Staying in the comfort zone may be, well, comfortable, but facing challenging situations is often the fastest way to grow.
Muscles get stronger with heavier weights and more resistance. Trees grow sturdier trunks and deeper roots with wind and drought. Immune systems become more resilient with exposure to pathogens. And employees gain new skills and confidence with assignments that push them into unfamiliar territories.
Rising to the challenge is in our nature — but people need opportunities to do so and plenty of support along the way. Stretch assignments can take a career to the next level, and executive surveys have shown that they are critical tools for professional development, above even training or mentoring. However, managers must equip employees with a strong foundation and the freedom to ask for help when they need it.
At the fintech startup Current, the rapid pace of growth has created ample opportunities for employees to strive beyond their given responsibilities. Built In New York caught up with Alexandria Blue, the company’s head of member experience, to find out how she identifies which junior colleagues are prepared to tackle difficult assignments and how she offers guidance and encouragement along the way.
Current is a fintech company that strives to help members build credit, get paid faster and pursue savings goals to achieve better financial outcomes.
Can you recall an example of when you extended a stretch assignment to a direct report?
Our team was seeking to better understand how we could use technology more effectively in our daily operations to improve our outcomes. This initiative demanded in-depth analysis, business-case development and wide-ranging executive-level stakeholder management. The team member who ran this project was relatively junior and new to the company but they exhibited several signs that let me know they were ready.
First was their intrinsic motivation: They demonstrated a strong desire to grow quickly. They also understood that the work directly aligned with the scope of their role, and they had some transferrable experience.
They had enough understanding from previous experience to not feel entirely lost, and enough motivation to push through those moments of discomfort that come with a challenging assignment. The “stretchiest” part of this assignment, given the level of the team member, was the executive stakeholder management. However, they had demonstrated their capability in similar situations and, most importantly, showed a strong willingness to seek, receive and implement feedback in this area.
How do you ensure that team members are not overburdened by stretch assignments and are supported through their completion?
When considering how to set team members up for success, I think about making sure they have the right resources, context and thought partners to do the job. Balancing guidance with autonomy is important to me, so I lead with questions and then tailor my approach to what the team member wants.
For example, I might ask: “What role do you want me to play? Am I a coach, a partner or just a stakeholder?” If I'm not going to be a coach or partner, I recommend another individual from our team or a partner that can play that role. Or, “What areas of this assignment are you most nervous about?” Then I try to dig up resources and information that might fill this gap or I offer to stay closer in that phase of the work.
Creating an environment where team members can be honest about feeling stuck is key to ensuring people are supported and don’t get overwhelmed. For me, this is all about setting expectations and laying the groundwork upfront — acknowledging when something is a stretch assignment and making it clear that their growth is a primary goal, so it’s ok and even expected to get stuck. Then, when I check in on the initiative, I don't just ask the team member how the work is going but also how they are feeling about their progress and growth.
Creating an environment where team members can be honest about feeling stuck is key to ensuring people are supported.”
How have stretch assignments paid dividends for team members at your company?
Startups are fast-paced and ever-evolving. For us, this means that the expectations of our team might not always align 100 percent with the capabilities where we feel most confident. Instead, we often have to push to think beyond our existing state. Stretch assignments have enabled us to translate the goals of a fast-growing company into fulfilling growth opportunities for each individual and lay a foundation of transferrable skills. They also create a sense of belonging by showing team members that they can grow and mature in their careers as the company scales.
