specific to maintain focus. Answer the following questions:
    • What do I want to achieve?
    • Why do I want to achieve it?
  • Measurable - Tracking the goal’s progress must be possible to understand when it’s achieved. This helps maintain motivation and excitement since you can see progress over time.
    • How can I measure progress?
    • How do I know I have achieved it?
  • Achievable - Goals must be possible to achieve. Stretching is important, but remember that the goal must be realistic and attainable.
    • How can I achieve this goal?
    • Can I accomplish the goal based on my resources and time constraints?
  • Relevant - Ensure that the goal contributes directly to their short, and long-term goals. It also needs to be appropriate to the team and company.
    • How can this goal help me to reach the next level?
  • Time-bound - All goals must have a deadline. Committing to a target date is necessary and helps focus and prioritise the work.
    • When should I be able to complete the goal?
  • Example of a SMART goal: I want to learn more about designing APIs to improve my backend skills and help my team define better developer-friendly APIs by the end of Q2 2024. I will commit to reading ten pages per day of the book “Designing Web APIs” and prepare a presentation for the team.
    • Specific: Learn more about designing API
    • Measurable: Read the “Designing Web APIs” book ten pages per day. Prepare a presentation for the team.
    • Achievable: Since the book has 200 pages, reading ten pages daily should be feasible and does not disrupt my personal life. After reading the book, I have one month to prepare a presentation for the team.
    • Relevant:
      • Improve my backend skills, which will help me become a senior engineer.
      • Help the team design developer-friendly APIs.
      • Improve my communication skills by presenting what I have learnt.
    • Time-bound: Must be completed by the end of Q2 2024 (in 3 months).

Monitoring progress

After writing the goals, you should work closely with your team to monitor their progress and support them if they face blockers or need help. You can use tools such as a spreadsheet or a simple document to keep track of their progress and log notes.

• Empower your direct reports to take ownership of their goals. They must be accountable, and you should support them.
• Schedule regular 1:1 meetings to review progress, provide feedback, and adjust goals as needed. Flexibility and willingness to adjust goals based on lessons learned, changing circumstances or feedback are crucial.
• Recognise and celebrate their efforts and progress to keep their motivation high.
• Create a feedback loop by regularly gathering feedback from team members.

In summary, as an engineering manager, your role in guiding your team to set and achieve their career goals. This guide has outlined practical steps to understand aspirations, set clear goals, and monitor progress. Implementing these strategies will empower, motivate and develop your team.