Why Do Employees and Executives Constantly Misunderstand Each Other?

Is the Corporate Ladder Dead? Why the “Career Lattice” Is the Future of Work

Stop trying to climb a broken ladder. Listen to our summary of the Talent Experience Podcast with Susan Kushnir to learn why the “career lattice” is the new path to success and how to finally speak your boss’s language.

Are you speaking to your boss, or just talking past them? Learn the secret code to executive communication. Listen to the full episode with Susan Kushnir and start building a career path that actually fits your life, not just your job title.

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Today’s employees want more varied and flexible career paths that allow them to experiment, learn, and grow. Yet often, employees and executives talk past one another when discussing career development, leading to misunderstandings and divergent expectations. In this episode of The Talent Experience Podcast, human resources specialist and co-author of Decoding Executives Susan Kushnir talks with host Anne Fulton about how employees and executives can close these communication gaps and work together to create more satisfying and fulfilling careers.

Take-Aways

• Executives speak differently than their employees, which leads to misunderstandings.
• Changing times require new career competencies and fresh approaches to employee development.
• The lattice is a better symbol for career progression in the 2020s than the ladder.

Summary

Executives speak differently than their employees, which leads to misunderstandings.

Clear communication with superiors is a common challenge for employees, especially those in earlier career stages. Employees and their managers often draw different conclusions from the same conversation because they are, in essence, speaking different languages. For example, an employee who provides an executive with reams of data gathered from a focus group may think she is responding well to the executive’s request for information. But perhaps the busy executive wants the employee to provide the main take-aways from the research.

“In most cases, the executive is the client and really should be treated as such.” (Susan Kushnir)

In many ways, talking with executives is akin to talking to clients: Employees need to understand the executive’s needs and goals first and then work to meet those expectations. Of course, every executive is different. Some love data and need lots of evidence to support their decisions. Others prefer that you parse the data and summarize it for them. That’s why employees can benefit from building their own guide to conversations with higher-ups. Focus on five key areas when analyzing the preferences of the executives with whom you work: how they make decisions; the kinds of information they need; the level of formality they prefer; how they like to communicate — via email, for instance, versus in-person — and the amount and kinds of data they want to see.

Changing times require new career competencies and fresh approaches to employee development.

Workers need to develop new competencies in the current age of rapid change. One such competency is integrating information from various angles, making it easier to make informed decisions. Another competency is intellectual curiosity. People interested in exploring new technologies or experimenting with new work models, such as hybrid or gig work, are essential assets in the modern workplace.

Companies must be more thoughtful about how they onboard. To get new employees up to speed quickly, companies should embrace a microlearning philosophy — helping people learn at the point at which they need the new information — and incorporate elements like gamification, which helps make learning more enjoyable.

The lattice is a better symbol for career progression in the 2020s than the ladder.

Career growth is no longer a straight line. It’s more like a “lattice.” Today’s employees want to create their own career paths and have more control over the kinds of work they do. Indeed, one primary reason people leave their organizations is that they want to try new things. Organizations can support these growth-minded employees and keep them in-house by giving them more opportunities to grow their skills and competencies. This may mean allowing them to take on different kinds of projects — much like gig workers — and offering short-term stretch assignments or the chance to move laterally between departments.

“The career lattice to me is a progression pathway that can go in any direction.” (Susan Kushnir)

Internal gig work differs from merely “shadowing” as it allows employees to participate fully in a project. For senior management, short gig-type assignments are a good way to test and develop their team members’ skills. Managers and employees should work closely together to create a more creative and engaging career experience.

About the Podcast

Anne Fulton is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Fuel50 and host of The Talent Experience Podcast. Susan Kushnir is a human resource thought leader, certified coach, Capitol Technology University board member, and co-author of Decoding Executives.