STRETCHING: Good for Mind and Body

Training & Development, Oct 2007 by Salopek, Jennifer J

Stretch assignments are becoming an inexpensive way to revitalize stagnant careers.

Remember the late 1990s, when information technology strategists the world over worried that the two new zeroes at the end of the date would derail commerce and communications as we knew them? Organizations of all sizes devoted millions of dollars and staff hours to prevention and training, hoping to avoid the potential disaster called Y2K.

It was a challenge many would have run from-but not Beth Thomas. As the manager of The Limited's training group, Thomas saw in Y2K an opportunity to stretch her mind and her career, something that is being used more often as a professional development opportunity. She volunteered to lead training for all business applications and systems across the enterprise as the company prepared for the turn of the millennium. Stretch assignments, Thomas says, have played a large part in advancing and accelerating her career, and have helped her get where she is today: managing director and executive vice president at Sequent.

"If you are finding that you have extra time in your day, or if you have become complacent or too comfortable in your current role, it's a good time to look for a stretch project," Thomas says.

Elliott Masie of The Masie Center, a workplace learning and knowledge think tank in Saratoga Springs, New York, agrees, adding that stretch assignments are becoming valuable business ventures.

"When you ask people who have been through high-stakes leadership development, they point to their stretch assignments as having been the most valuable learning experiences of their careers," Masie says. "Often, the stretch assignment is the capstone experience of their professional lives."

Workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals have been asking for a seat at the strategy table for years. Now that they finally have it, they're being asked to understand their businesses in new and more complex ways. Stretch assignments can help with that by providing real, high-stakes work experience in a safe environment. It also can help to recharge a career that's hit a plateau, or help individuals find renewed enthusiasm for work.

Masie is a believer in stretch assignments, describing them as "an inexpensive development and retention tool," and urges WLP professionals to champion them both for themselves and others. But how do you find the time for a stretch assignment?

According to Masie, there are several scenarios that can indicate the right time to stretch:

* if you lack fluency-doing work in an area you can't talk about knowledgably, such as Six Sigma or finance

* if you lack adaptability-360-degree feedback or other mechanisms indicate that the world sees you as you've been for a long time

* if you see opportunity-an exciting, visible project with impact at the executive level, as Thomas did.

However, Nick van Dam, global chief learning officer at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Amsterdam, cautions to be careful in your planning. Don't volunteer for an assignment about which you know absolutely nothing.

"All people learn better in new assignments outside of their comfort zone," says van Dam. "But the assignment must play off of the person's strengths. Stretch assignments can help people leverage their talents to develop new skills or connect with new stakeholders."

Designing your stretch assignment

Experts agree that, to be truly valuable both to the business and to your career, stretch assignments must be carefully designed to include a number of crucial elements, such as

* a true test of your abilities beyond the routine. The assignment should be outside of your zone of familiarity.

* mentoring. Find a mentor to help you identify learning and development goals and to help you evaluate the learning at the end of the project.

* value for the business. As Thomas did, focus your energies on a performance consulting area that addresses a real business need.

* coaching. Find someone-it can be your current supervisor-who can help you along the way.

* a challenge. There should be some kind of risk factor to the project, Masie says. In other words, you're not just observing.

* exposure. Seek an assignment that will connect you with new stakeholders in the business.

Although it may seem obvious, understand that your stretch assignment won't be easy. When Thomas took on Y2K planning for The Limited, the work involved five separate businesses, 15 applications, and thousands of people.

"When [company leadership] originally gave me the assignment, I thought I was being set up for failure. There was a lot of 'scope creep,'" she says. "I was working with a team of consultants and a team of strangers. But there were many small wins along the way and, in the end, when we were celebrating our Y2K successes, I received a note of thanks from the company's chief administrative officer. I knew at that point that I had arrived."

Also recognize that you may encounter some resistance to your proposal from your current manager. "Managers recognize that, very often, you won't be coming back from a stretch assignment or at least will be approaching your job in a different way," Masie says.