As our workforce and workplaces continue to evolve, each generation is thinking differently about career mobility. With five generations currently in the workforce, Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, understands that empowering their multigenerational employees to thrive in every role is critical—for individual career growth and the organization’s success.

To help employees across departments and positions, with diverse backgrounds and experiences, tap into their career potential, we partnered with Nationwide Children’s HR team to design, develop, and launch Career Circles, a 10-week virtual program with facilitated cohorts designed to maximize the exchange of diverse perspectives. Through Career Circles, the organization is continuing to support the career development needs of all employees in an inclusive manner.

Benefits of Career Circles within the organization include:

Employee belonging

Feeling confident contributes to feelings of belonging; that’s why Career Circles includes virtual facilitator-led training to help participants build confidence in their skills. Participants engage in activities to understand their learning journeys, skills, strengths, and career growth goals, as well as to better understand their roles in the community with their cohort members.

For role-specific cohorts, Career Circles is helping strengthen community among employee groups that historically struggle with talent retention, such as nurses. Every participant has several networking opportunities with other cohort members to practice their elevator pitch and share what they’re learning.

Multigenerational perspectives

Career Circles is designed to support the organization’s value of “growing our own.” We included stakeholders from HR, workforce development, marketing, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to provide insight and feedback on the program’s development.

To gather feedback across the organization and generations, we also conducted focus groups with employee resource groups (ERGs) as well as the organization’s leadership. We incorporated this feedback into the design and deployment of Career Circles.

Trained facilitators

For the initial pilot of Career Circles, we launched four cohorts: two nursing cohorts (role-based) and two cohorts open to ERG members from various roles (diverse perspectives). All facilitators for the pilot were members of the HR team.

Based on feedback from the pilot, we reduced seat time for facilitator training while ensuring they felt prepared to lead the desired experience for Career Circle participants. We also added an application and reference process to recruit and vet facilitators outside the HR team.

Impactful design

With different generations represented across roles, the organization wants every employee to feel heard and empowered in their career growth journey. New Career Circles cohorts launch every spring and fall, so everyone has a chance to participate.

There also are ongoing participant and organization-wide check-ins to gather and share qualitative and quantitative data that demonstrates Career Circle’s program effectiveness, the value for the organization’s culture, and the positive effects on employee engagement and belonging.

Caring for every employee’s career

Every generation in the professional workplace approaches career mobility differently. With the continued evolution of our workforce, programs like Career Circles demonstrate why it matters that we inclusively support the flourishing of every employee’s career.

Ankit will present Investing in Your Team Through Career Circles Group Coaching at the ATD 2023 International Conference & EXPO. Register today for EXLEARN 2023 for more human-centered experiences. (Ankit is a 2022 Learning & Performance Excellence Award winner.)