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Section for Supervisors

Career Toolbox

Coaching suggestions: TSA's Management Directive No. 1900.2 (pdf, 149Kb) requires supervisors to have an annual career development discussion with their employees. Note: The Professional Development Plan mentioned in this Management Directive is now called the TSA Career Plan. A good way to help your employees understand how to take advantage of the information on the career planning and career path pages and prepare yourself for this career discussion is to explore these pages yourself. Some specific suggestions on how to best prepare yourself include the following:

• Read the 6-step process outlined in the TSA Career Planning Guide. The 6 steps guide employees through the process of creating a TSA Career Plan and preparing for a career discussion with their supervisors. The Guide will help you coach employees on a process to use to assess strengths, areas for development, career options, and goal setting. This guide also links you to other resources, such as professional career counselors, who can provide assistance to you on how to structure career discussions with your employees.



• Review information on the TSA Career Path Information page. The User's Guide to Career Path Information gives you a concise overview of the career path tools available to assist employees in competency development and career planning and tips on how to use these tools.



• Review your employee's draft TSA Career Plan and use your knowledge of the employee's strong and weak areas to assist him/her in targeting areas for growth.



• Schedule enough time to meet when both you and the employee will be alert. Do not schedule too many sessions in any one day.



• Find a place to meet with no or few distractions - a neutral place if possible.



• Consider/Anticipate questions an employee might raise.



• Consider budget and time constraints that may be involved with an employee's proposed developmental activities. Also, consider whether the activities are aligned with TSA's mission, goals, and values. Make alternate suggestions, as appropriate to assist the employee in pursuing activities within these constraints.