Performance Management

Thinking Through Your Career Interests

About this guide

This document is a supplement to the Performance Management
at AECOM Program Employee Guide. Its intended to help you:
Recognize different career development options
Gain insight about where you are now in your career vs. where

you want to be
Determine development priorities
Understand your responsibilities for taking action on your career

development and your managers role to guide you

Your career development is a partnership between you and the
organization. The company needs to set clear expectations with
you, and provide appropriate resources and support to help you be successful. But ultimately, you need to take
the initiative with your career. You need to identify and commit to relevant development goals, then invest the
time and effort to achieve your goals.

Career development options

Do you know what you want to do for your career, both short-term (1-2 years) and longer-term (2 years or more)?
As you think through what your short and longer-term goals should be, recognize that there are different ways to
develop your career. Its important to consider different alternatives and the best fit for you and the company; here
are three different options to think about:
Vertical path
Lattice path
Job enrichment or realignment

Vertical path
One option is a vertical career path in which you would progress upward through different levels of a particular job
family as you gain more experience, develop your skills and knowledge, and take on work with greater scope and
complexity. Each AECOM job family includes specific positions that reflect the organizations needs for that type
of work. Each position within the job family has defined performance requirements in terms of scope, complexity,
job skills and knowledge, work direction, etc. With each change and move upward within a job family, you take
on increasing levels of responsibility, work more independently and assume a greater leadership role with
increased impact on the companys objectives. Figure 1 on the next page illustrates this upward movement and
changes in roles and responsibilities as a general overview*.

AECOM

Performance Management

Level III

Thinking Through Your Career Interests

Responsibility

Primary Role

Relationship

Shapes organizational
direction

Director

Assumes responsibility
for the organization

Strategist
Key Account Leader

Level II

Develops others

Manager

Interfaces

Integrator

Assumes responsibility
for others

Mentor
Business developer
Level I

Performs tasks under

supervision
Establishes distinctive
competence

Assistant

Assume responsibility for

yourself

Mentee
Individual contributor

Figure 1 - Vertical Movement

* This figure is meant to be illustrative of how the responsibilities and roles will shift within a vertical path. These are not
defined AECOM job levels. For more information about job families and profiles, please contact your HR representative.

For example, a Staff Engineer could move into a Project Engineer position and later become an Engineering
Manager. Its important to note that in any organization, based on the business needs, there will be a certain
number of roles and positions required, and vertical progression options may be limited. Depending on your
interests, skills and the available opportunities, the vertical path may not be the best fit for you; it may be more
advantageous to pursue a lattice path or job enrichment.

Lattice path
In todays job market and in AECOM, having a broad and diversified skill set is valuable, and often increases your
career options. Many people also find that a broader skill set is more interesting on a professional level. Your
interest may not be to move up the ladder, but rather to learn or apply your skills in a different job or discipline
moving across the lattice. This may involve changing job families, working within a different technical discipline
or function, or moving to another business line. Depending on your skills and experience, you might be able to
move laterally, but you might also need time and training in order to develop specific competencies and perform
according to requirements in a new role. Figure 2 below illustrates an example of career movements across the
lattice within a business line.

Program/Project
Management

Operations

Technical
Professional

Business/Account
Development

Functions
(e.g. Finance, HR,
Marketing/Comm.
SH&E)

Business Line*
Figure 2: Lattice Path Movement across Job Families
* Job families may vary among business lines and geographies. Please refer to your manager or local Human Resources
representative for more information about job families and opportunities.

AECOM

Performance Management

Thinking Through Your Career Interests

For instance, a Project Manager may have a goal to move into a business development/sales position. To make
that move in his career, if he has the key skills and knowledge needed, he may be able to move into a lateral
position and shift his focus. If he currently doesnt have all of the skills and knowledge needed to perform, he may
be willing to move into a lower-level position in order to build the skills and experience for a new career in
business development.

Job enrichment or realignment

Another option is to enrich your current job. You may take on different or additional responsibilities, such as
challenging projects or assignments that benefit the company while also helping you develop or enhance your
competencies. You may also look for ways to bring greater variety to your job. This option is for those who want to
grow in their present position, stay engaged, and diversify their work assignments. For instance, an
Administrative Assistant may take on a new assignment/role as an intranet coordinator to update site content for a
particular group/department. A technical professional employee may participate on a task team to plan the training
and implementation of a new system.
In working with your manager, you might also consider adjusting or realigning your current job to accommodate
life changes or increase your job satisfaction. An example is a line manager who changes his position to a
technical role because he determines that he is happier in an individual contributor position.
As you can see, there are several options for career development. Your career may not necessarily proceed in a
straight line but perhaps go up, down, or sideways to reach your desired goal. Its important for you to discuss
your interests, goals and different options with your manager, identify possible opportunities, and also assess your
readiness to take on new or different positions, roles, or assignments.

Gaining insight
To determine your career direction, you need a good understanding about where you are today and where you
want to be in the future. Personal reflection and gaining insight is the starting point. You may start this process of
1
discovery by looking at your G.A.P.S :
Goals (and values) What you want to do: This includes specifying the key goals you have for your career,
and understanding the motives and values that drive your behavior. You will need to think about whats
important to you in your work and in the rest of your life, and why its important. You will also want to think
about what you like and dislike about previous jobs and the work youve done.
Abilities What you can do: This includes identifying your current competency portfolio including your
strengths and areas for improvement. Look objectively to determine where youve been successful and not so
successful, and which skills would have led to success.
Perceptions How others see you: To get a full picture of your strengths/improvement areas, ask for
feedback from multiple sources. Start with your manager. Another idea is to ask peers, co-workers, and
direct reports for their perceptions of your skills.
Success Factors What others expect from you: These are the standards or criteria you must meet to
succeed in a particular position or role. The standards will vary depending on the organization, cultures, and
sometimes within a company.

Development First, Personnel Decisions International

AECOM

Performance Management

Thinking Through Your Career Interests

Where Kris is Now

Where Kris Wants to Go

Abilities:

Goals:

Bright, motivated, hard-working.

Become a section manager.

Strong project management,

communication, and problem-solving
skills

Longer-term, become a department

manager

Solid in strategic thinking and people

skills
Needs better business acumen,
experience leading teams, and
influencing peers and senior mgmt

Have more autonomy and decisionmaking authority

Success Factors:

Talented project manager with

reasonable understanding of business
and competitive forces shaping the
industry

Managers need to:

Modest impact and lack of cross

functional experience have previously
kept out of consideration for a section
manager position

Kriss View

Use people skills and experience to

foster a thriving, creative atmosphere
within the team

Perceptions:

Not yet a powerful leader; tends to let

management set direction vs.
articulating and supporting her own
point of view

Be independent thinkers who can

make good business decisions in the
face of ambiguity
Understand and address the issues
facing the business

Others Views

Provide strong leadership, especially

in terms of building teams, engaging
staff, and working through others to
achieve goals

Figure 3 - G.A.P.S. example

Figure 3 shows an example of a G.A.P.S analysis that an employee, Kris, completed with her managers help. In
this example, Kris is a Project Manager with a short-term goal of becoming a section manager, and a long-term
goal of becoming a department manager. She has identified the areas she values within a job, evaluated both her
present and needed abilities, solicited feedback from others about how they perceive her, and identified the key
requirements to be a successful manager.
Your manager can help you discover information about your abilities by asking you some key questions to
complete a self-assessment of your abilities. Additionally, he/she can provide valuable, objective feedback and
help you gather information about others perceptions of your abilities to get a full picture of your strengths and
improvement areas.
To prioritize your development areas, you will need to confirm your goals and values, and the success factors
required for the particular jobs that you are interested in within the company. Determining your goals and values
will require personal reflection. You can find out what the success factors are by talking to your manager, Human
Resources, and various people who perform in those positions.
Your goals and abilities will evolve over time, so it is important to keep your perspective current. Work with your
manager to periodically revisit and assess your G.A.P.S. and to update your development plan.

Determine development priorities

The next step is to partner with your manager to determine your development priorities. Focus on 1-2 key goals
that will deliver the biggest impact and help you get closer to achieving your short- and/or long-term career
aspirations. If you select development goals that are important to both you and the company, you should have
ample opportunity to work on them, find support, and stay motivated to achieve them. Also, be sure that your
goals are specific enough to translate into action.

AECOM

Performance Management

Thinking Through Your Career Interests

Continuing with the previous example, Kris and her manager agreed that she will focus on developing her
leadership and influence capabilities, which will help her to develop required skills she would need to reach her
short-term career goal to become a section manager.
Development Area: Leadership and Influence
Development Goal Details:

Lead the X task team a high visibility, global project requiring leadership of peers and influencing senior
stakeholders to adopt your recommendations

Work with Joe as a mentor on these skills; observe him in various meetings and other situations, and get feedback
from him on your influence skills and impact

Participate in the next Leadership Forum, share knowledge back through a brown bag for our department, and share
how youve applied these skills in ongoing coaching sessions with your manager

Kris and her manager identified different activities to develop her leadership and influence skills. This area is a
key requirement for operations management positions, and also an AECOM core competency that is important for
her current job as well.
Development is more than just taking training classes; Kris goal is a good example of using a multi-dimensional
strategy for your professional and career development. The ExTRA model below in Figure 4 outlines the various
ways that we learn and develop, with some examples of each.

Experiences

Training

Develop by doing

Develop by learning

Stretch assignments

Classroom training

Special projects and task forces

e-learning

Cross-functional assignments

Blended learning

Change job role, scale, scope and/or

complexity

Cross-training

Fixing/turning around a business problem

Seminars and conferences

Job shadowing

Websites, books and periodicals

Volunteer work

Relationships

Accountability

Develop with others

Develop yourself with others and

apply your skills

Manager

Teach others

Mentors and coaches

Coach others

Subject matter experts

Share your expertise with others

Learning buddies

Create contingency plans

Role models

Apply learnings on the job

Employee resource groups

Keep your development promises

Communities of practice
Professional associations and networks

Figure 4 ExTRA Model

As you think about what development activities to pursue, consider which will best help you develop the targeted
competency. Often, it is most effective when you can integrate the activities as a regular part of your work, such
as taking on new assignments relevant to your priorities. Also, note that you will develop the most when you are
stretching outside of your comfort zone.

AECOM

Performance Management

Thinking Through Your Career Interests

Taking action on your career development

Your career development requires a partnership between you
and the organization.
Your manager plays a pivotal role in your career
development. Here are a few ways that he/she can support
you:
Expand your insights about your G.A.P.S.
Ask questions and actively listen to understand your

goals and values

Give you feedback on your strengths and improvement

areas, and which competencies are most important for

your continued development
Offer honest and realistic views of your career goals, and

your readiness to take on new responsibilities or positions

Help you (or gain access to people who can) identify the success factors for different jobs/job families within

AECOM
Partner to confirm your development plan priorities and activities (ExTRA strategies)
Link you to people who can provide information, feedback, mentoring or other support
Work with executive management and Human Resources to examine current and future staffing requirements,

identify opportunities at AECOM and ensure your career goals are realistic with the business needs.
You are responsible for:
Identifying your career interests and development path. Completing a G.A.P.S. analysis is a great way to gain

insight about where you are vs. where you want to go both from your own perspective, and that of others
Confirming priority developmental goals with your manager
Documenting your development plan and career interests as part of the Performance Management at AECOM

program. During the Planning stage, you will enter these in the online system or use the paper form
Taking action to complete development activities, monitoring your progress, and seeking guidance from your

manager
Ultimately, you have the accountability to drive your career development. It is up to you to manage and take
ownership of the process. Your manager should provide coaching, access to resources, and permission to
engage in certain activities, but you are essentially responsible for your continued growth in the company. Be
opportunistic and take advantage of opportunities to learn and develop that are part of your job. And, dont wait for
great opportunities to come knocking on your door. Go after what you want: ask for new assignments, introduce
and expose yourself to a network of people who are doing what you want to learn, and be willing to take some
risks and experiment with something new.

Resources
Help with your career development can come from many sources. Here are a few of the primary resources to
assist you:
Your manager

Your primary source for guidance and coaching on career interests and your priority
development areas

Your HR
representative

Guidance on the process, career paths, available opportunities and development options

MyAECOM
Performance
Management Site

Information on the Performance Management at AECOM program, such as reference guides,

help cards and online training modules that provide guidance on process and how to use the
online system to document your development plan and career interests