Growth Discussions
Turning insight into long-term employee growth
In our previous posts, we explored how clear expectations, continuous feedback, and effective 1-1 meetings power performance enablement. But there’s another critical piece of the puzzle: the growth discussion—a dedicated type of development discussion about the future of an employee’s career, not just their present role. In modern performance management, these conversations bridge the gap between short-term performance and long-term employee growth, helping organizations retain talent and employees see a clear path forward.
New to performance enablement?
Read an overview of all the 6 elements of performance enablement first.
What are growth discussions
While regular 1-1s focus on current priorities and blockers, a growth discussion zooms out. It’s where managers and employees step back from the week-to-week and ask:
- Where am I heading in my career?
- What skills and experiences will help me get there?
- How can the company support that journey?
Done well, a development discussion becomes a powerful tool for engagement, retention, and employee growth. Done poorly—or skipped entirely—they leave employees unsure about their future and more likely to look for it elsewhere.
"The most important thing you can do to build a relationship is to have career conversations that focus on people’s dreams and aspirations."
Why growth discussions matter for performance enablement
From our interviews with over 100 People and Tech leaders, one truth is clear: people stay when they see a future for themselves in the company. In a performance enablement culture, growth discussions aren’t just a nice-to-have—they are essential for:
1. Building long-term alignment
By connecting personal aspirations with business needs, these development discussions help employees envision themselves growing within the organization, rather than needing to leave to progress.
2. Driving proactive development
Well-timed growth conversations set the stage for proactive movement and learning. As Harvard Business Review notes:
3. Strengthening motivation
Clarity about future opportunities fosters purpose, which research links directly to increased engagement and meaningful employee growth outcomes.
"When career development conversations were well timed, the tenure of employees nearly doubled."
How growth discussions differ from regular 1-1s
It’s easy to confuse a growth discussion with a tactical check-in, but they serve different purposes:
| Regular 1-1s | Growth Discussions / Development Discussions |
|---|---|
| Weekly or biweekly | Quarterly (or at least 1-2 times a year) |
| Focus on current priorities, blockers, and immediate feedback | Focus on long-term career trajectory and skill development |
| Driven by recent work and ongoing projects | Driven by aspirations, growth areas, and future opportunities |
| Outcomes: task alignment, short-term problem solving | Outcomes: development plan, skill-building roadmap |
One way to make space for them is to replace one regular 1-1 each quarter with a career development discussion, keeping the focus firmly on employee growth.
What makes a great growth discussion
Based on our research and Taito.ai’s coaching principles, a high-impact growth discussion has these elements:
1. Clear expectations as the foundation
You can’t talk about the future without clarity on the present. Align on where the employee currently stands relative to role expectations, skills, and impact.
2. Insights from continuous feedback
Bring in feedback trends from peers, projects, and managers to identify strengths to leverage and growth areas to address. This shifts the conversation from opinion to evidence—one of the key practices in performance management done right.
3. A focus on skills and experiences, not just roles
Instead of asking “What job do you want next?”, explore “What skills do you want to master?” or “What kind of challenges excite you?”—and then find opportunities to build those within the organization.
4. Co-ownership
The best development discussions are collaborative. Managers can suggest pathways and resources, but employees should own their development plan.
5. A documented plan
Agree on clear, time-bound actions—courses to take, projects to join, mentors to connect with. Document these so they can be revisited in future growth discussions.
How Taito.ai supports growth discussions
Taito.ai helps managers and employees prepare for—and follow through on—growth discussions by:
- Surfacing relevant insights from expectations, continuous feedback, and past coaching conversations
- Generating personalized agendas so each development discussion focuses on what matters most for the individual’s employee growth
- Linking development goals to business needs, ensuring alignment between personal and organizational priorities
- Tracking progress over time so growth discussions build on one another, rather than starting from scratch each quarter
Our take
Growth discussions are where performance enablement becomes deeply personal. They give employees a vision of their future, managers a roadmap for supporting it, and organizations a strategy for retaining and developing their talent.
When paired with clear expectations, continuous feedback, and regular coaching, these development discussions ensure that employee growth isn’t left to chance—it’s planned, supported, and celebrated.
At Taito.ai, we help teams:
- Replace ad-hoc career chats with structured, quarterly growth discussions
- Bring the right data and insights into every development discussion
- Turn career and skill goals into actionable, trackable plans
If you want to make employee growth a natural, continuous part of your culture, join the Taito.ai beta and see how we help teams build futures together.
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What’s next
If expectations define success, and feedback provides insight, employee coaching through regular 1-1 meetings turns that insight into momentum.
This post is part of our blog series on performance enablement. So far, we’ve covered:
- Performance Enablement: Why modern teams are moving past traditional reviews
- Setting Expectations: The first step to enabling performance
- Continuous Feedback: Driving growth in real time
- Employee Coaching and 1-1 Meetings: Recurring, actionable conversations
- This post: Growth discussions
Want to go deeper?
These suggest these reads in case you would like to have more perspectives on the importance of growth discussions, and how to run them:
- Radical Candor, Kim Scott, 2017
- How to Talk to Your Team About Their Career Development, Harvard Business Review, 2023
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel H. Pink, 2009The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, Michael Bungay Stanier, 2016