Career Development Guide
Your Resource to Understanding Career
Managing Your Career at Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the world’s most highly respected global strategyand technology firms, is the consultant of choice to our clients for one reason: we have the best people. We're committed to helping our people continually grow and develop as experts and leaders.
The firm provides staff with the personal and professional development oppor-tunities they need to learn and apply new knowledge, skills, and behaviors, and to meet Booz Allen’s standards for high performance.
Our annual 360˚ assessment process measures current competencies and assists our staff in developing the skills that will improve our business, as well as provide for individual growth.
Together, managers and staff members define appropriate assignments and growth opportunities.
The Employee Development Framework (EDF) is a key resource, linking our Core Values and associated competencies as the building blocks for success.
This Career Development Guide is
designed to serve as a reference.
It provides an overview of the major
activities involved in the annual
assessment process. It also
high-lights your role and responsibilities,
as well as resources available to you.
Table of Contents
The Assessment Process
3
The Employee Development Cycle
4
Assessment Summary
5
The Employee Development Framework (EDF)
6
Work Assignments and Development Actions
7
Development Plan Status Check
8
Self-Assessment
9
Competency Assessment
9
Career Development Resources
10
The Employee Development Cycle is a year-long process designed to maximize your opportunities for growth and development.
Development and constructive feed-back are ongoing throughout the year, with the annual competency assessment as the final piece, provid-ing a snapshot of your development.
The annual assessment is intended to provide an overall evaluation of: 1) Proficiency in level-specific
com-petencies
2) Proficiency in the firm’s Core Values.
The Employee Development Cycle
Assessment Action Assessment Summary and Development Discussion Work Assignment Work Planning Development Actions Work Reviews
Recognition and Awards
Development Plan Status Check Self-Assessments Assessment Performance and Development Committee Meeting Description
• Debrief assessment to identify areas for development and growth.
• Review level-specific Development Guide to select specific development and growth goals.
• Create Personal Development Plan (PDP) to define development actions.
• Perform work for role, as assigned.
• Seek additional opportunities, as appropriate.
• Identify work assignments with opportunity for experiential/stretch activities.
• Identify additional opportunities for growth, as appropriate.
• Complete experiential/stretch activities.
• Complete learning and professional development activities.
• Review work activities, products, and other job-related outputs to evaluate current progress.
• Review staff performance and nominate, if deserved.
• Review PDP to evaluate current progress.
• Adjust PDP, if necessary.
• Complete self-assessment form using OLA.
• Identify individuals for participation.
• Schedule meeting with reviewer to review self-assessment, accomplishments, skills, and abilities.
• Conduct 360° review process - interviews and data collection.
• Evaluate individual's progress against PDP and measure current competencies.
• Write competency assessment in OLA.
• Review draft assessment and solicit input.
• Finalize competency assessment.
• Determine and communicate salary increase, level promotion.
Annual Competency
Assessment
The annual assessment process begins with a self-assessment that gives you the opportunity to provide input into your assessment. The assessment focuses on:
1) Development and building
competencies, against a plan, for continued growth.
2) A third-party reviewer
col-lects 360-degree feedback to get well-rounded input and identify development themes.
3) Development actions are
recommended for the com-ing year.
4) OLA, the online assessment
tool, incorporates this input into a Summary and Personal Development Plan.
A number of activities related to your PDP will be ongoing throughout the year. Remember, your assess-ment will be based on both your level-specific competencies and your demonstration of the firm’s Core Values.
Work Assignment
In addition to performing work for your role as assigned, you should also seek out additional assignment opportunities, as appropriate, to meet your PDP goals.
Work Planning
During the year, you should continue discussions with your manager to identify upcoming work assignments consistent with your development needs.
Work Reviews
Your work activities, products, and other job-related outputs should be periodically evaluated to measure your current progress.
Development Actions
Your PDP can act as your roadmap for meeting the development actions identified in your assess-ment. This includes learning and professional development activities, as well as experiential/stretch activities.
A wide-variety of learning opportuni-ties and career development resources are available to you on https://learning.bah.com. These resources can assist you in develop-ing your competencies and executdevelop-ing your PDP.
Assessors rely on the Employee Development Framework (EDF), which includes individualized guides for staff from administrative professional through principal, to identify solid development actions.
Level-specific Development Framework Guides (DFGs)
describe competencies, success factors, career derailers, and training programs. Role descriptions of colleagues who can support your development are also included in each guide.
The centerpiece of the DFGs is a set of recommendations for experiential work activities and assignments that take place on the job and can help you build and stretch your competencies.
The DFGs should be used by man-agers and staff to identify required competencies and appropriate development opportunities. Each DFG includes information about:
Formal Training: courses mapped
to competency development
Colleagues: formal and informal
roles of those who support develop-ment activities
Career Derailers: universal and
level-specific pitfalls to avoid
Success Factors: best practices
and words of wisdom from successful colleagues
Experiential Work/Stretch Activities: task-related activities
tailored to specific competencies at every level.
Assessment
Summary and
Development
Discussion
The assessment process begins with a review and discussion of the prior year’s competency assessment. This helps set the direction for your development actions during the current cycle.Using the appropriate Development Framework Guide (DFG), your reviewer creates an initial Personal Development Plan (PDP).
The PDP serves a number of impor-tant purposes, including:
• Structuring a career development meeting
• Providing a mechanism for moni-toring progress
• Providing a reference for current year development actions.
Your reviewer will gve you a debrief of your assessment to identify areas for development and growth.
Your reviewer, your manager, and you will discuss the final competency assessment, which can be found on
https://ola.bah.com once completed. The goal is to ensure that you under-stand your strengths, as well as areas for continued growth and development.
Ongoing development discussions with your manager should focus on the development actions identified in your PDP:
• Discuss progress against PDP
The Employee Development
Framework (EDF)
DFGs can be used by
review-ers, managers and staff for:
1) Planning and conducting
development discussions
2) Identifying appropriate
development opportunities
3) Creating a Personal
Development Plan (PDP)
4) Assisting in writing
assess-ments.
The DFGs can be found on
https://learning.bah.com. On-the-Job Experiences Client work Special projects Team assignments Cross-functional assignments Career mobility Training and Education Core curriculum External training Degree programs Professional associations Coaching/ Mentoring Peer Team members Manager Shadowing/ apprenticeship Learning partners Self-Study Books/videos CD-ROMs Coursework Self-paced learning
Competency Development/Career Development
Fulfilling the Personal Development Plan
During the year, it is helpful to meet periodically with your manager to review your progress against your Personal Development Plan (PDP). Although these meetings are infor-mal, they are a valuable component of the overall process and are intend-ed to give you feintend-edback on your per-formance progress to-date and sug-gestions on any improvements. You should use your PDP to guide the status discussion. You and your manager should:
1) Review and evaluate current progress against your plan. 2) Discuss and identify any
neces-sary adjustments to your PDP. 3) Document any changes to your
PDP, if necessary.
When meeting with your manager, be sure to ask for specific feedback on your performance, as well as for spe-cific recommendations on appropri-ate actions to improve.
An important aspect of staff growth and development is recognizing out-standing individual and team achieve-ments. Booz Allen has a number of Recognition and Award Programs that enable staff through Level III to share in the firm’s success.
For more information, logon to
http://people.bah.comand review the Award section.
The formal assessment process begins with a self-assessment. Although the self-assessment is not required, most staff members choose to complete it.
A self-assessment gives you the oppor-tunity to provide input into your compe-tency assessment. It can also provide your reviewer with valuable insight into your work and development accom-plishments during the year. Self-assessment data includes: 1) Roles and results
2) Personal Development Plan (PDP) progress
3) Demonstration of Core Values & Competencies
4) Motivations/Frustrations 5) Career Goals
6) PDP (for next year)
7) Assignment Objectives for exempt staff levels A-III (for next year) 8) Suggested sources of input and
participants.
Booz Allen’s Online Assessment tool (OLA) is your one-stop resource for access to:
• All assessment and self- assessment forms
• Competency and Core Value definitions
• Assessment writing guidelines. Visit https://ola.bah.comto view the available resources. Designation High 5 Performance Recognition Team's Appreciation
VIP (Values in Practice)
Criteria
Going the extra mile in a particular situation
Exceptional performance on a sustained effort
Sustained effort that results in a tangible benefit to the firm
Role model for the firm's core values
Annual
Competency
Assessment
The formal competency review process takes approximately 1 quar-ter (3 months) to complete. The fol-lowing is a high-level overview of the process:1) A third-party reviewer is assigned to conduct your assessment. 2) Once your self-assessment is
submitted via the Online Assessment tool (OLA), the reviewer retrieves a copy and reviews it.
3) You schedule a meeting with the reviewer to discuss your self-assessment and confirm sources of input.
4) The reviewer conducts a 360˚ review process, using interviews and data collection techniques. 5) The reviewer evaluates your
progress against your Personal Development Plan (PDP), and measures current competencies. 6) The reviewer drafts your
compe-tency assessment in OLA, which will be reviewed by senior man-agement.
7) The reviewer presents the assess-ment findings to the appropriate Assessment Committee.
8) If the Assessment Committee requires revisions, the reviewer executes the revisions.
9) The reviewer will debrief the employee with the employee’s manager and mentor present. 10) The employee and reviewer sign
the competency assessment. Once finalized, the reviewer sub-mits the signed assessment to HR via OLA.
Development Plan Status Check
Starting the Process:
Writing a Self-Assessment
OLA Best Practices
1) Complete your self
assess-ment draft in MS Word, run spell check, and then paste it into OLA.
2) Print a PDF version from
OLA and then review it with your mentor, and/or a peer, and always your manager.
3) Revise draft in OLA and
then submit.
4) Do not submit the
self-assessment until it has been reviewed!
Career
Development
Glossary
CPE – The Center for Performance Excellence.
Competency Assessment – An annual assessment of your performance and competencies. EDF – Employee Development
Framework, a firmwide approach for identifying required competen-cies for Booz Allen staff.
DFG – Development Framework Guide, a level-specific resource for staff which composes the Employee Development Framework.
OLA – Online Assessment tool, a Web-based application for the creation and management of assessment documents. PDP – Personal Development Plan,
an annual plan used to guide your career development.
Self-Assessment – A component of the competency assessment that is completed by you to provide
Career Development
Resources
Booz Allen is committed to helping you achieve your professional goals. Planning your career takes patience, knowledge, and a solid strategy for success. Booz Allen has developed a step-by-step process that guides employees through the career planning process.
Step 1: Assess
The first step to career success at Booz Allen is to determine where you are before you begin to figure out where to go and how to get there.
Step 2: Explore
Now that you know where you are, you can gather information about career options within Booz Allen that appeal to you.
Step 3: Decide
With your career assessment complete and your courses of interest chosen, the third stage is all about setting goals for yourself.
Step 4: Take Action
You've identified goals-—now it's time to implement your career action plan. Step 5: Grow
Career development and growth is an on-going process, requiring you to continuously assess your progress and goals to ensure you stay on the track to success.
To learn more about the career planning process and resources, logon to https://learning.bah.com. Look for the Career Development Resources link on the Booz Allen training section of the site.
Booz Allen Hamilton has been at the forefront of management consulting for businesses and governments for 90 years. Booz Allen, a global strategy and technology consulting firm, works with clients to deliver results that endure. With more than 16,000 employees on six continents, the firm generates annual sales of $3 billion. Booz Allen provides services in strategy, organization, operations, systems, and technology to the world's leading corporations, government and other public agencies, emerging growth companies, and institutions.
Booz Allen has been recognized as a consultant and employer of choice. In a recent independent study by Kennedy Information, Booz Allen was rated the industry leader in performance and favorable client perceptions among general management consulting firms. Additionally, for the past six years, Working Mother has ranked the firm among its “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” list. And in 2005, Fortune magazine named Booz Allen one of “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.”
To learn more about the firm, visit the Booz Allen Web site at www.boozallen.com. To learn more about the best ideas in business, visit www.strategy-business.com, the Web site for strategy+business, a quarterly journal sponsored by Booz Allen.
Contact Information
If you have specific questions, go to:learning.bah.com
Service Center Hours Of Operation
Monday - Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (EST) Contact:
Kristina Krajca Phone: 703/917-2800 Fax: 703/902-3510
e-mail: [email protected]
If you are calling outside of these hours, or if you reach our voicemail, your call will be returned as promptly as possible.
Resources
https://ola.bah.com
Online Assessment tool provides: 1) Access to your self-assessment 2) A copy of your competency
assessments
3) Competency and core value definitions
4) Links to the EDF guides and other tools.
http://people.bah.com
People Services Team Homepage: 1) Information on benefits, policies,
career management, and recognition programs
2) Access to the EDF guides by level.
https://learning.bah.com
Center for Performance Excellence (CPE) Homepage:
1) Contains internal and external course listings, descriptions, and schedules
2) You can also access the Employee Development Framework Guide by level. Center for Performance Excellence Help Line (703) 917-2800
