A "career GPS" app containing a rubric and tooling for self-directed professional development, prototyped at IDEO, evolved continuously from Hulu to Tala. Now AI-enabled.
IDEO was a flat organization, with an internal reputation of being a great place to work, but a tough place for a career. People wanted feedback on their work, guidance on how to improve, and a career path for professional growth, but importing corporate career ladders and processes could tip a special culture into a traditional model. IDEO:ME helped people see how to map their individual interests with IDEO's collective interests and Career Navigation was born.
Most talent processes rely on a manager reviewing an employee. Career Navigation puts the person as the driver choosing their next destination, mapping the route and seeking feedback against a shared rubric to assess their progress.
Traditional performance management compares people within a population of peers. Ratings provide distance from expectations and often force distributions resulting in what some call "rank and yank" processes. This might work to increase talent density but it comes with real costs that erode trust and discretionary effort. An evidence-based rubric plots work samples against the expectations for each professional level and generates an S-curve that aligns with how skills grow.
Agile, global businesses operate 24/7 at increasing velocity. Traditional annual review processes bog things down and are universally disliked. Talent Radar is an "always on" approach to talent management that tracks progress towards goals. Multiple sources of data (performance ratings, compensation, OKRs, etc.) are merged into one global view that shows who is on track and who is not. Multiple leaders can view the radar summary together and discuss ways to correct course or change tactics.
The Gamut Career GPS assessment is the individual tracking mechanism that provides an accurate, transparent, accessible view of progress against professional level expectations. The web app prototype is open for free trials. The data you produce is private and belongs to you but free to share if you opt in to support ongoing research. Open Career GPS
Make the time, match your method to the person, compassion and high expectations are not mutually exclusive.
Feedback is a machine word. Successful people do something more human.
The 1% challenge for investors: put your money where your mouth is
