Boomerang effect in career planning

In social psychology, the boomerang effect is defined as the situation where a person who is presented with persuasive communication adopts the reverse position. According to research, when a person feels that their freedom of choice is being disrupted, they may respond by taking the opposite position. So, in the case where we are not talking about a communication issue that can be simply addressed by adjusting the message and the way it is introduced, the consequences sometimes can be significant. In general, some people do not like to be told what they need to do or how to do it!

An invisible boomerang effect, true story!

This situation takes me back to my childhood when my parents were telling me all the time that I needed to get outstanding grades in order to get a great degree and finally find an ideal job. This ideal job would mostly likely be to become a doctor by the standards of many parents in my culture, all these guidelines didn’t seem to make much sense to me, so I took a shortcut and ended up becoming an engineer, which is pretty good, or so I thought! Even after so many years, I keep telling myself that if I had known that the boomerang effect existed, I would have chosen another professional path, I would have become someone completely different from what was expected of me… perhaps a cook, or an artist, and even a singer… I am not convinced by the singing path though; I do not think I have the vocal cords for it!

But anyway, all of this hardly matters, the boomerang effect would have never been possible under the reign of my amazing mom and my adorable dad.

But what does this mean for my organization?

So, if we model the same example on our valued children AKA employees, and have the parents AKA HR and managers tell them exactly what they need to do, when, where, and how, in order to develop the competencies deemed required to occupy their current position or the position we prepare them for, it will eventually trigger a boomerang effect and we will end up having a different result from the one we planned initially.  

We tend to develop talent management strategies that are relatively standardized by profile type and assume that they will work for everyone in that category. If we take the example of talents retention, companies spend a lot of money and energy to retain their talents, talents that will ultimately leave the organization for some reason, not necessarily because the retention strategy or approach adopted is not efficient but simply because they will start to feel that their freedom of choice is compromised. The same can be applied to career planning, no matter how hard we try to provide our talents with the best career development plans, we can never guarantee that the direction we would choose for them is the right one. However, we can be sure that at least over a given period of time and depending on the person’s professional and personal circumstances, the chances of designing and choosing the most appropriate career path for them are high. 

I get it, but is there anything I can do to avoid it?

Therefore, instead of focusing on how to retain our talented employees, or how to design and develop a customized career plan that meets their requirements and serves the needs of the organization at the same time, why not concentrate our efforts on how to provide them with a temporary but special talent experience, an experience where the decision will remain theirs. In other words, irrespective of how they feel toward our HR practices, we must find a way for them to bring value to the organization, either directly or indirectly. 

The main idea here is how to empower the employee, regardless of the outcome, in spite of their career development plan, and overlooking how long they plan to stay with the company. If we convince ourselves that there is no way we can control their decisions (outcome) and that the only thing we can control is the quality of the work they have to complete in their current position within the organization (deliverables), as well as the environment in which they are going to perform that work (work environment and benefits), the only thing we can do is to provide the employees with an experience that will accompany them wherever they go; they will have a part of the company’s DNA carried with them somewhere. 

And a few concrete examples…

This DNA could be a teambuilding event that marked an employee’s mind, because they had the chance to meet a special person during the event, or because one of the workshops that were organized as part of the teambuilding activities taught them how to cook the authentic Neapolitan pizza, or because at the end of the event they learned how to dance the Russian gopak. 

Implementing an idea that has been proposed by an employee to improve a problematic situation within the company. What we are referring to is the fact of empowering employees to create positive change within their team or even at the organizational level. Many companies that value their most important resource – human capital – involve their employees in programs that allow them to give input and be vocal. This in turn allows the employee to feel a sense of ownership and purpose knowing they can contribute to improving and innovating in their role. 

Specifically, as part of the career planning process, some companies offer mentoring programs to their employees. It has been proven that an employee who has had the opportunity to participate in a mentoring program can be inspired and influenced by the career plan or professional experience of their mentor in a comprehensive way, these results could not be obtained by mapping out and implementing the same mentors career plan for employees. This also allows the employee to keep valuable interactions and a unique experience with this mentor that they will carry with them for the rest of their career, and even after they leave the company, they are going to keep a positive impression of this experience, and they may speak positively about their former employer, which may encourage other individuals to join that company, and this is going to enhance the employer branding… 

What I should keep in mind!

In the end, may it be career planning or something else, we all know that our professional relationship with our employees is temporary, so in order to avoid creating a boomerang effect, we need to combine business with pleasure, ask for their opinion and input, encourage them to grow and to help others grow, be open to the idea that one day they will fly out of the nest, and more importantly let them know that you and the company are open to this idea and that you are here to help them fly on their own wings when they feel ready to do so! 

 

Sarah Rhandour

Talent Management Consultant at EPSI