Whether you’re just beginning your career journey and aren’t sure what step to take first or are a seasoned veteran in your field at a fork in the road, support, mentorship, and growth opportunities are crucial to your success. At Mazzella Companies, we always strive to be Lifelong Learners, subscribing to the idea that if you aren’t growing, you’re dying.
In recent years, and as an answer to the call to lead this growth mindset, the Lifelong Learning team and Executive Leadership have begun to get their hands dirty to help both new and old grow into their futures.
We sat down with Candice Gouge, Director of Lifelong Learning, Tom Horner, Corporate Rigging Inspection Manager, Bryan Holmgren, Regional Rigging Inspection Manager, and Eddy Heintel, R.I.S.E. Rotational Program Specialist to talk about what Career Pathing is, the programs available at Mazzella Companies, and why companies need to have something in place.
What is Career Pathing?
Career Pathing, also known as Career Planning or Career Development Planning, is the process of defining and mapping out career goals. This involves setting specific objectives, identifying the skills and experience required to reach those objectives, and creating a strategic plan to progress.
What kinds of Career Pathing are available at Mazzella Companies?
Within Mazzella Companies, three programs currently help team members journey towards a new career. There is an internship program, a Lifting Business Rotational program called R.I.S.E. (Rigging, Innovation, and Skills Experience), and a Career Pathing program called a Professional Development Plan (PDP).
Related: Launch Your Career with a Mazzella Companies Internship
The R.I.S.E. program aims to provide experiences that allow team members to learn about Mazzella Companies’ business while having the unique opportunity to work in distinct positions before determining their destination. The program consists of three six-month-long rotations in the Inside Sales, Operations, and Supply Chain departments.
Eddy Heintel, a R.I.S.E. program participant, had just graduated college with an Operations and Supply Chain Management degree. At the beginning of his career, he discovered Mazzella Companies and their Rotational program. What appealed to Eddy most was his knowledge of the company’s culture from family connections. He was equally attracted to the manufacturing business itself, wherein he would have the opportunity to gain experience in Purchasing, Distribution, Operations, and Manufacturing – all of which he studied in school. Each rotation of the program builds foundational knowledge needed for the subsequent cycle, helping to make for a naturally progressive learning experience.
The more traditional Career Pathing available at Mazzella Companies allows newcomer or established team members to plan for their future careers within the organization. By working on a PDP with the Lifelong Learning team, managers, and a mentor, everyone embarks on a new career journey with the steps in front of them. The plan helps define strengths and skills gaps and involves carefully thought-out training and mentorship.
Why is it essential to have a Career Pathing?
Ultimately, Career Pathing is a team member retention and succession planning tool. Having a clear and equally accessed road map for team members to follow on their career journey creates a more positive work environment and is inclusive. When biases are abandoned, and success is based on experience, valued and skilled team members feel like they have somewhere to grow.
Career Pathing can help team members learn more about their role to move into a position with more responsibility – or it may lead them outside their department. Tom shared that if you’re a Lifelong Learner on his Rigging Inspections team, “you’re going to learn about cranes, you’re going to understand training because it comes up every day with a customer. With that, you’ll also learn about the inner workings of Mazzella Companies. Our systems, people, groups– all great exposure that could lead you elsewhere.”
Career Pathing programs help with mobility and create the foundation for accurate and relevant job titles and job descriptions. Tom shared the importance of that, saying that he wants all team members to have a descriptive understanding of their current role and their next role.
Tom shared that all that front-end work will help them be proactive vs. reactive once they grow their department. Tom said, “We have the organizational template in place so that regardless of how many dollars the Sales team throws at us, we are prepared on the front end to handle it because we have the structure, not the other way around.”
Candice shared that sometimes the Career Paths her team and the hiring managers design include both lateral and upward moves. Candice said, “At the end of the day, it’s all about building on skill sets that make for a richer team and company.”
How are team members assessed for a Career Path?
Tom shared that his group and Lifelong Learning created distinct levels within his Rigging Inspections department to allow team members to earn hours of experience and complete specified training. This proves competency and provides interested team members with leveled paths to follow. Other departments using Career Pathing have something similar with milestones along the way.
Knowing that there are achievable milestones provides realistic goals, which can also motivate those interested in change. Having these clear expectations also helps provide a framework for objective performance evaluation.
Tom said they want people to decide what paths they’d be most interested in and what they feel is best for them based on how their skills match up. While building those skills could help someone move up within their department, it could also lead them to a role in a different department, especially when the roles are closely related, like Rigging Inspections and Outside Sales.
Related: Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales: Understanding the Four Fundamental Differences
Tom shared there’s a role he’s particularly interested in seeing someone train for and fill – Master Technician. The position is a very high-level expert with thousands of training hours that could go out into the field alone and assist with questions from newer team members. Tom shared, “We want to make sure that that high-level person wants to be that person.”
What’s involved in creating a Career Pathing program?
At Mazzella Companies, the first step towards building Career Paths was completing a needs or gap analysis to determine business needs. This analysis assured Mazzella Companies that opportunities weren’t just being created – they made sense to the business groups.
The Rigging Inspections team precisely had initially planned for growth. So, the needs analysis followed. Part of growing is understanding what the business structure will look like in one, two, five, or even 10 years. The team quickly identified that they were going to need more people in separate places and higher levels of specific career paths.
Part of that gap analysis had to do with assessing job descriptions. Tom and Bryan worked with Rhonee on correct and accurate job descriptions to lay the groundwork and create value in the person. This came with the regrading of specific roles and titles, ensuring the groundwork was in place for growth. Tom added that it’s essential that everyone has a job description that explains who you are and who you need to be to move on.
It was also critical that team members outside of his group within the company understood there was growth. Tom said, “We looked at all the different positions and then decided what it looked like from the day you entered the door and how we get you to understand that if you want to be a Rigging Inspector for 30 years, it’s fantastic, but if you want to move one eventually, that’s fantastic too.”
How can team members begin a Career Path?
Tom said the first steps would be to start talking to your direct manager about your goals and ask questions about what Career Pathing is available. If you’re still interested, contacting Lifelong Learning would be the next step. Reaching out and asking questions is not a commitment on either side, but sharing information will better prepare everyone for your choices moving forward.
Tom’s 30 years at the company have given him a unique perspective, making the current programs available all the more exciting, “I’ve been here so long, and it’s great to see these opportunities available because when we were a smaller company, these conversations just didn’t happen. My career path here just happened, and now we can make things happen for people.”
Room to Take Shape
Fostering a growth mindset is only part of the equation – a growth plan is equally essential. At Mazzella Companies, we seek new and innovative ways to develop business and personal growth alongside each other. As Tom candidly shared, having career paths available to team members may mean losing a valuable team member to a different department. Still, the internal mobility makes us a stronger company while giving irreplaceable talent room to take shape.
