Cascading Leadership Series – Ladder to Success

What’s the next step for a new employee who has passed the Green Book evaluation? Like I said last week, our behavioral evaluation—the Green Book—is designed to assess soft skills and ensure a person is a good fit for Nolan Painting, and once that’s confirmed, we set them on what we call the Learning Paths. 

Learning Paths track task-oriented skills. We want our employees on track to be and feel successful within the company ASAP. Many companies fail to discuss career paths with employees as a map to greater responsibility, compensation, and possibly a better life. What a miss! We want them to master skills and move up, so we provide many opportunities to anyone seeking them.

 Ladder to Success

Our Learning Paths hold the elements required to succeed and define the ladder to success in our company. At Nolan Painting, the first Learning Path begins with the Apprentice 1 role and proceeds to Apprentice 2, Painter 1, Painter 2, and Master Painter as skills are mastered, as seen in the chart below.

We have training programs specific to each job description—the concept of Learning Paths originated from job descriptions! When we first made job descriptions, I thought it was just human resources gobbledygook. However, I have since learned that they are a helpful tool that documents expectations and clarifies the path forward to the employee—definitely a win!

 A good boss is clear about expectations;

 fair expectations cascade down as part of good leadership.

You can’t build muscle without clear paths for training, leadership development, and career advancement. Start small, but get started!

See you next week. Build muscle.