Career Pathing Framework

Career Framework Home Explore what growth could look like A practical guide for employees considering what to learn, deepen, or try next. Examples throughout use fictional Northstar Services. Growth can mean deeper expertise, broader responsibility, or adjacent work—not only moving up a title ladder. A useful route through the guide Start with evidence from your work, then choose one small next step. Reflect Name work you do well and one recent example that shows it. You Explore Compare deeper expertise, broader scope, and adjacent work. Experiment Try a bounded learning activity and decide what feedback would help. You and a colleague Discuss Bring your example and learning question to a manager conversation. You and your manager One example, several directions A service coordinator at fictional Northstar Services enjoys resolving complex cases. Deepen service expertise Build on familiar work by learning to handle a wider range of complex requests. Keep a brief record of suitable cases resolved and what helped. Ask for feedback on the reasoning used to choose a response. Improve a handoff Use customer insight to make information easier for the next team to act on. Notice which details are repeatedly missing. Test a clearer summary on one appropriate case. Explore quality-focused work Learn how recurring cases are reviewed for patterns and possible process improvements. Ask to observe a suitable review. Bring one appropriate example and a question about evidence. Choose your next step Open the page that matches the question on your mind. Reflect on skills Turn recent work into a useful strength and stretch example. Explore role families Consider adjacent work and sideways growth. Understand contribution Compare illustrative ways contribution can grow. Prepare a conversation Bring a concrete agenda and learning question. Role Families Explore the work, not just the title Role families are lenses for learning about different kinds of contribution. These fictional Northstar Services examples are conversation starters, not an official job architecture or a promise of an opening. A sideways move, short assignment, or shared project can build useful experience without being a promotion. When comparing areas, ask what people do in an ordinary week, what decisions they make, and which skills they use repeatedly. Three adjacent kinds of work Illustrative examples from fictional Northstar Services. Service Delivery Resolve customer needs and keep the case moving. Which complex requests would help me build service judgment? Quality and Improvement Notice recurring patterns and test clearer ways of working. What evidence helps distinguish a one-off issue from a pattern? Operations Coordination Connect schedules, information, and team handoffs. Which coordination task would show me the work's daily rhythm? Growth can change expertise or scope Use these examples to identify which kind of stretch sounds useful now. Change your expertise Build a deeper skill in related work while staying close to your current scope. Learn a new case type. Practice explaining why a resolution works. Change your scope Take responsibility for connecting work across people, cases, or steps. Coordinate a small handoff improvement. Share a recurring issue and its evidence with a partner team. Make one area easier to explore Choose one adjacent area. Identify a real task, project, or conversation that could help you understand its day-to-day work. For example: “Could I sit in on a suitable quality review and ask how the team decides which patterns to investigate?” Afterward, note what surprised you and whether the work still interests you. Levels and Expectations Notice how contribution can grow Use this illustrative matrix to reflect on work—not to infer an official level or promotion decision. The examples below describe possible differences in scope, judgment, and collaboration in a fictional team. They are not Northstar Services' official job architecture. Titles and expectations vary by organization and role. An illustrative contribution matrix A filled-in example of how the work itself might change. Contribution pattern Scope Judgment Collaboration Handles familiar work reliably Completes recurring requests using shared processes. Recognizes when a case needs help and raises it with context. Keeps the next person informed when work changes hands. Resolves less familiar work and shares learning Takes on varied requests and follows through on their next steps. Compares possible responses and explains the choice. Shares a useful example so teammates can apply the learning. Improves how recurring work is handled Looks across repeated cases or handoffs for a practical improvement. Uses examples to test whether a change addresses the issue. Works with affected teammates to refine and explain the change. Turn the matrix into reflection Look for evidence, impact, and a next responsibility you actually want to try. Evidence What work example shows how you handled a decision or recurring task? Name the situation. Describe what you did. Impact What changed for a customer, teammate, or the flow of work? Point to an observable result. Say what you learned, including what remains uncertain. Next responsibility Which task would you like to try with appropriate support? Choose a real, bounded opportunity. Decide what feedback would help you learn. Describe the work, not a label Instead of “I am ready for the next level,” try: “I have independently handled recurring cases that needed coordination across two steps. I would like feedback on whether my summaries give the next teammate enough context, and I am interested in trying a small handoff improvement.” This gives a manager something specific to discuss without assuming a title change or a universal promotion sequence. Skills and Development Use real work as your starting point A recent example is more useful than an abstract self-rating. Think of a task that went well, a challenge that taught you something, or feedback you remember. What did you do, what evidence did you notice, and what would you like to practice next? A worked skills reflection Fictional Northstar Services example: a coordinator turns a confusing request into a clear next action. Strength in practice Clarifying a customer's request before routing it to the next team. Restates the need in plain language. Checks that the summary reflects the request. Evidence and stretch The coordinator summarizes the need before routing; a useful next stretch is learning to spot recurring causes. Keep one or two appropriate examples. Ask what information would make a pattern clearer. Run a small development experiment Keep the activity focused enough to learn from. Choose one skill Name a specific skill to practice, such as writing a clear issue summary. Select a real opportunity Pick a suitable, bounded work activity where you can practice without overpromising an outcome. Agree what support helps Ask a manager or colleague for an example, observation, or feedback on a draft. Review what you learned After the activity, record what worked, what was unclear, and what to try next. A completed experiment example A realistic learning activity from the fictional Northstar Services sample. Activity Observe a suitable quality review, then draft a short issue summary for feedback. Use an appropriate example. Ask for feedback on whether the summary is clear and useful. Learning question What information makes a handoff actionable? Notice which context helps the next person respond. Use the feedback to revise one future summary. Internal Mobility Explore a move by learning about the work Mobility can include a project, temporary responsibility, cross-team collaboration, or a role change. Explore the published career-portal openings below and read each vacancy’s stated audience and application instructions. This list does not represent a separate internal-only vacancy feed. For an internal move, use your organization’s established internal mobility route to confirm the process, eligibility questions, and required conversations. A development discussion or a listing on this page does not guarantee a transfer. Published career-portal openings A practical exploration sequence Name the work that interests you Identify a task or problem, such as finding patterns in recurring service issues. Compare everyday tasks with your strengths Ask what people do regularly and which parts use skills you already practice. Identify one learning gap Choose a skill or context you want to understand better before deciding what to pursue. Find an appropriate way to learn Ask about a suitable observation, shared task, or project contribution. Worked example: a useful cross-team handoff Fictional Northstar Services scenario: Service Delivery shares a recurring issue with Quality and Improvement. Issue summary Several recent requests describe confusion at the same handoff. State the recurring issue plainly; do not claim a trend from one example. Relevant context Include appropriate, non-sensitive examples and the step where the confusion appeared. Give enough context to understand the workflow without sharing unnecessary personal details. Learning question What further evidence would help determine whether these cases share a cause? Invite the receiving team to identify what information would be useful next. Questions people often ask Does sideways growth count? It can. A move into adjacent work may deepen expertise, broaden relationships, or reveal new interests without being a promotion. Do I need to feel fully ready before exploring? You can begin by learning about the work and identifying what you would need to practice. Exploration is not a commitment to apply or transfer. What if there is no relevant role listed? A vacancy list shows current listed opportunities, not every way to learn about work. Start with a task, skill, or problem that interests you, and ask your manager about a suitable learning activity. Do not treat exploration as evidence that a role is open. Growth Conversations Make room for a useful growth conversation You do not need a finished career plan. Bring a real work example, a direction you are curious about, and one question you would like to explore together. A simple conversation agenda Use the prompts that fit; the aim is a shared next step, not a perfect script. Work that energizes me Name a task or kind of problem you would like to do more often. What part of the work holds your attention? A skill in practice Bring one recent example and explain what you did. What changed for a customer, teammate, or process? A direction to explore Share an area of work, new responsibility, or skill that interests you. What would help you understand the day-to-day work? Support and review Agree what feedback or opportunity could help you learn, and when to revisit it. What is a practical next check-in point? Bring a concrete example Fictional Northstar Services example: a coordinator wants to learn whether quality-focused work is a good fit. What I will bring A recurring case-resolution example and a question about how useful issue summaries are. Describe the situation and action. Explain what the next teammate needed to know. What I will ask Could I observe a suitable quality review and discuss what I learned afterward? Ask what preparation would help. Agree how and when to review the learning. If your direction is still uncertain How can I talk about uncertainty? Say what you know so far: which tasks interest you, what you have learned from recent work, and what you would like to investigate next. Can I discuss sideways growth without naming a role? Yes. Describe the kind of work or skill you want to explore and ask about a suitable way to learn more. What if there is no opportunity immediately? Use the conversation to identify a useful next question, feedback source, or learning activity. Exploring an idea does not establish that a role is open.