Move an Employee to a New Track

Sometimes your team members change career direction — a new role, a skill shift, or a new passion. When that happens, update their roadmap in Mentora.

Scenario Examples

Role change: Moving from individual contributor to manager
Team change: Moving from backend to frontend or a different department
Skill shift: Transitioning from ops to product
Company direction change: New priorities mean old goals are no longer relevant

Step 1: Discuss the Change

In a 1:1 with the employee:

Understand their new vision
Discuss what goals are still relevant
Identify new goals for the new track
Clarify the timeline

Step 2: Archive Old Goals

For goals that are no longer relevant:

Option A: Mark as Achieved (if partially complete)

Click the goal
Change status to Achieved
Leave a comment explaining the change

"We're shifting your focus, so I'm marking this as complete. Good work on getting 60% through it."

Option B: Delete (if not started)

Click the goal
Click Delete Goal
Confirm

Only delete if you're sure you don't need to reference it later.

Option C: Leave as-is

Sometimes it's okay to leave old goals in Mentora as a record. They'll just stay in "Not Started" or "In Progress" status.

Step 3: Create New Goals

Create goals for the new track:

Step 1: Go to Goals

Step 2: Click New Goal

Step 3: Enter goals relevant to the new track:

Example for IC → Manager transition:

Goal 1: "Learn management fundamentals"
Goal 2: "Build team from 4 to 6 people"
Goal 3: "Improve team engagement scores"

Step 4: Set realistic timelines (6–12 months for major transitions)

Step 4: Communicate the Change

In Mentora, leave a comment on their profile (if you can) or on their goals:

"Excited about your move to the product team! We've archived your backend infrastructure goals and created new goals around product metrics and customer discovery. Let's meet next week to dive into the new roadmap."

Step 5: Create New Roadmap

Follow Create a Team Career Roadmap to build the new roadmap with milestones and tasks.

Special Case: Promotion

If someone is being promoted within their current track:

Add new goals like:

"Lead bigger projects"
"Develop leadership skills"
"Mentor junior engineers"

Keep relevant old goals that still apply to the promotion.

Remove goals that don't align with the new level.

Special Case: Manager Transition

If someone is becoming a manager for the first time:

New goals might include:

"Complete manager training" (3–6 months)
"Establish 1:1 rhythms with team" (1 month)
"Build team development plans" (3 months)
"Learn to delegate" (6 months)

Remove or adjust goals around individual technical achievement.

Add metrics around team growth, retention, and engagement.

Tips

Give them time to transition — Don't expect them to excel in a new track immediately
Be realistic about timelines — Transitions take 6–12 months to feel comfortable
Celebrate the new direction — Make them feel excited, not lost
Check in more frequently — Monthly instead of quarterly during major transitions
Provide support — Training, mentorship, time, or resources

Troubleshooting

The employee wants to keep goals from their old track

That's fine. Maybe some skills transfer. Just make sure the new track also has clear goals.

It's been 3 months and they're struggling with the new role

That's normal. Have a conversation: "How's the transition going? What support do you need?" Extend timelines if needed.

They want to go back to their old track

It happens. Have a conversation about what went wrong, then either help them transition back or adjust the goals to make the new track work.