Skip Navigation

Employee Development

 
 

Our Principle-Based Approach

At Koch, employee development and career navigation is not an afterthought. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to do meaningful work that they enjoy, and are good at. We also know that people change and grow over time, so a prescriptive one-size-fits-all approach will hold people, and an organization, back. 

Our approach to employee development and career navigation focuses on the individual. Here are a few principles that inform our approach.

 

Employee and Supervisor Responsibilities

While you ultimately “own” your development and career, you are not alone. You and your supervisor have different but complementary responsibilities. 

Your Responsibility
Your Supervisor’s Responsibility 
Take ownership over your development and career by continually discovering, developing and applying your gifts in ways that help you self-actualize. Be a lifelong learner.

Partner with your supervisor to find mutually beneficial ways to pursue your interests and goals while maximizing your contributions to the team and Koch. 
Help you develop and maximize your contributions by applying Principle Based Management.

This includes building a trusted relationship with you, knowing you well enough to help you self-actualize, providing honest, direct and timely coaching and feedback, helping you understand your strengths and weaknesses, and addressing poor performance.
 

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

There are several common or routine activities that are typically part of an annual cycle:

  • Clarify your role, responsibilities and expectations
  • On-going coaching and feedback
  • Formal, annual feedback summary (performance review)
  • Compensation review and discussion

While many companies perform similar activities, Koch’s emphasis and approach to these activities can be quite different. Instead of thinking of these simply as steps in a performance management cycle, we expect supervisors and employees to approach these as important aspects of development so everyone can realize their potential and maximize their contributions. 

 
Here is an overview of how various activities can aid in your development and career growth.
 

Role, Responsibilities & Expectations

As you navigate your career, expanding your contribution can occur by changing roles. More often, it happens in your current role by you and your supervisor working together to:

  • improve performance
  • expand your responsibilities
  • add responsibilities
  • take on stretch assignments
 
 
 

Coaching and Feedback

Everyone benefits from coaching. Effective coaching:

  • reinforces what you are doing well and should continue
  • clarifies and provides insights about what is not going well
  • provides guidance and support to help you improve performance
 
 
 

Feedback Summaries

 

The feedback summary (written formal feedback) should:

  • provide a reality-based view of how you’re doing
  • help you realize your potential
  • motivate you to maximize your contribution to the team and Koch’s long-term success
 
 
 

Compensation

Compensation decisions and discussions can lead to a better understanding of:

  • how you’ve contributed to value creation
  • what is motivating and meaningful to you
  • how you might develop and opportunities you may want to pursue
 
 
 

Career Navigation

Your path at Koch is not set in stone, and exploring ways to increase your contributions might lead you to unexpected opportunities:

  • discover new ways to use your talents using internal mobility tools
  • being open to ideas from others that might not fit a “traditional” definition of advancement
 
 
 
 

Other Activities

It’s difficult to predict exactly what you might need or the opportunities that might arise for you to develop or contribute, so we stay open to various possibilities such as:

  • training, workshops and conferences
  • receiving guidance from others
  • apprenticing
  • short-term assignments

When considering a developmental activity, work with your supervisor to ensure it aligns with our principles and benefits you and the company.

 
 
 
 

Understand It Better

 
 

Videos to Explore

 
“You’re really in the driver's seat for your career, as an employee and as an individual...”
 
 
 

Discover Our Stories

 
 
 
Self-actualizing is not about reaching the peak of a mountain, but a series of peaks that you continue to climb as you develop, contribute and discover new possibilities.