Un plan para Poder Ser

Often, people need horizons. In their personal and professional lives. Avoiding the 'what now?' can be a good tool to put everything that happens in the everyday and the extraordinary into perspective.

But… where is that horizon situated? There are as many answers as there are people. That's clear to us at Soluble, which is why our Being able to: make work an infinite canvas that contributes to living a full life.

Many team management handbooks insist that a career plan is essential. We're not so absolute about it, but after 8 years in operation and with a roster of 20 professionals driven by Sustainable Ambition, we saw we needed one. It was the right moment. That said, any plan wouldn't do. For big occasions, custom tailoring is best. And executed by a tailor of great professionalism: our more-than-partners, Fresh People 🍍.

A six-month effort—from September 2022 through March 2023—and 17 sessions that included area-based workshops and organization-wide sessions, plus training sessions for the team and leaders of each area. An intense journey and a result we fell in love with.

This is Soluble's career plan

Useful, clear, and empowering too. That's how we wanted this plan to be. First, we defined a series of moments a person can go through: from focusing on learning, to inspiring and guiding others with an eye on the team's and organization's future. Advancing isn't required—what matters is that each person knows themselves well and knows where they want to be.

Each person defines their own career plan based on feedback from leads

Team leads—Activation, Design, Technology, and Operations—are responsible for defining where each person is at. This is possible thanks to workshops where the entire team has defined what behaviors should be observed as professionals with expertise in their area and according to our values: Good People Happy, Digital Excellence and Sustainable Ambition. For example, at the impact moment, Digital Excellence is shining by presenting a proposal and fostering conversations between colleagues, inside and outside projects.

A 1:1 session with bidirectional feedback is the foundation for each person to develop their own action plan, defining objectives and strategies for growth. To be able to… according to their abilities and ambitions. With the support that Good Happy People deserve, precisely.

Aroa Gúdel, People Partner at Fresh, acknowledges that she found "a team that from day one showed the drive to innovate and challenge their people management model, focused on building a more agile organization and sustainable talent development". All of this "without losing sight of alignment with what the business needs for its growth and future challenges". And we can't help but say it: we're filled with pride that our more-than-partners work with "a motivated team, open to listening, eager to push themselves", according to Aroa.

The basic ingredients

In this career plan, feedback is essential, but so is psychological safety. For each team member to feel they can speak with confidence whenever they need to. Thanks to Fresh People's training, the entire team has tools at their disposal to build stronger, healthier, and more productive relationships through communication.

In other words: we work on the career plan from an individual perspective, but also a collective one, in order to create a safe space where important conversations, even difficult ones, are an opportunity for growth. Sowing a combination of technical skills and confidence—in yourself and in your team—yields juicy and mature results from day one.

A philosophy, a map

We say it all the time: we live in a 'work-centric' system and there's an opportunity to redefine work as a space for pursuing happiness. Both during and outside working hours. Plus, research has shown that this freedom of movement also reduces burnout, because monotony and lack of autonomy increase work stress. "The career plan is a map that helps me understand where I am, choose where I want to be, and see the intermediate steps," says Andrea Martínez, content creator at Soluble.

We create a safe space where important conversations, even difficult ones, are an opportunity for growth

Following this philosophy, in Soluble's career plan all people have freedom of movement and can choose to stay at one of the defined stages. Because a product designer can pursue excellence in a very specific area, like design systems, and wants their development to follow that path rather than the usual one of managing people and/or projects.

Does this approach sound familiar? Exactly: To be able to be in an ecosystem of sustainable ambition. "What's most interesting is knowing I work for a company committed to growing its team and actively seeking the means to make it happen," Andrea acknowledges.

Measure results? Absolutely

When a professional can define where they want to grow, it unlocks another advantage: the how is also in their hands. Sharpening communication skills, building confidence to lead meetings and projects… Again, working hand-in-hand with the lead, they establish indicators grounded in common sense that get reviewed every three months.

Radiating value

Taking a step back for perspective, it's easy to see that career planning is a powerful tool internally, but also externally. Because a happier team can dazzle with what it delivers in daily work. And for a person who grows in their own way it's easier to achieve a holistic vision where brand, product, and technology work in harmony and feed into each other.

Months of intensive work have confirmed the hunch: a clear and stimulating professional horizon is the best instrument for reaching Digital Excellence. Textbook win-win.